Grosseto & Around – beach, hot springs, churches & gelati

Saturday, 13 August 2016

After our visit to Aix-en-Provence in France my little European foray continued to flashy Portofino and on down to Grosseto, in the southern corner of Tuscany, heading towards Rome. The city has a fine cathedral, remnants of the city walls and an interesting museum.

▲ But we were staying at a friend’s farm, near the beach. We would pedal down this laneway three km to the beach.

▲ With warm water, hot sand, a weird assortment of people shapes and interesting driftwood shelter constructions on the beach near Principina a Mare. One evening we enjoyed a spectacular sunset with the shelters forming interesting silhouettes.

▲ Any seaside town in Italy should have some good gelateria, Maureen emerges from the excellent Gelateria Paradise in Castiglione della Pescaia just up the coast from Grosseto.

▲Venturing inland we stopped at the thermal baths at Saturnia where water has been cascading down the hillside through a series of pools since ancient times. It reminded me of Pamukkale in Turkey. Not far from Saturnia is the wonderful hilltop town of Pitigliano, it was the starting point for a walk we did eight years ago through Tuscany and Umbria with friends.

◄ When we departed Grosseto to drive across Italy to Venice we made a small diversion to the Abbey of Sant’Antimo (Abbazia di Sant’Antimo in Italian), a former Benedictine monastery near Montalcino. It’s an amazing old church, built starting around 1118, solid, soaring very austere and definitely worth the side trip.