Tuscany Wonders Series
4 itineraries for 4 days, discovering new marvels in Maremma
Summer is behind the corner and this is the season of short trips and weekends, waiting for the holidays. Coming back to Tuscany, that we have explored just in Val d’ Orcia and Florence areas, I feel Maremma it’s lovely for 3/4 days of relaxing, eating and sunbathing.
I want to start sharing few places for your stay and I have no doubts about enjoying the countryside and pinewoods, instead of staying by the beach, that would be very crowded, or in the middle of a city or village, that won’t give the same level of peace and freedom.
Starting from the North area, we have 2 different options and level of stay. Il Baciarino is a widespread agriturimo, made of little cottages instead of rooms. It’s managed by a group of friends, that have chosen a simple country life, that they slowly spend offering hospitality, gardening, cooking (the kitchen offers a fixed menu per each meal, so you cannot choose between a selection of courses), creating and selling ceramics.
La Pescaia Resort is a completely different environment, still a family business, that bought and renovated a 19th century farm, transforming into a luxury country villa with rooms and apartment, a swimming pool, a restaurant, a big field of olive trees that gives them extra virgin olive oil and a beautiful farm with animals and vegetables garden.
For both, it’s possible to book lunch and dinner even if you’re not a guest.
Moving towards Rome, another beautiful and well known area is the Silver Coast, the Southern part of Maremma. Here, I recommend Anonima Agricola, a modern farm house inspired by the original family house attached to it with a handful of rooms facing the countryside. No dinner or lunch served, but a sweet/savory tasty breakfast homemade with local products is served every morning.
The last one, I’ve not been yet but I hope I’ll visit soon, is the collection of villas, cottages and tents of Terre di Sacra, a project created to celebrate the beauty of the surrounding nature.
That said, I’ve built 4 easy itineraries for 4 relaxing summery days, that will allow you to enjoy the day without loosing too much time driving up and down the coast.
My proposal for this first day is a long and relaxing beach day at Bella Vita, a sailing and surfing school in a middle of a desert beach, just sand on each side. You’ll reach the beach walking for 20mins in the pinewood and once there there’re no bar or toilets, so you need to bring everything from home. Realistically, it’s not too far from Castiglione della Pescaia and Rocchette, so it’s easy to provide food before reaching the beach.
After a long day at the beach, a bottle of iced wine is well deserved, you can drink there, they have big fridge to keep cold anything the guests will need (but you need to bring glasses) or you can drive to Le Mortelle, the nicest little winery in the middle of the countryside. They belong to Antinori family and produce just 3/4 wines. You can book a visit to the cellar with a wine tasting or just seat in the garden, admiring the countryside and the sea on the horizon, having an aperitivo. Last for the day, a dinner at Il Baciarino, that we have already met before in this post, it’s just few minutes driving from Le Mortelle and it would be a perfect end of the day.
Still in the northern part of Maremma, closer to Follonica, this second day would be little trekking day. Reach the Info Point close to Ristorante il Cantuccio (which is actually really good with an incredible panoramic window looking the sea), Lungomare Giuseppe Garibaldi 36, and start your walk from there. You can reach Cala Martina after 2km and Cala Violina in 4km, it’s a lovely walk in the wood with a beautiful view, perfect if you have a dog. Both these beaches are dog friendly, but become really crowded in Summer, so I suggest to arrive early in the morning and, again, you need to bring food and drinks (Cala Violina needs also to be booked, paying 2€ for the access, since it’s been quite ‘abused’ in the past, municipality now tries to preserve it). Later in the day, I suggest a nice walk in Castiglione della Pescaia, which is a pure gem with its Medieval village and a pizza at Medusa Negra, very understated, far from the mess, no reservation and pizza is great (sharable pizza split in different flavours).
For the third day, I would move from the coast, driving through the countryside and reaching some one of a kind places that it’s mandatory to discover. Take the morning to visit Sorano and Sovana and stop a little more in Pitigliano, a village that literally comes out from tufo, a typical stone present in the area. For lunch, you can’t miss Trattoria del Grillo for the most traditional meal. Last for the day, it’s a plunge in thermal water at Cascate del Mulino in Saturnia, it’s free and crowded in middle hours, but it should be better towards the end of the day. The nature is stunning and the warm thermal water is really restoring.
As last itinerary, we move to the South, where sand becomes rocks and the water is even more clean and crystal. Il Bagno delle Donne is a beautiful lido embedded in rocks, the first glimpse from the street is really impressive, it looks like a painting. I promise, it’ll be a beautiful beach day, followed by a visit at the iconic Giardino dei Tarocchi, built by Niki de Saint Phalle, where she lived for a while. It’s an imaginary garden characterized by huge sculptures of fantasy and mystic figures made of glass and mirrors, a major work of art that it must be seen if you pass the south Tuscany area. A perfect dinner would be at La Dogana, still runs by Terre di Sacra, fish restaurant on the beach (it’s also lovely to spend the day at La Dogana Beach Club and have lunch at their restaurant) with a colonial inspired interior design and a fresh breeze coming from the sea.
xx A.
