The Maremma, the coastal lowland and hill zone of southern Tuscany between Livorno and the Lazio border, with Grosseto as its capital, is the section of Tuscany that the standard Tuscany tourist itinerary skips: it has no Uffizi, no Piazza del Campo, no David. What it has instead is the specific Tuscany that existed before the wine-tourism and agriturismo (farm stay) economy transformed the Chianti and the Val d'Orcia into a luxury outdoor museum: the working agricultural landscape of the Maremma (the Chianina cattle, the Maremmano horses, the cinghiale wild boar that the butteri, the Maremma cowboys, have herded and hunted on this territory for centuries), the long sandy beaches of the Costa d'Argento (the Silver Coast. Castiglione della Pescaia, Marina di Grosseto, Punta Ala) that are less crowded than the Versilia coast north of Livorno, and the medieval hill towns of the interior (Massa Marittima, Pitigliano, Sorano, Sovana, the tufo-carved Etruscan and medieval towns of the southern Maremma that constitute the "Via Cava" network) that see a fraction of the visitors that Montepulciano and Montalcino receive.
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The Maremma: Essential Stops
Grosseto: The Medieval Capital
Grosseto (the Maremma capital, 140km south of Florence on Via Aurelia) is a provincial Italian city enclosed by the most intact hexagonal medieval walls in Tuscany, the Medici walls (built 1574-1593 under the Medici Grand Duchy, maintaining the original bastion-and-curtain wall military architecture with minimal next modification) form a perfect walkable perimeter of approximately 3km that Grossetini use daily for their passeggiata (traditional evening stroll). The historic center within the walls is modest, the Cathedral of San Lorenzo (14th century, with its specific Sienese Gothic exterior) and the Museo Archeologico e d'Arte della Maremma (the museum with the Etruscan and Roman material from the Maremma sites. Vetulonia, Rusellae, Cosa) are the principal attractions, but the walls themselves are the experience. Walk the full circuit on the elevated walkway for the specific combination of medieval military architecture and flat Maremma agricultural panorama.
Parco Naturale della Maremma: The Butteri and the Wild Coast
The Parco Naturale della Maremma (the protected area between Principina a Mare and Talamone, accessible from the visitor center at Alberese, 15km south of Grosseto) is the wildest coastal nature reserve in Tuscany, the pine forest, the Mediterranean scrub, the wetlands, and the 3km of coastline accessible only on foot or by guided park transport preserve the specific Maremma ecosystem of the Uccellina hills. The specific Maremma wildlife: the white Maremmano cattle (the specific indigenous cattle breed managed by the butteri, the Maremma horsemen, in the traditional seasonal transhumance) and the fallow deer and wild boar that inhabit the Uccellina pinewoods. Park access requires booking guided excursions at parco-maremma.it. The full-day "Le Torri" excursion covering the coastal towers and the Uccellina hills is the most complete experience.
Pitigliano, Sorano, Sovana: The Tufo Towns
The three tufo towns of the southern Maremma (60-80km southeast of Grosseto) are the most dramatic medieval townscapes in Tuscany and among the most dramatic in Italy: Pitigliano (the "Little Jerusalem", a Jewish community flourished here from the 16th century under the relative tolerance of the Orsini lords, and the synagogue and Jewish quarter are partially intact), Sorano (the medieval hill town with the tufo-carved Orsini fortress and the specific quality of a town that hasn't been restored for tourism), and Sovana (the birthplace of Pope Gregory VII, the reforming 11th-century pope who humiliated the Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV at Canossa, with its Romanesque cathedral and the Etruscan via cava cut into the rock).
Q&A: Grosseto and the Maremma
When is the best time to visit the Maremma?
May-June and September-October: the Parco della Maremma is fully open, the beaches are accessible without July-August crowds, and the Maremma landscape (the wildflowers in May, the golden light on the stubble fields in September) is at its most visually specific. July-August: the Costa d'Argento beaches are excellent but crowded with Italian summer tourists (Castiglione della Pescaia is one of the most popular Tuscan resort beaches). November-March: the Maremma parks operate reduced schedules but the tufo towns (Pitigliano, Sorano, Sovana) are completely unvisited and the atmospheric quality of the empty medieval streets in winter fog is specific to this season.
