La Scaletta: Pizzeria Restaurant in Castiglione della Pescaia

Ristorante Pizzeria La Scaletta, Castiglione della Pescaia...

This Pizzeria Restaurant is located in a panoramic place in the historic center of Castiglione della Pescaia, a few steps from the central square of the town, Piazza della Repubblica. From this square you take the uphill road that connects the square to the old town with the Porta di Santa Maria del Giglio. The restaurant is located right where ...

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Casty: Neapolitan and Contemporary Pizzeria Restaurant in Castiglione della Pescaia

Ristorante Pizzeria Casty, Castiglione della Pescaia

Brand new pizzeria restaurant located in an excellent position right in the center of the lower town of Castiglione della Pescaia. This pizza restaurant is located in the same place where the La Pergola restaurant was in the past. The place is very beautiful and overlooks the central square of the town, Piazza della Repubblica, right at the intersection with ...

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Pievasciata: The Parish Church of San Giovanni Battista

Pievasciata, Castelnuovo Berardenga, Siena. Autore e Copyright Marco Ramerini

The Parish Church of San Giovanni Battista in Pievascita is a splendid medieval parish church located in the Chianti countryside north of Siena. The state of abandonment of recent years has meant that part of the roof has collapsed. In the first part of 2022 the church was sold by the Diocese of Siena to a private company which plans ...

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A day in Vetulonia: among Etruscan and Roman remains, and a beautiful museum

We are at the seaside in Castiglione della Pescaia, but we decide to spend a day hunting for history. Our destination is the nearby medieval village of Vetulonia. This small inhabited center was known until the end of the nineteenth century by the name of Colonna or Colonna di Buriano, before Isidoro Falchi’s excavations no one knew where ancient Vetulonia ...

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The Church of Rencine: The Rectory of San Michele

La Pieve di Rencine, Castellina in Chianti. Autore e Copyright Marco Ramerini

An ancient Romanesque rectory in good condition is that of San Michele in Rencine. Its origin is lost in the mists of time, perhaps it was built in the eighth century. The current church has a rectangular plan, the facade is particular and of great value and represents the oldest part of the church. Next to it is the Chapel ...

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Uzzano: an ancient castle village

Uzzano is a characteristic village 3 km from Pescia in the province of Pistoia. To reach it from Pescia, take the road near the Church of San Francesco which climbs towards the hill on the left side of the Pescia river valley. The foundation of Uzzano took place in medieval times when a castle was built by a noble family ...

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The Castle of Castiglione della Pescaia

The famous seaside resort of Castiglione della Pescaia is dominated above all by an imposing medieval castle which encloses the historic center of the town with its walls. The castle of Castiglione della Pescaia was built around a tower built by the Pisans in the 10th century to which, later, sections of the wall were added which join it to ...

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Villa Bellavista in Buggiano: a Tuscan Baroque building

Near Borgo a Buggiano, along the road that connects Borgo a Buggiano with Chiesina Uzzanese, a few kilometers from Montecatini Terme, is the splendid Villa Bellavista, a Baroque-style building dating back to the 17th century, it is among the most beautiful villas in Tuscan baroque. The building is now owned by the Ministry of the Interior which has assigned it ...

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Buggiano: a group of small medieval villages

Buggiano Castello, located on a small hill, is the historic nucleus of the municipality of Buggiano, where there was a castle since the Middle Ages. Further down, another village was formed over time, today Borgo a Buggiano, home to the livestock market. The castle, strategically very important, was disputed between the republics of Florence and Lucca during the 13th and ...

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Carrara: the main Italian center of marble

Carrara (66,000 inhabitants, 100 meters above sea level) is known throughout the world for its precious marble (Marmo di Carrara) which is extracted from quarries in the nearby Apuan Alps. The city which is the main Italian center for the extraction of marble is of medieval origin. The marble quarries on the Apuan Alps were used since Roman times. The ...

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Monte Amiata: an extinct volcano in Tuscany

Upper between 400,000 and 200,000 years ago. It is located in the southern part of the region, in Maremma, and is visible from a great distance. For example, on clear days, it is clearly visible from the Florentine Chianti which is about 80 km as the crow flies. The mountain rises to 1,738 meters above sea level and is heavily ...

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Roccastrada: a panoramic balcony over the Maremma

Roccastrada is located in a beautiful position overlooking the Maremma, at an altitude of 475 meters in the Grosseto Metalliferous Hills. The town is located in a panoramic position towards Monte Amiata and the plain of the Ombrone and its tributaries. Roccastrada was since the Middle Ages an important mining center where there were copper and silver mines. AN ANCIENT ...

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The Castle of Triana: feud of the Piccolomini family of Siena

The Castle of Triana is located about 6 km from Roccalbegna in the direction of Monte Amiata. In the past this castle was also called with the names of Triana di Santa Fiora or Atriana. The castle is located at an altitude of 767 m above a rocky knoll to the west of the mountainous buttress which from Monte Labbro ...

