What is Campiglia Marittima known for?

Continuous extraction of copper, silver, lead and tin from the Colline Metallifere from the Etruscans to 1976, now the Parco Archeominerario di San Silvestro. Tenth-century miners' village in the park behind town, abandoned in the fourteenth century, excavated since 1984 and visited through restored mine galleries. Wine appellation on the plain below town, Sangiovese and Cabernet red, Vermentino white, grown on the strip of land between hills and sea.

Where is Campiglia Marittima?

Campiglia Marittima is a comune in the province of Livorno, Tuscany region of Italy, about 93 kilometers from Livorno.

Tuscany · Livorno

Campiglia Marittima

A walled hilltop borgo above the Val di Cornia, where the Rocca tower watches a mining landscape worked from the Etruscans to 1976.

93 km / 58 mi

Nearest hub (Livorno)

12,429

Population

May–Sep

Best time to visit

Recognised as

Why come

Campiglia Marittima sitson the last slopes of the Colline Metallifere above the Val di Cornia, eight kilometers inland from the Tyrrhenian coast and 60 kilometers southeast of Livorno. The Rocca occupies the highest point, a fortified semicircle whose 14th-century tower and town walls trace the medieval defensive line. The territory has been mined since the Etruscans: copper, silver, lead and tin from the hills behind town, worked continuously until the last galleries closed in 1976. The Parco Archeominerario di San Silvestro, opened in 1996 on 450 hectares behind the town, centers on Rocca San Silvestro, a tenth and eleventh-century miners' village abandoned in the fourteenth century and excavated since 1984. Visitors enter through restored galleries on a small electric train. Down on the plain the DOC Val di Cornia produces Sangiovese and Cabernet, and the thermal springs at Venturina, the frazione south of town, have flowed since Roman use as Aquae Populoniae.

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Gallery

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Known for

Rocca di Campiglia
Fortified semicircle at 281 meters with the 14th-century tower, walls and the Pieve di San Giovanni, the highest point of the town.
Parco Archeominerario di San Silvestro
450-hectare park behind town, opened 1996, with restored mining galleries, a small electric train, and the abandoned medieval miners' village of Rocca San Silvestro.
Centro storico
Walled hilltop borgo of stone houses, with Piazza della Repubblica at its center, the medieval gates Porta a Mare and Porta Fiorentina still intact.
Terme di Venturina
Thermal springs in the frazione of Venturina, used since Roman times as Aquae Populoniae, with sulfurous waters at 36 degrees year-round.
Pieve di San Giovanni
Romanesque parish church inside the Rocca walls, twelfth-century origin, with a marble architrave by an anonymous Pisan school sculptor.

When to visit

Best months · May–Sep

Best
Hot or crowded
Quiet
Mostly closed

May through September is the season on the Val di Cornia: warm days, sea breezes that climb the hill, harvest of Sangiovese and Vermentino from late August. The beaches at San Vincenzo and Baratti are eight to fifteen kilometers away and pull the day-traffic. July and August are hot and busy on the coast; the borgo on the hill stays a few degrees cooler. October is mild and quiet. November through April is cold and most coastal services close. The thermal springs at Venturina stay open year-round. The Rocca tower with mist rising off the Cornia plain in February is one of the views the postcards do not use.