The Verghereto area covers 117 square kilometres in the Tuscan-Romagna Apennines. It is at the end of Emilia Romagna, bordering with two other regions, Marche and Tuscany.
It is a tourist resort with uncontaminated nature, rich in flora and fauna, and lively during all the seasons of the year. Its altitude varies from about 500 metres in the river Para area to the as many as 1400 metres of Monte Fumaiolo. The choice is between the colours of spring or winter sports, with plenty of opportunities to enjoy the sites.
Verghereto is an ideal holiday resort, all year round.
During the summer, you can go on walking tours, cycling or horseback riding, or enjoy the numerous fêtes which animate the area.
In winter, the focus is on snow sports: Verghereto is the only ski resort in the Cesena area, currently undergoing revision and maintenance, with downhill and cross-country skiing slopes.
Its origins go far back in time: located on the border between the Savio and Tiber valleys, the area was used as a pass by the Etruscan and Umbrian populations. During the Middle Ages, some monks – including S. Romualdo and S. Alberico, chose mount Fumaiolo to establish Hermitages and Abbeys, which are still used today.
The village grew around the Abbey of S. Michele Arcangelo, later destroyed by a landslide. Legend has it that its name was derived from rod strikes (in Italian "vergate"), which the monks used to drive away San Romualdo, guilty of imposing the excessively rigid Benedictine reformed rules. The monk ran away, crossed the Apennines and founded the Sacro Eremo at Camaldoli.
If you are looking for a period of reflection and spirituality, you can stay at the Sant’Alberico Hermitage. Legend has it that it was founded by San Romualdo himself, in the year 1000, on top of the Apennines at a prohibitive altitude, in order to disseminate hermitic life and the various religious communities according to the rules of the time. In 1408 it became part of the Camaldolese Congregation.
Today the hermitage is always open to visitors; to arrange for a stay you need to contact Brother Michele Falzone who lives there.
A walk to the source of the Tiber, "the sacred river for the fate of Rome", which springs from mount Fumaiolo (1407 asl); in the olden days it was known as "Fiumaiolo" because of the many rivers (“fiumi”) springing from it.
This area is very much affected by Tuscan cuisine. The traditional products of the area include tortelli alla lastra, and raviggiolo, the extra-fresh cheese sponsored by Slow Food. There is also another important product sponsored by Slow Food in the small borough of Ville di Montecoronaro, the pera cocomerina, a small pear with a dark-red colouring inside. Also the chestnuts from the Alfero area are very important.
Apart from the dense network of footpaths, cycling and horseback riding tracks, during the summer season Monte Fumaiolo, with the extreme verticality of the Moia crag is an ideal venue for free climbers.
The area is also a real amphitheatre for winter sports, especially snowshoeing, even at night, surrounded by a fairytale landscape.
A few kilometres from Verghereto, the Bagno di Romagna spa has been devoted well-being ever since the Roman age. Apart from the various establishments in the village, the thermal pool offers a good opportunity to enjoy the waters here all the year round, also in the evening.
Around Verghereto there are important religious sites dating back to the medieval period, which have deeply affected our country's culture, the Camaldoli Monastery, the Sanctuary of La Verna (42 km), where San Francesco got his stigmata, and the Basilica in Sarsina (about 30 km), which was built just over one thousand years ago.
Travelling southwards, towards Tuscany, in about half an hour you can get to Sansepolcro, the hometown of Piero della Francesca.
