City of Sestola

Beautiful, but definitely worth more to go to Mount Cimone and Lake Ninfa !!

The center is very nice, I had never been there, only passed through

January 2021, so much snow had never been seen. Plants closed due to a pandemic and everything seemed even more magical.

Fresh, shops, restaurants and hotels, from there many paths start for various locations in the Apennines in the midst of woods and pine forests

It was the first time I went there in the summer. A well-equipped area with tourist attractions particularly valid for the Apennines. Of course I would have preferred not to see hotels or businesses in the center that have decayed or have even been closed for years ... this is not the fault of Covid19.

Prov. Modena, 1020 m asl. Pleasant and relaxing place, always lively and full of shops, bars, restaurants. Nice walk to the castle.

My mother was born there, I always frequented the country first with my parents, then alone; always beautiful country. Now that I have finally managed to retire, I will go to live there permanently for the tranquility and friendliness of the villagers. The museums that are located inside the Rocca dominating the town are beautiful and instructive; other interesting things are nearby and in the hamlets; Also worth visiting is the Montecreto museum: the house of the stone lions, a museum born from the initiative of a lover of archeology and local history with the help and donations of material from individuals including the history from prehistory to the Second World War . Another place to visit, the Olina bridge, dating back to around 1500m, the current one rebuilt on the ruins of another one even earlier. Beautiful slopes for winter sports lovers.

The old part of the town rises close to a high rocky spur on which stands the ancient Fortress, rebuilt in the second half of the 16th century, and whose strategic importance, located in the center of Frignano to guard the Scoltenna and Leo valleys, suggests that its origins date back a long time. The same name of Sestola is, almost certainly, of Roman derivation and is connected to a Sextus to whom this land was entrusted. Its written history begins with the conquest of the Lombards; the first document, in fact, in which his Castle is named is the Diploma of Astolfo of 753 AD, with which the king of the Lombards made a gift of the Castrum Sextulae and the territories adjacent to the Abbey of Nonantola, then founded by S. Anselmo. At the time of the Municipalities, Sestola joined the Federal Municipality of Frignano; it was then the scene of bitter clashes between the cities of Modena and Bologna, which fought several times for its possession until, in the 14th century, Sestola and Frignano joined the Este family. From that moment Sestola became the capital of the Province of Frignano, a title it kept until the early 1800s. After the restoration, Sestola lost its secular importance, finding itself cut off from the new commercial traffic which developed at the end of the 18th century following the opening of via Giardini (now SS 12 del Brennero); consequently the Fortress was transformed into a penitentiary which remained in business until 1866. At the end of the last century, while the town saw a new and concrete economic identity in the nascent tourism, the Fortress underwent a further transformation, hosting a Meteorological Observatory and a summer institute for the care of children. The practice of hiking that made Monte Cimone the most sought-after destination by the newborn sections of the C.A.I., the development of the forest heritage and the transformation of the town into a well-equipped health resort, made Sestola a welcoming and renowned holiday village. In this century, tourism has gradually become pre-eminent in the economy of the country and today, after a hundred years of experience and tradition, Sestola is among the primary resorts of the whole Apennines. The territory of Sestola extends from 321 m. of the Fondovalle Scoltenna at 2165 m. of Monte Cimone, with a different environmental structure according to the altitude. The downstream area of ​​the village is that of chestnut trees, turkey oaks and oaks; vines, wheat and other cereals are grown there. Located mainly in the valley of the rio Vesale, it is divided between the hamlets of Sestola. It is the most interesting area from the historical point of view and the one that has undergone minimal transformations from an environmental point of view, having always been cultivated and worked by local populations. It was crossed by the oldest communication road between Modena and Tuscany, from the redeveloped Val di Sasso bridge to Trentino di Fanano, from where it climbs to the Passo della Croce Arcana on the ridge. The upstream area, through the tourist settlements of Pian del Falco and Passo del Lupo, culminates in the summit of Cimone, an important station of the Apennine flora. Natural site for the practice of winter sports, it is the kingdom of beech, fir and high altitude pastures. It is the area, uninhabited until a few centuries ago, which has undergone the greatest environmental transformations: the centuries-old beech woods were cut down to make room first for pastures and then to feed the coal industry. Of note, near the pretty lake of Ninfa, at 1500 meters above sea level, the Esperia Garden, an ecological-educational oasis of national importance on the spontaneous Apennine flora and the introduced alpine flora, managed by the C.A.I. of Modena and open from May to September. Sestola, as a result of the strong tourist impact, has partly lost its traditions. However, clearly visible traces of it remained during the holidays.