Tuscan Hill Towns, Villages and Hamlets in Maremma

The Undiscovered Hill Towns of Tuscany

Tuscan hill towns: Gerfalaco in Maremma, Italy

The Tuscan hill towns, villages and hamlets in Maremma sit proud in dense oak-wooded Maremman hills and massifs in this wild and undiscovered part of Tuscany. Along the Granducato di Toscana coastline, their centres are medieval castles, forts and towers that originally provided protection from Barbary pirates.

They are special places with spectacular panoramic views of the surrounding landscape that will take your breath away.

Way off the Tuscany tour routes - you will be hard pressed to find another English speaking tourist during your visit - they are perfect for the independent traveller seeking an experience of real every day life within the Tuscan countryside.

Where men do sit together every day in the shade under trees in the small "piazzi" (sometimes so small, other than for the sign on the wall, you would be forgiven for not recognising it as a "piazza" - town square) engaging conversation with whoever passes by.

Where the women do hang out the washing - knickers and undies, the lot! - along pulley-lines between apartments across narrow medieval streets or over tiny balconies... there are no tumble dryers here.

Where the local children are known and recognised by the same people who remember the antics of their parents when they were younger, and who grew-up with their grandparents. Families in these towns and villages live in the same homes that their ancestors occupied for centuries, albeit now with gas, electricity and water connected.

Here, the pattern of everyday life is dominated by the changing seasons. The pruning hard of the vines or olive trees, the tending to the grapes, the harvesting of the abundant summer apricots, cherries, oranges... and then the autumn grapes and olives... The first press of the olive oil in the shared "frantoio"... the sagre celebrating the autumnal chestnuts or porcini mushrooms.

But a stay in these Tuscan hill towns and villages does not have to be at the expense of visits to the main cultural or tourist centres of Tuscany. Depending where you choose - Maremma is an extensive land - you can be in Siena, Florence, San Gimignano, Volterra, Moteriggioni, Pisa and even Rome, in under an hour.

As yet undiscovered by English and American visitors, many Germans, Swiss and Austrians have brought second homes amongst these hills for the pure peace and tranquility they offer with the beautiful Tyrrhenian coastline right on the doorstep...

The photograph above is of Gerfalco in Maremma Grossetana and is by kind permission of Enzo Tiberi.