There are magical places in our Italy full of beauty. Places where time seems to have stopped and, visiting them, you take a journey into the past. It is among these that we find Holy Island, tiny village of the Garfagnana located at 550 meters high. Why visit it? Because the Apuan Alps are an unrivaled setting. And everything looks like a fairy tale.

Isola Santa, from hospice to widespread hotel

When it was founded, Isola Santa served as hospice. In the early Middle Ages, those traveling between the Garfagnana and Versilia necessarily had to pass through here. And generally he stopped, to recover his strength along that arduous path. Then abandoned, and fallen into disrepair, the village was finally restored. And it is today a building hotel, which is reflected on the waters of an artificial lake and embraces a church dating back to 1260. Every ten years, the water basin is dried. And, from its bottom, emerge a windmill, a bridge and the remains of the ancient village (submerged by the Turrite Secca stream).

Isola Santa - View of the town
View of the town - credit Meriadoc Brandibuck - CC BY-SA 4.0

Under the houses with the slate roof, they find a place six houses and five rooms. Accommodations to stay in history, in a place that - its true origins - does not even know. Excavations conducted by the University of Pisa in the seventies have brought to light significant archaeological data that testify how - already between the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic - the populations encamped in this land. The first news of Isola Santa as a “hospitale”, however, dates back to 1260. What is certain is that for a long, long time the village maintained a position of total isolation. Until the Cipollaio road was built (the current Valdarni provincial road).

What to do in the surroundings

One comes to Isola Santa, above all, for Isola Santa. For its medieval charm, for its intact beauty. But also for excursions, with the many paths that start from here. There are several itineraries that lead to Pania of the Cross (real "star" of the Apuan Alps) Pania Secca, Pizzo delle Saette, Mount Corchia, Freddone, Sumbra. Or you can go climbing, or visit the caves: theCorchia cave it is the largest in Europe, although it is open for only one section. Finally, lovers of mysteries can treat themselves to a journey among the abandoned villages that abound here: Col di Favilla, Puntato, Campanice. Or they can travel the three kilometers that separate Isola Santa from the "Giants' pots“, Round cavities that the water and the gravel carried by the floods have dug over the years. They look like pots placed on water by giants, and this is where they get their name from.

Isola Santa - The artificial lake
The artificial lake - Meriadoc Brandibuck - CC BY-SA 4.0

Among chestnut and beech woods, Isola Santa is also the perfect place to go for mushrooms and chestnuts. And these are actually the main ingredients of the local cuisine, together with the trout, salami and cheeses of Garfagnana. To be enjoyed in a typical trattoria, after a day amidst history and mysteries.

Photo in evidence taken from Wikipedia (Church of San Jacopo and behind the dam - credit Meriadoc Brandibuck - CC BY-SA 4.0)

Isola Santa, the Tuscan village where time has stopped last edit: 2021-07-12T16:00:00+02:00 da Laura Alberti

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