Sassetta

TRUE NEST OF BIRDS OF PREY

I am red.

Pink, orange, whitish or streaked with gray, yet still red. Throughout this land like an artery flowing with life, the trees grow above me and from below spring waters refresh me, the hot springs invigorate me. I have always lived here and I have always seen men shed blood of my same color. I have always seen them ignite the burning charcoal fires, smoky little lights in the forest. I have always seen them look at me with bright eyes lit from a sacred spark. I feel them dig into my cold, hard fl esh, and I become alive, become art, become sculpture.

Red like blood, like fire, like art. I am the Red Marble of Sassetta.

These men, scrub people baptized in chestnut broth; they are the fi ery Sassetani. Skillful hunters, cruel in war: true birds of prey. Men who built this village like a nest on a spur of rock. Wild, poetic, beautiful.

No one comes here by chance, you come to Sasseta by desire.

I have always been here and I know it. I lay here among these houses perched one on top of another, I give shape to the doorsteps, the thresholds, the tools, the manholes, the staircases of this ancient burg; I lie inside the womb of these hills. I stay here, mutable and eternal, among the nests and birds of prey. Come find me. But not by chance, do it by desire

IN THE WOODS OF THE CHARCOAL BURNERS, BETWEEN RED MARBLE, THERMAL WATERS, AND A SLOWNESS OF ANOTHER TIME

Perched on a rocky outcrop and surrounded by woods, like a real nest, Sassetta rises. The village was built around the year 1000 and so it remained, without undergoing changes with respect to the original architecture. Among the narrow alleys of the village, the small squares, the stone houses clinging one to the other, the small restaurants, the cats, and red marble sculptures, life flows with a slow rhythm, as in the days of the old charcoal burners.

In fact, the Museo del Bosco (Museum of the Woods) in the Poggio Neri Forest Park, is dedicated to the life of the charcoal burners. The park is a perfect destination for hiking, horseback riding, or cycling. Along the 37 km of trails with rest areas, you can discover forest animals, spring waters, ruins, drying houses and shelters, with picturesque views and breathtaking viewpoints in between.

Sassetta is a small, ancient village adorned with its red marble and nourished from below by the underground streams of thermal water. Its inhabitants are the descendants of those old charcoal burners and woodsmen, a somewhat wild people who have always lived in harmony with the land, thanks to the hunting and harvesting of chestnuts. This is also reflected in the cuisine which is based on game and products of the land: wood pigeon, pasta from chestnut flour, and fig preserves.

TOURIST OFFICE

SASSETTA

(open in Summer and during the October Sassetta Festivals)

Via di Castagneto 12 Tel. +39 0565.794521

apt7sassetta@gmail.com;

sassetta@costadeglietruschi.eu