The village of Castelfranco di Sopra, one of the most beautiful villages in Italy, stands on a natural terrace on the Valdarnese plateau overlooking the Balze at the foot of Pratomagno. These unreal constructions of nature have always fascinated travellers of all times; even Leonardo da Vinci made them the background of many paintings and drawings. From the top of this incredibly beautiful scenery, the village of Castelfranco also touches the panoramic ‘SETTE PONTI’ road, along which six Romanesque parish churches, built between the 12th and 13th centuries, are aligned.
The traces of human settlements in the territory of Castelfranco di Sopra are lost in prehistory: worked flints have also been found near the village. However, it is necessary to reach around 1300, when the Florentines decided to erect the walls of “CASTELLO FRANCO”. The design was later attributed by Giorgio Vasari to the already famous architect Arnolfo di Cambio. The stupendous landscape, the possibility of reliving history by visiting the monuments, the opportunity to come into contact with nature, to eat genuine and tasty food and the proximity to the major cities of art in Tuscany, make Castelfranco an ideal place to stay.
Castelfranco an ideal place for holidays. It is also possible to go trekking in Pratomagno, following the routes marked out by the Italian Alpine Club, enjoy mountain-biking, or go horse riding.
he territory of the Valdarno Superiore starts to the south from the plain of Arezzo, traditionally from Ponte a Buriano, and is bordered to the west by the Chianti mountains and to the east by the Pratomagno massif, the watershed between the Valdarno and Casentino; it ends to the north near the confluence of the Sieve river in the Arno, at Pontassieve. In the Pliocene era, the Arno valley was occupied by a large lake: numerous interesting fossil finds from that period can be seen in the Palaeontological Museum in Montevarchi.
The waters of the lake shaped what is now one of the most fascinating landscape attractions in the valley, the rocky erosions in the territories of Castelfranco di Sopra, Pian di scò and Terranuova Bracciolini, known as the Balze. The Balze are one of the many protected areas in the Valdarno area, including the Valle dell’Inferno and Bandella Nature Reserves and the Ponte a Buriano and Penna Nature Reserves, all of which are criss-crossed by numerous itineraries on foot, by bicycle and on horseback. The whole area is of great natural and scenic interest: both the valley floor and the hills are covered in vineyards and olive groves, while going up towards the watersheds you will find woods, particularly of oak, chestnut and beech trees.
Worth visiting is the BADIA DI SAN SALVATORE A SOFFENA, a splendid complex, just outside the historic centre, on the Setteponti road. It consists of a church, cloister and former convent.