Grosseto (80,000 inhabitants (2008), 10 meters above sea level) is the most important town of the Maremma, lies at the heart of the vast flood plain of the river Ombrone a short distance from the sea. Grosseto is situated in Southern Tuscany, about 12 km from the sea in the Ombrone alluvional valley. The origins of Grosseto can be traced to the High Middle Ages. In 803 A.D., there is the first written evidence of a settlement "in loco Grossito", which by 973 A.D. had already assumed the characteristics of a settlement with a church and a castrum. Grosseto stood on a navigable stretch nearer to the mouth of the Ombrone River, and representing the main river port along the Tyrrhenian coast between Pisa and Roma. In April 1138, following the translation of the bishop's seat from the ancient Etruscan-Roman city of Roselle to Grosseto, Grosseto formally acquired the rank of city. The official recognition of the consular Municipality by the lords of the city (the Aldobrandeschi) dates back to 1204. In 1222, the Aldobrandeschi granted the inhabitants of Grosseto the power to name a captain of the people (podestà).

The years between 1334-1336 were that of Grosseto submission to Siena. In the early decades of the 1500's, Grosseto represented one of the most important military outpost of the Siena's State. Grosseto became part of the Florentine-Medici duchy in July 1557. The Medici neglected the Grosseto territory. It was only under the Lorene, thanks to Pietro Leopoldo, that the province of Grosseto was finaly separated from Siena. In 1766 the Grand Duchy Peter Leopold entrusted to Leonardo Ximenes the "physical reduction" of the swampy areas. The effects of land reclamation were not decisive and the stagnation of the period during unification was the result. During Fascism were resumed the tense Lorraine attempts to eliminate the swamp with a system of reclaimed land. Numerous public buildings were built.  

The historic town is surrounded by a hexagonal wall of the sixteenth century, but Grosseto originated as a castle already in the tenth century, when it was in the possession of Aldobrandeschi, in the fourteenth century it became the possession of the Republic of Siena, and then with the fall of the latter under the rule of Florence, Grosseto became the outpost of the Medici in Maremma, they, in the sixteenth century built the hexagonal walls and the Medicean Fortress that today we can admire. This fortress was decided to build in 1561, when Cosimo I visited Grosseto. The construction was launched by Francesco I in 1574; the design is by Baldassare Lanci. The work was completed 19 years later under Ferdinando I. Repetti in his Dizionario Cartografico della Toscana opens the description Grosseto: "Fortified city. Not very big. Strongly protected by its walls, six bastions and a fortress; two doors only: one towards the terra firma, the other by which one can access the sea".

The city hosts an interesting archaeological museum with important imperial statues from nearby Roselle and a collection of sacred art. Among the religious buildings, most notably the Duomo dedicated to San Lorenzo and the church of San Francesco.

Near Roselle on the summit of the hill of Poggio di Moscona it's a large circular construction, called "Tino di Moscona", this construction is in stone masonry, without openings, to which can be approached through two openings of collapsed wall; in the inside traces of other collapsed constructions and an underground vault room. 

USEFUL INFORMATION:

Weekly market in Grosseto: Thursday
Weekly market, in Piazza Esperanto, Piazza de Maria, Via Ximenes, every Thursday from 8.00 to 13.30.

Tourist Information Office - Grosseto
Agenzia per il Turismo della Maremma
Viale Monterosa, 206 58100 Grosseto
Tel. 0564462611 Fax 0564454606 e-mail: info@lamaremma.info

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