Manzi: Landscape, Culture and Chestnuts

Manzi between Landscape, Culture and Chestnuts

Manzi combines urban features with landscape and cultural themes in the municipality of Caprese Michelangelo. I Manzi is one of the settlements in the Province of Arezzo and is associated with an unchanged urban structure, good architectural and urban value, and medium landscape value. The municipal area also features wooded hills, traces of historic paths, a museum and regional chestnut-related offerings.

Ridges and Waterways

The area of the municipality of Caprese Michelangelo rises to over 1,400 metres in the Alpe di Catenaia. Numerous waterways flow into the Singerna stream, which continues into Lago di Montedoglio. The combination of elevation and watercourse gives the landscape two clearly distinct sides.

Forests, Nature Reserve and Roman Road Trace

Hikes and mountain-bike excursions through the forests can begin in Manzi and other main settlements of the municipality of Caprese Michelangelo. The forests form the shared landscape of the places in Caprese Michelangelo. Nearby Poggio Rosso is a state nature reserve with exposed rocks and sparse vegetation along the Singerna and beside Fungaia Hill. Near Manzi, a path leads from Gamboli towards Poggio Rosso over still-visible paving from the ancient Roman Via Ariminiensis. Here, the nature reserve and watercourse meet along the Singerna.

Travelling between the Settlements

The regional CPR1 bus route connects Manzi with, among other places, Caprese Michelangelo, San Polo and Talozzi.

Art in Caprese Michelangelo

In the municipality of Caprese Michelangelo, the Museo Casa Natale Michelangelo Buonarroti displays a triptych by Giuliano Amidei as well as plaster casts of Michelangelo's sculptures. The triptych dates from the 15th century; the plaster casts depict Michelangelo's sculptures. For those interested in culture, the municipal area therefore offers both a museum with works of art and a path with still-visible Roman paving.

Chestnuts and Regional Cuisine

At the Festa del Marrone in Caprese Michelangelo, you can taste and buy roasted chestnuts, mulled wine, doughnuts, jams and sweet chestnut polenta on the last two weekends of October. At La Casina in the Manzi hamlet, you can enjoy home cooking made with its own produce and products from the immediate surroundings. In summer, dinners in the forest are offered there, and in October and November, chestnut meals are also available. You can eat Marrone di Caprese Michelangelo DOP chestnuts roasted, boiled or candied. There are therefore different culinary occasions to consider when planning your visit: the festival takes place on the last two weekends of October, while the information about La Casina extends from summer through November. In Caprese Michelangelo, the chestnut is encountered as a festival offering, an ingredient in dishes and a DOP product.

Further places to include in your travel plans: Chiusi Della Verna, Stia, San Giovanni Valdarno, Subbiano, Sant'Andrea di Sorbello, Centoia I, Marciano Della Chiana, Castelfranco Di Sopra

To the main travel overview: Arezzo.