Tuscany coast

To think that the Etruscan Coast is made up of only the sea and beaches is a big mistake :in- fact,here we are in a very complex territory,where nature and art recount the history of thousands of years.This is the land that enchanted the Etruscans,who lived there and explotted its enormous wealth.The Etruscans discovered the mines of the Fucinaia Valley,near Campiglia,and they are the ones who began the growing of olives and the viticulture that over the centuries have shaped the landscape of the hills of this area as they rise behind the sea.The powerful Etruscan fleet ploughed the Tyrrhenian Sea,sailing from the harbours of Vada and Baratti,while already in the 5th century Populonia coined its own money.After the end of the Etruscan period,this part of the Tuscan coast went under the first Roman domination,and then saw the birth of the feuds in the early Middle Ages.
A great number of castles and fortified villages built up on these hills are still in existence.to the point that it is along the Etruscan Coast that the most significant examples of Medieval architecture of all Tuscany can be traced.
And probably it is not by chance that the oldest Italian family living today,that of the Della Gherardesca counts,Longobard in origin,had chosen to live just in front of this strip of the Tyrrhenian Sea.So this territory is rich in artistic evidence of several epochs,but it is also an area of remarkable naturalistic value,where oases and parks protect the local “Mediterranean maquis” and the numerous animal species that still live here.
Art and nature,traditions and enogastronomy:the
Etruscan Coast is a continuous discovery,and not only during the summer months,the charming well-known way was for more than seven centuries the route of kings,emperors,monks and nuns or simple wayfarers.
It was around the year 1000 tha the religious unrest in Europe led to devotional journeys with precise destinations:Rome,the site of the martyrdom of St. Peter and St. Paul and,arguably,the lighthouse of Christianity;the Holy Land,in search of the pleaces of Christ’s passion;Santiago di Compostela,the extreme western point of the continent beyond which it was though no other lands existed,and where the Apostle James had been buried.
If not originating with this route,the famous saying “All roads lead to Rome “ certainly founf confirmation in it.
Entering Italy from the Valley of Aosta,the Francigena Way descended towards Rome through Piacenza,Parma,Lucca,Pisa,Pistoia,Florence and Siena,crossing then the Val di Chiana.
The route barely reached Pienza,while it touched Montepulciano and Chianciano Terme before bending south in the direction of Bagno Vignoni,Radicofani,Viterbo and finally Rome.