OUR 4 MONTH ITALIAN ADVENTURE (LA NOSTRA AVENTURA) SCARLINO, & MASSA MARITIMA, ITALY

Welcome Back!!!

It has been an amazing week, and let me tell you all about it.

As mentioned on previous post we were planning to rent a car, and we did!!!  We went to Hertz -Follonica, Monica, our Customer Service  was so nice and helpful. We rented a Fiat 500… We love it!!  There were a few challenges as neither Raffaele or I have driven standard for more than 20 years, so getting used to it took a little bit of time.  As well, most Italians really don’t follow the speed limits, I feel they think it is more of a guide than a limit.  We were driving at the speed limit and we had all these cars passing us and giving us the evil look…..

We bought a GPS to guide us and it has been terrific…. the one that we have at home tell us “recalculating” when we screw up… the one that we bought here doesn’t, so we are figuring it out as we go. What usually happens is  that we  miss an exit and then 5 minutes laters we end up in the same spot that we were before…hahaha.

Check it out, it is so cute !!!! by the way, we found it really spacious and it drives marvelously on the highway.

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SCARLINO is a Municipality in the Province of Grosseto, it is part of the Maremma, and part of Tuscany.  It borders with Follonica and it is about 15 minutes by train.  In our daily walks to the beach, we are able to walk from Follonica to the Port of Scarlino… not quite where the train left us.

A little bit of history taken from Wikipedia (trying to be accurate),

“Scarlino appeared before the year 1000 as a possession of the Aldobrandeschi family and was later handed over to the bishops of Roselle and then the Alberti family. In the 13th century it was acquired again by the Aldobrandeschi, but later it passed to Pisa and then the Appiani of Piombino.

Scarlino remained part of the Principality of Piombino until the early 19th century when it became part of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany.”

Getting to this town has a story to tell, and I would love to share it with you.  Here goes the dialogue between Raffaele and me on the day prior to our visit to Scarlino by car.  The day before we got the car  we decided to take the train as Scarlino was so close.  We walked around Scarlino Scalo, and then we decided to go to Scarlino Paese.  They told us it was about a 5 Km walk.  I thought that is easy !!! We walked 5 km. every day going up is going to be easy…. Raffaele had a completely different viewpoint.  So here it goes:

Roxana:   Baby let’s walk to Scarlino Paese, it is only 5 Km. we do that every day, I feel it will take us probably 1 hour

Raffaele:  Sweetie, it is not easy to go up, remember the town is at the top of the mountain it will take us a good 2.5 to 3 hours to get to the top.  Also, we have Gigi and it will be hard for her.

Roxana:  Oh! I don’t think so … I think we can do it… come on let’s do it.

Raffaele:  Trust me! you don’t want to do this climb walking… Let’s do it tomorrow that we have the car.

Roxana:  ( A not to happy Roxana agreed)  Fine!   As long as tomorrow you don’t change your mind about driving to the top of the town.

Well, let me tell you  my husband was 100% right! (he is going to love this).    It would have been crazy trying to get up to the top of the town in such a short time, as well as we were going up with all the swirls and swirls to get to the top.  Having the car was amazing and it was a breeze getting to the top ( HaHaHa).

 

This is a view of Tuscany from the top of the town – beautiful Tuscan countryside with the rolling hills  and olive trees.

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It was cold and windy around 13 to 15 – but it didn’t feel warm – can you notice there are no people on the streets – it seems that we are always showing up around “siesta time” so people are at home resting, businesses are closed… we have the town ALL FOR OURSELVES.

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This is the Plaza of Giuseppe Garibaldi ( Father of the Italian Confederation).

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The plaque on this building commemorates  the people born in Scarlino who died during the Second World War.

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Beautiful up/down streets take you to the different corners of the town – you can find beautiful small boutiques… (of course all closed because we arrived at the wrong time)…

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I have a secret to tell – I have a fascination with doors – I have a Pinterest board dedicated only to “Architecture Details”… here is one of the few that I found in Scarlino that caught my eye…

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This is the Church of San Donato.  The church is in a Romanesque Style and it pertains to the XIV century.

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The Convent has been converted into a Restaurant now…. Sadly it was closed when we were there so this is the only picture I was able to take.

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Beautiful fresco – on the Oratory of Santa Croce

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Walls from the 11th century restored in the 13th century – part of the Rocca Aldobrandesca.

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A picture of “happy us” after our 2-hour visit to Scarlino with a beautiful background of Tuscany….  Now on our way to Massa Maritima.

 

MASSA MARITIMA is also part of the Province of Grosseto and it is located at around 20 km from Follonica, and as the other towns are also part of Tuscany…

A little history of the town taken from Wikipedia:

The town appeared in the early Middle Ages, the bishopric seat of Populonia being moved here around 1000 AD. After the initial domination of the Republic of Pisa, it became an independent commune in the 13th century.

In the following century, it was conquered by Siena, to which it belonged until it became part of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany in the mid-16th century.

Let me tell you that we felt in love with this town, and for sure is on our list to come back when the weather is nicer – as we would like to see the different museums open, but here are some of the pictures that we took and that would give you an idea of the beauty  this town has to offer.IMG_3393

Massa Maritima Cathedral dedicated to Saint Cerbone (Cerbonious), it is the principal church of Massa Maritima.  Sadly it was closed when we got there.   Let me tell you something about Italian time.  Stores generally are open between 9 to 12 – and then they closed for “siesta time” and open back from 4.30 to 7.30 p.m., but during winter where there are less tourist the schedule changes as they pleased (like the wind), so some stores, museums or churches could be open only on the weekends, or closed for the winter season.  We’ve been told that after Easter business will be as usual…. We are hoping for that.

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This corner is filled with little boutiques and restaurants… it is so lovely…

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My fascination with doors and their architecture details… here is another one….

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View of one of the hotels of Massa Maritima

 

 

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Via  Roma in Massa Maritima – very close to the Cathedral.  By the way, up to now we’ve noticed that all of the towns in Italy have a “Via Roma”, so when setting up the GPS we always use “Via Roma” as our destination.

Below are 2 pictures that I found on the web, they  would give you an idea of the town from the top…

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massa maritima from the top

As we were leaving Massa Maritima we  told “her” that  we would  be back to get to know her better…. and probably bring family and friends to get to know you too.

 

Ciao,

Roxana