We start our journey to discover the forgotten villages of Emilia Romagna from the area of Forli Cesena, namely from the small village of San Paolo in Alpe.
Placed in a high-altitude grassland (1000 m above sea level) this small abandoned village is one of the most magical places of the Casentinesi Forest Park.

San Paolo in Alpe | Ph. sentieridicioccolata

The town became famous during the Second World War, as a place chosen by the Allies to launch food and ammunition for the Italian partisans hidden in the mountains, and is now included within the “Freedom Path“: a path that starting from Santa Sofia and allows you to enjoy the environmental beauties and to think about the tragedy that happened in those places during the Second World War.

San Paolo in Alpe | Ph. Spazi Indecisi

It is possible to reach San Paolo in Alpe using the hiking network of the Casentino Forest National Park, or by car, through the forest road whose entrance is located about 2 km from the town of Corniolo. The trail (marked by the CAI with the number 255) runs through the territory of “Sasso Fratino”, the only strip of forest that is now considered one of the last virgin Forests of Europe.

Castiglioncello is a small hamlet located in the Tuscan-Emilian border about 50km from Bologna, right on the border between the fraction of Moraduccio of Castel del Rio (Emilia -Romagna) and Fiorenzuola (Tuscany).

The village of Castiglioncello has a rather curious story, in fact, it seems to have been founded around the ninth century by the Ubaldini family, who had imposed savory tolls to anyone wanted to cross those lands. Just to avoid local control, the city of Florence decided to build a little a new frontier town, Fiorenzuola, thus imposing a new path to cross the Apennines.

Castiglioncello, Moraduccio | Ph. itreobsoleti.blogspot

The town still maintained certain importance until the eighteenth century, when the construction of modern roads made obsolete the old path between Bologna and Florence. From this moment on, the small town was subject to gradual and slow depopulation.

A piece of petrified Middle Ages is located in the small town of Castel d’Alfero sarsinate, a village perched on a marble-sandstone formation jutting out over the river Alferello and which dates back to about 1216 A.D.

Alferello Waterfalls | Ph. Francesco1978 via Wikipedia

The village of Castel d’Alfero encompasses all the steps of the ancient history of Italy, in fact, originated as a defensive castle, between the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries became a rural village incorporating in it the old military structures. Despite abandonment, Castel d’Alfero is still beautifully preserved today.

Castel D’alfero | Ph. Francesco Bertozzi via Spazi Indecisi

A small encroachment in Tuscany, but just a few kilometers, to get to Montebotolino, a little hamlet placed to 890 meters high and located on a hill on the left bank of the Marecchia River, it is the highest settlement of the Marecchia Valley.
Here we are in a landscape surrounded by the green hills of Romagna, interspersed from the typical gullies of these areas.

Montebotolino | Ph. Prolocobadiatedalda

Famous for its fantastic views, it is, in fact, overlooking a sheer drop of 300 meters which was ironically called “The Paradise”, it belonged to the noble family of Cattaneo and, after years of abandonment that was taking him to destruction, it is returning now to a new life. It is possible to reach it from the hamlet of Badia Tebalda, along the narrow road to Rofelle, whose last part is not paved.

According to historical sources, the ancient village of Bastia dates back to the fifteenth century. The town developed around the ancient fortress that overlooks the crossroads between the Montone Valley and the Rabbi Valley.
Inhabited until the mid-1800s, it began to lose population as a result of a landslide which in 1868 destroyed the church, the rectory, and the cemetery.
To visit the town of Bastia you have to make a real dive in history: it is reachable only on foot, via the path 423, which starts immediately after the beautiful Brusia Bridge.

Bocconi, Brusia bridge Ph. Bandiere Arancioni