Descrizione
The Carpegna area is like a geological timeline, bearing numerous traces of the past, where Mount Carpegna and the twin massifs of Sasso Simone and Simoncello tell the story of an ancient landscape.
Sasso Simone, at 1,204 metres, and Simoncello, slightly higher at 1,220 metres, are silent witnesses to a world that once was, dating back to the Upper Miocene. They are the pillars of a limestone platform that migrated from the Gulf of Genoa to the heart of the Apennines. The limestone rocks, rich in fossils, reveal their marine origin, whilst Carpegna, with its visible stratifications, tells of deep seabeds and an even more distant past, dating back to the Eocene. The Sasso Simone and Simoncello Interregional Park stretches across a territory where the topography is defined by a marked contrast between limestone and clay, creating a landscape of rolling hills and ridges.
The Sassi, with their imposing presence and the fascinating badlands that surround them, are an unmistakable landmark in this biodiverse region stretching across the Marche, Emilia-Romagna and Tuscany. Legend tells of Roman priests and solitary hermits who found refuge on these heights, where the breathtaking view seems to brush against the Adriatic coast. Sasso Simone was even chosen by Cosimo I de’ Medici in 1565 as the site for a fortress-city, the Città del Sole, the twin of the Terra del Sole in Romagna – an ambitious project symbolising the power and influence of Florence.
The Park’s variety of flora and fauna is astonishing. The ‘cerreta’, a woodland dominated by Turkey oaks, covers the area and is home to a myriad of tree and herbaceous species, with forests turning shades of green and red in autumn. The Apennine wolf and the roe deer are just some of the inhabitants of this landscape, which has become a sanctuary for wildlife. Meanwhile, the forthcoming Sasso Simone eagle observatory will offer a unique insight into the lives of these magnificent birds of prey.
