Tuscany - Province of Grosseto (islands excluded)

I have been several times in the Province of Grosseto but only on one occasion did I make a short tourist itinerary, which I describe here. Having arrived in the province with a friend, we spent the night near Punta Ala, where the following morning, early, we visited the area of the famous tourist harbour that occupies the terminal part of a small peninsula. Bypassing Castiglione della Pescaia, a town where I had anyway been some years before, we reached Grosseto. The provincial capital has an old town gathered within hexagonal bastioned walls. In the scenic main square face one another the cathedral with its elegant façade in soft colours and the Palazzo della Provincia of Renaissance style with corbels and little towers.

Having had breakfast in a bar we continue inland into the Maremma as far as the slopes of Monte Amiata, where, brushing Arcidosso, beautiful to see also from the road, we stop at Santa Flora, a village with the air of an ancient hamlet, rich in stone houses, arches and churches. After eating a sandwich in a grocer's shop we push south as far as Saturnia. The old town of the little town is not exceptional but in the surroundings flow the famous hot, curative waters. There are many spa residences with pools to bathe in, but the most beautiful place is certainly the one where the water falls in little cascades that graze the walls of an old farmhouse. All around is a rural environment of cultivated fields alternating with low hills, typical of the Tuscan Maremma. There is no lack of farm stays, the winning formula of Maremma tourism.

From here we go to Sovana, a small village with a great history that draws its origins from Etruscan times, so much so that the surroundings are dotted with rock tombs of that people, partly visible also from the road. The town itself is a medieval village with Renaissance additions; it was for a long time a bishop's seat and gave birth to Pope Gregory VII. Compared with the size of the settlement the square is enormous, because it occupies a good part of it. Onto it face historic buildings such as the small Palazzo Pretorio, the Loggia del Capitano and two churches. The churches are all worth seeing because they are very ancient, but certainly the most interesting is the cathedral, whose entrance is not on the façade but on a side. Inside, austerity reigns in a setting of pure Romanesque style that makes it one of the greatest early medieval testimonies in all of Tuscany.

In the church there is also the sarcophagus of San Mamiliano and a crypt. One cannot leave this treasure chest of history without having observed the columns and arches that support the ceiling. The church is flanked by the Bishop's Palace and not far away is the birthplace of Pope Gregory VII. At Sovana there are also the remains of a fortress and stretches of walls. One can certainly affirm that at Sovana, where few souls now live, history is at home and has left its testimonies in every epoch. In a few kilometres we reach the decidedly larger Sorano, a beautiful small town clinging to the face of a hill of tufa. After all we are in the Tufa Archaeological Park; tufa is not a very hard stone and is easy to work, which is why the buildings here too are made with this material. In practice the houses are the artificial appendix of the natural ground where they stand.

Sorano is beautiful to see also from afar but it loses nothing of its charm even if we venture into this town, climbing up intricate lanes that wind among courtyards, arches, monumental portals and loggias. In the highest part, dominating the whole urban centre, are the palace of the local princes who governed until the Medici takeover and the Masso Leopoldino, which we climb to observe a grand panorama over the whole area. At Sorano there is also a Ghetto, but the Jews left it long ago. Descending towards the valley we observe that each single house is a piece of history, some dwelling spaces are even set directly into the tufa, and everything takes us back to the Middle Ages. A short distance and we are at Pitigliano; if the previous two stops had favourably surprised us, this town is certainly no less.

Pitigliano is set on a spur of tufa, whose lines the dwellings continue vertically, projecting towards the sky and thus forming impassable walls. In fact the houses sit right against the rocky spur that forms a precipice on three sides, making it inaccessible. Looking at it from the valley one cannot tell where the mountain ends and the buildings begin, because here everything is of the same material, tufa. The houses then end up intersecting with the rock itself, so much so that some spaces, particularly the cellars, are set into the rock. Its impregnability made it an important crossroads of history and a place where it was easy to feel protected. Probably for this reason a substantial Jewish community developed here in the past, so well integrated into the predominantly Catholic social fabric that the town earned the nickname "Little Jerusalem".

Wandering through the centre leads to the discovery of splendid architecture, of a mighty palace that belonged to the princes who governed here in the Middle Ages, of a square onto which monumental fountains face, of a Roman aqueduct, of churches from which history oozes, and of course of a Synagogue. We leave Pitigliano aware of having seen a place unique of its kind for history, architecture and environmental setting. We leave this southern extremity of Tuscany and, passing Manciano and Montemerano, move much further north, to Massa Marittima, an ancient town where I had already been some years before. Too beautiful not to see again its main square, onto which splendid civil and religious buildings face. Above all the fine diocesan cathedral with its mighty bell tower, flanked by the Bishop's Palace and preceded by a wide staircase.

On the other side of the square the Palazzo del Podestà, followed by that of the Comune, the loggias and many other medieval buildings that radiate from here to the rest of the old town. The alleys and streets are very beautiful to walk, but the square stays impressed on you because it really feels like immersing ourselves in antiquity. North of Massa Marittima we leave the Province of Grosseto and enter that of Pisa. As already said, this was not the only time I came to the Province of Grosseto, and on other occasions I had been also to Follonica, Orbetello and the Island of Giglio (for this last destination I refer you to the itinerary "Tuscan Archipelago"). At Orbetello, located at the centre of the lagoon of the same name on the promontory of Monte Argentario, I have been twice.