What is Premilcuore known for?

Cold natural pools cut into sandstone by the Rabbi river below the borgo, used by residents and visitors through summer. Romagna-side entry point to the Parco Nazionale delle Foreste Casentinesi, with most of the ninety-eight square kilometers under park protection. Belonged to the Republic of Florence from 1375 and the Grand Duchy of Tuscany after that, only joining Romagna in 1923.

Where is Premilcuore?

Premilcuore is a comune in the province of Forlì-Cesena, Emilia-Romagna region of Italy, about 42 kilometers from Forlì.

Emilia-Romagna · Forlì-Cesena

Premilcuore

A 459-meter walled borgo on the Rabbi river, an entry point to the Foreste Casentinesi from the Romagna side.

42 km / 26 mi

Nearest hub (Forlì)

692

Population

Apr–Oct

Best time to visit

Recognised as

Why come

Premilcuore sitsin the upper Rabbi valley on the Romagna-Tuscany border, fifty kilometers north of Florence and inside the Parco Nazionale delle Foreste Casentinesi. The Rocca and the medieval wall ring a centro storico of fewer than three hundred residents; the southern gate, Porta Fiorentina, still carries the marks of the 1375 surrender that put Premilcuore inside the Florentine state until 1923. The town belonged to the Guidi counts of Modigliana from 1124, then to Caterina Sforza in the 1490s, then to Florence for five centuries. The Rabbi runs cold and clear through gorges below the borgo, with pools cut into the sandstone that the locals use through summer. The municipality covers ninety-eight square kilometers, mostly old-growth beech and silver-fir forest inside the national park, with six people per square kilometer. Bandiera Arancione recognition arrived in the 2000s.

The slow-trip planner

Building a trip? Find where Premilcuore fits in a slow Italy circuit.

Answer five questions. We will shape a geographically coherent slow trip from the 1,000 Italian towns most travelers skip. Yours to save and share.

Plan your trip

Gallery

5 photos · scroll →

Known for

Rocca di Premilcuore
Medieval fortress at the top of the borgo, held by the Guidi counts from 1124 and later by Florence, now in partial restoration.
Porta Fiorentina
Southern gate of the walled centro storico, the surviving original entry after the demolition of the Porta di Sotto on the north side.
Chiesa di Santa Maria
Parish church inside the walls, restored after damage in the 1918 earthquake, with a Renaissance baptismal font.
Gole del Rabbi
Sandstone gorges and natural pools cut by the Rabbi river below the borgo, with marked trails along both banks.
Parco Nazionale delle Foreste Casentinesi
Old-growth beech and silver-fir forest covering most of the municipality, reached from the Rabbi valley by way of Premilcuore.

When to visit

Best months · Apr–Oct

Best
Hot or crowded
Quiet
Mostly closed

April through June brings the Rabbi at full water and the forest in early green, the months to hike from the borgo to the Foreste Casentinesi ridge. July and August fill the river pools below town and touch thirty degrees in the centro storico; the upper forest stays cool. September and October are the chestnut and porcini season, with the colors changing on the beech slopes through November. Winter is quiet, with most of the few osterie closed Monday through Wednesday and snow possible above five hundred meters from late December. The Sagra del Marrone in mid-October and the summer Festa di San Lorenzo are the calendar events; outside those weekends the borgo belongs to the residents.