The Other Tuscany: Exploring Tuscany's Wild South

This Friday might be raining here in Florence but let us take you two hours south to a place that is special to our hearts. Here are flamingos in the lagoons, cowboys working long-horned cattle, a beach where there is finally peace from the summer crowds, and some of the clearest (and cleanest) water on the Italian coast.

Georgette and Valentina travel the Maremma coast north to south from one home base: ZoWorking's villa in Punta Ala, the pine-forest resort town shaped in many ways by Florentine architect Walter Di Salvo. Valentina brings the insider's version (the Maremma Tuscans actually vacation in, and why Marina di Grosseto is the beach they don't tell foreigners about). Georgette shares what she fell in love with when she first visited the area (which you can read about here). You'll come away with a realistic plan: where to base yourself, what to book ahead, and which stops are worth the drive.

IN THIS EPISODE

• Punta Ala: a town once called Punta Troia, renamed for fascist-era aviator Italo Balbo, home port to Luna Rossa in the 2000 America's Cup, and a quiet place Tuscans go to disappear
• Walter Di Salvo: the overlooked Florentine architect who drew Punta Ala's 1959–60 master plan, built villas that sit inside the pine forest rather than on top of it, and claimed to have given Tuscany its first roundabouts
• The villa: why we're basing this trip at Zoworking's villa in Punta Ala, and what a perfect first day there looks like
• Cala Violina: the "singing beach" near Scarlino, why it needs a summer reservation, and why you carry your rubbish out (wild boar)
• Follonica: an old iron-smelting town with a foundry museum, Blue Flag beaches, and Elba on the horizon
• Castiglione della Pescaia: a working fishing harbor under a walled medieval town
• Diaccia Botrona: one of Italy's most important wetlands, 200+ bird species, and the pitch for birdwatching if you've never owned binoculars
• Marina di Grosseto: Art Nouveau villas, the retro Sciangai district, and the family beach town foreigners have never heard of
• The Maremma Park and the butteri: long-horned Maremmana cattle, the mounted herders who work them, and what Italian cowboys actually have in common with Texan ones
• Talamone: Garibaldi's fortress, kitesurfing at Fertilia, and Paolo the Fisherman, who sank marble sculptures into the sea to stop illegal trawlers (and it worked)
• Orbetello and the lagoon: a town floating on a strip of land, flamingos, a lone Spanish windmill, and smoked eel
• Monte Argentario: a former island, Spanish forts, the Roman summer crowd, how normal people do it, and Caravaggio's death in Porto Ercole
• How to do it: why you need a car, what to book ahead, and why late spring and September–October are the sweet spot
• Cose a Caso: as always, unscripted

LINKS MENTIONED

• Stay at the villa: Villa di Salvo: https://www.mamoflorence.com/puntaalaluxury, and you can see all of their luxury offerings here.
• ZoWorking Sesto Fiorentino: https://zoworking.com/
• Cala Violina bookings: https://booking.calaviolinascarlino.it/
• Parco Regionale della Maremma: parco-maremma.it
• Paolo the Fisherman / Casa dei Pesci: paoloilpescatore.it

This episode is made in partnership with ZoWorking, who own the villa featured and host our studio.

Big thanks to Vivace Media for producing the show, and to ZO Working Sesto Fiorentino for hosting us, this time all the way down to the coast. If this one made you want to drive south, leave us a review, share it with someone planning a Tuscany trip, and tell us your favourite Maremma beach.

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