Tuscany · Pisa
Casale Marittimo
A concentric stone borgo above the Val di Cecina, built where a seventh-century BC Etruscan outpost of Volterra once stood.
Known for
ETRUSCAN PRINCES
Two stone warrior statues from the Casa Nocera necropolis, seventh century BC, now in the Museo Archeologico of Florence.
CONCENTRIC BORGO
Medieval village of concentric stone streets recorded as a Gherardesca castle from 1004, holding both Borghi più belli and Bandiera Arancione marks.
VAL DI CECINA VIEW
Open prospect from the upper streets over the Cecina valley to the Tyrrhenian, the sea visible on clear days less than ten kilometers out.
When to visit
Best · Apr–Oct
- J
- F
- M
- A
- M
- J
- J
- A
- S
- O
- N
- D
- Best
- Hot or crowded
- Quiet
- Mostly closed
Why come
Casale Marittimo rises on a hill above the Val di Cecina, fifty kilometers southeast of Pisa, the Tyrrhenian coast visible from the upper streets. The settlement here was an outpost of Etruscan Volterra in the seventh century BC; the necropolis of Casa Nocera turned up two stone statues of warrior princes, now in the Archaeological Museum of Florence, among the oldest figurative sculptures in European art. The medieval centro is recorded as a castle of the Counts of Gherardesca by 1004, the streets arranged in concentric rings inside the old walls, stone houses pressed against the slope.
Casale Marittimo carries both the Borghi più belli d'Italia and Bandiera Arancione marks, unusual for a commune of just over a thousand inhabitants. The Chiesa di Sant'Andrea sits on the foundations of an older parish church; Palazzo Rocca and the eighteenth-century Santa Maria delle Grazie close the small loop of the centro storico.
The Sunday letter
We haven’t written Casale Marittimo’s letter yet.
One town every Sunday, with the photo, the food, the festa. Be there when this one comes up. Free, by Peter & Sophia from Pietrasanta.
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What to see
Centro storico
Concentric ring of stone streets inside the medieval walls, with houses pressed against the slope and Palazzo Rocca at the top.
Chiesa di Sant'Andrea
Parish church rebuilt on the ruins of an older pieve, the principal religious building of the borgo.
Santa Maria delle Grazie
Eighteenth-century church on the lower edge of the centro storico, simple Tuscan late-Baroque façade.
Necropoli di Casa Nocera
Etruscan burial complex from the seventh century BC, where the warrior princes statues now in Florence's archaeological museum were found.
The slow-trip planner
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Living here
- Population 1,051
- Off the beaten pathi
- Pharmacy in town
- High school within a 30-minute drive
- Nearest airport Florence / Pisa, 1 h 3 min drive
- Regional capital Firenze, 1 h 48 min drive
Tags & datadesignations · numbers · sources
Recognised as
The numbers
- Elevation: 214 m
- Population: 1,051
- Surface area: 14.29 km²
These figures were compiled from public directories — ISTAT, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata — and from the official listings of the guides named on this page. Town details change; verify with official sources before you travel.
Close by
More towns near Casale Marittimo
Bibbona
Province: Livorno
An Etruscan-origin hill village above the Costa degli Etruschi, with a Romanesque parish church and a Lorraine-built coastal fort eight kilometers down the road at Marina di Bibbona.
Montescudaio
Province: Pisa
A fortified hill borgo at 242 meters above the Val di Cecina, named for a mountain of shields, with DOC wine since 1977 and bread, oil and grape all stamped in its identity.
Castagneto Carducci
Province: Livorno
A hilltop borgo at 194 meters above the Costa degli Etruschi, renamed for the poet Carducci in 1907 and the home of Bolgheri and Sassicaia.
Campiglia Marittima
Province: Livorno
A walled hilltop borgo above the Val di Cornia, where the Rocca tower watches a mining landscape worked from the Etruscans to 1976.
Volterra
Province: Pisa
The Etruscan acropolis of Velathri at 531 meters, the alabaster town that has been carving the same stone for three thousand years.
🎨 Borghi più belli d'Italia
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Capalbio
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A walled hilltop borgo at 217 meters in the southern Maremma, donated to the Abbey of Tre Fontane by Charlemagne and home of Niki de Saint Phalle's Tarot Garden.
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A walled medieval town at 540 meters in the Garfagnana, the Lucca outpost that refused to submit to the Este and held the pass to San Pellegrino.