What is Poppi known for?

Late twelfth-century Counts Guidi castle, model for Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, with frescoed chapel and the Rilliana library. Battle on the plain below the castle where Florence beat Arezzo and Dante fought in the Guelph front rank at twenty-four. National park east of Poppi covering the beech and fir forests of the Apennine watershed, one of the oldest managed in Europe.

When is the best time to visit Poppi?

Apr–Oct. April through June brings the Casentino into clear sun, the beech forests in their first leaf and the upper Arno full from spring rain. July and August are pleasant at 437 meters, never coastal-hot, with the castle and library full of weekend visitors from Florence. September and October are the harvest and chestnut months: the Foreste Casentinesi turn orange in the high cuts above Pratovecchio. November through March is quiet, the castle on winter hours, the higher passes occasionally snowed. The Festa di Dante in mid-June and the Casentino Wool Fair in November are the two fixed dates on the local calendar.

Poppi is a comune in the province of Arezzo, Tuscany region of Italy, about 58 kilometers from Firenze.

How do I get to Poppi?

From Firenze, Poppi is roughly 58 km by road.

Tuscany · Arezzo

Poppi

The Casentino borgo above the field where Dante fought at Campaldino in June 1289.

Known for

CASTELLO GUIDI
Late twelfth-century Counts Guidi castle, model for Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, with frescoed chapel and the Rilliana library.
CAMPALDINO 1289
Battle on the plain below the castle where Florence beat Arezzo and Dante fought in the Guelph front rank at twenty-four.
FORESTE CASENTINESI
National park east of Poppi covering the beech and fir forests of the Apennine watershed, one of the oldest managed in Europe.

When to visit

Best · Apr–Oct

Best
Hot or crowded
Quiet
Mostly closed

The festa: Torello da Poppi, terza domenica dopo Pasqua

Why come

Poppi rises above the upper Arno in the Casentino, the wooded valley set between Pratovecchio and Bibbiena. The Counts Guidi held this hill from at least 1169, and the castle they raised across the late twelfth and thirteenth centuries is attributed in its older part to Lapo di Cambio and in the later upper section to Arnolfo di Cambio. Dante Alighieri, who fought below the hill as a young man, returned to it later as a guest of the Guidi during his exile, so the borgo held him twice, once as a soldier and once as a household guest.

The town itself sits above the battle plain, the abbey church inside the walls, the castle over both. A further Romanesque pieve stands a short distance off, and the forested ridges of the Apennine watershed rise to the east, the same terrain the Guidi once ruled from their hill. What the place adds up to is a single family's hold on a valley, visible still in the line from castle to plain to church, with the forest marking where their lordship ran out.

The Sunday letter

We haven’t written Poppi’s letter yet.

One town every Sunday, with the photo, the food, the festa. Be there when this one comes up. Free, by Peter & Sophia from Pietrasanta.

What to see

Castello dei Conti Guidi
The castle keeps a working library and a fourteenth-century chapel frescoed by the school of Giotto, along with a hand-painted model of the battle below, more than four thousand tin soldiers set out on the table.
Piano di Campaldino
The plain sits directly beneath the castle walls, open ground still readable as a battlefield, with nothing built across it since.
Abbazia di San Fedele
Romanesque abbey church inside the borgo, with single nave and stone façade, dating from the early twelfth century.
Pieve di San Pietro a Romena
Twelfth-century Romanesque pieve a short distance from Poppi, dated 1152, built entirely of stone with three apses.
Parco Nazionale delle Foreste Casentinesi
National park covering the forested ridges east of Poppi, one of the oldest managed beech and fir forests in Europe.

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Plan your trip

Through the year

What happens here

Feasts and festivals that come back year after year. We give the month rather than the date, because the date moves and the month rarely does. Check with the source before you plan a journey around one.

Il Casentino nel piattofood festival
usually held between June and August. Visit Tuscany - Calendario Ufficiale Eventi

Living here

Population 5,823
In-betweeni
Pharmacy in town
High school within a 30-minute drive
Train station in the comune
Nearest airport Bologna, 2 h 11 min drive
Regional capital Firenze, 1 h 4 min drive

Tags & datadesignations · numbers · sources

Recognised as

The numbers

Elevation: 437 m
Population: 5,823
Surface area: 97.09 km²

On the map

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These figures were compiled from public directories — ISTAT, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata — and from the official listings of the guides named on this page. Town details change; verify with official sources before you travel.

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