Where the Arno river is born

A hiking trail in the Foreste Casentinesi, Monte Falterona e Campigna National Park, of great historical and natural interest, which is part of the Alta Via dei Parchi itinerary.

The starting point of the trail is the so-called Fonte del Borbotto, the entrance to the Park that can be reached by car, driving through a series of hairpin bends, or on foot via the path that leaves from Castagno d'Andrea.

Walking through a beautiful beech forest you climb up to the Gorga Nera: a pond in the wood which is also the chosen location for the reintroduction of the small common frog, besides having fuelled a series of dark myths over the centuries. The climb peaks at the Valico delle Crocicchie passage, at an altitude of 1400m, crossroads of several routes.

The trail continues downhill to Capo d'Arno, the famous source of the Arno river; the headstone on site remembers the verses that Dante dedicated to this place in the 14th canto of the Purgatory.

The final destination is the so-called Lago degli Idoli (Lake of the Idols): located a few hundred metres from Capo d'Arno, south of the top of Mount Falterona, a mountain regarded as sacred by the ancient Etruscans, who used to throw their offerings in the lake. From the mid-19th century the waters of the small lake have brought to light several votive finds and bronze artefacts of Etruscan times, which are kept today in Italian museums and even abroad.

At the end of the hike the trail leads back to the Fonte del Borbotto.