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Roccalbegna: a village dominated by two fortresses

Roccalbegna is a picturesque village located at the confluence of two rivers, the Marlancione and the Albegna, the town is dominated by high overhanging cliffs. Roccalbegna is located at an altitude of 522 metres. The buildings of Roccalbegna are almost all in stone. Among the monuments of interest is the Romanesque parish church of Saints Peter and Paul from the ...

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Osteria Restaurant La Sosta di Pio VII in Barberino Val d’Elsa (Florence)

Ristorante La Sosta a Barberino Val d'Elsa

Located along the ancient Strada Regia Romana, the current Via Cassia between Poggibonsi and Barberino Val d’Elsa, the restaurant is located in front of the hill of Sant’Appiano. The farmhouse where the Osteria Restaurant is located is known locally as the “Pisciata del Papa” because Pope Pius VII stopped here on 2 June 1815 to satisfy the bodily needs of ...

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Restaurant Pizzeria Triocco in Barberino Val d’Elsa (Florence)

Ristorante Pizzeria Triocco, Barberino Val d'Elsa

In the historic center of Barberino Val d’Elsa in a location with an enviable panorama is the Ristorante Pizzeria Triocco. The restaurant has seats both inside, in an old house, and outside on a panoramic terrace overlooking the Chianti area. Among the delicacies are the Pici with Cinta Senese ragout with truffle and fried sage. The pizzas are very good ...

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Manciano: a village with an imposing medieval fortress

Manciano is located in the center of an area of great archaeological importance, about 60 km from Grosseto, 18 km south-west of Pitigliano and 40 km north-east of Orbetello. The town, located on the top of a hill at an altitude of 444 metres, is dominated by the Rocca Aldobrandesca, today the seat of the municipality. The village of Manciano ...

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Ansedonia: the ruins of the ancient Roman city of Cosa

The Roman colony of Cosa (Ansedonia) was founded in 273 BC. This colony was built in a strategic position on a hill overlooking the Tyrrhenian coast south of the Argentario. The colony was fortified with massive walls. The inhabited area was built later, since the precedence was given to the fortifications and public buildings. On the top of the hill ...

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Forte delle Saline: guarding the salt pans of Orbetello

The Saline fort is located at the mouth of the Albegna river near the Porto Santo Stefano-Giannella dell’Aurelia exit, at the exit you take the direction of Porto Santo Stefano (Monte Argentario), after a few meters, before the bridge you turn right onto a dirt road which shortly leads to the fort, which is already visible from the main road. ...

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Paganico: a walled village in the Maremma

A few kilometers from Grosseto is the medieval village of Paganico, located along the Ombrone plain at 63 meters above sea level. In the Middle Ages Paganico was a small center under the control of the Aldobrandeschi, which in the XIII century became part of the possessions of the Republic of Siena. Siena decided in 1262 to erect it as ...

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Tower of Castel Marino: a coastal tower in Maremma

Located along the coast of the Maremma Natural Park, the Tower of Castel Marino is 102 meters high on the top of a hill from which there is a wide view towards the sea and the mouth of the Ombrone. Until the eighteenth century the sea must have lapped the base of the hill where the tower is located, while ...

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Maremma Natural Park: the Tuscan coast

The Maremma Natural Park is located in the province of Grosseto, along 25 km of the Tyrrhenian coast between the mouth of the Ombrone and Talamone rivers, in the territories of the municipalities of Grosseto, Magliano in Toscana and Orbetello. Maremma Park can be reached from the north along the SS 1 Aurelia, exit about 7 km south of Grosseto ...

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The Medici Fortress of Poggio Imperiale in Poggibonsi

The hill of Poggio Imperiale is an area of about 12 hectares located west of the modern city of Poggibonsi. This is an area of high archaeological interest. In this place, between 1155 and 1270, was the site of the first urban nucleus of “Podium Bonizi”. Here, in 1155, Guido Guerra, of the Guidi Counts, built a new city in ...

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Abbey of Monte Oliveto Maggiore

Monte Oliveto Maggiore is located about 30 km southeast of Siena. The abbey can be reached by crossing the characteristic territory of the Crete Senesi. The abbey of Monte Oliveto Maggiore above all for the environment in which it is located, but also for the buildings that are part of it and for the works of art that are preserved ...

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Capalbio: a medieval village in southern Tuscany

The medieval village of Capalbio is located in the extreme south of Tuscany, 219 meters above sea level, a short distance from the Via Aurelia and the sea. Capalbio is mentioned for the first time in a document dated 805 in which Charlemagne donated Capalbio to the Tre Fontane Abbey in Rome. The name Capalbio seems to derive from “caput ...

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