The Maremma

The Maremma's sea is not the crowded postcard kind: it is long golden beaches, dunes and pine woods that run right down to the sand. The most famous is Marina di Alberese, inside the Maremma Park: reached through the pinewood, it offers a wide, wild shoreline with sea-smoothed driftwood and the Argentario on the horizon.

For a picture-perfect spot, head to Cala Violina, a crescent of fine sand earned with a short walk through the woods. For easier, fully-serviced beaches there are Castiglione della Pescaia — an elegant town on the promontory — and the coves of Punta Ala and Talamone, a small harbour loved by sailors and sunsets.

Just minutes from the house await the Terme di Saturnia: the Cascate del Mulino are natural pools of sulphurous water at 37°C, free and open to all, where bathing at sunset is an experience you will not forget.

Don't miss the tufa towns — Pitigliano, the 'little Jerusalem', with Sovana and Sorano — carved into the rock and crossed by the mysterious Etruscan Vie Cave sunken roads. Then the Maremma Park, with the trails of the Uccellina hills where Maremma cattle still graze, herded by the butteri, Tuscany's last cowboys.

For wine lovers, the roads of Morellino di Scansano and Montecucco are dotted with wineries where you can taste among the vines. And the medieval village of Campagnatico, with its parish church and quiet lanes, is right outside the door: sometimes the finest experience is simply the evening stroll.

Maremma cooking is honest and generous, born of the land and the life of the butteri. The signature dish is acquacotta, a bread-and-vegetable soup that tells centuries of country life; alongside it, tortelli maremmani filled with ricotta and spinach, hand-rolled pici and wild-boar ragùs scented with Mediterranean scrub.

The table also brings Maremma-breed beef, cured meats, pecorino cheese and the hills' extra-virgin olive oil, all with a glass of Morellino di Scansano, the local red. Below are the restaurants we recommend in person: from the closest, walkable in the village, to the trattorias worth the trip.