What is Grosseto known for?

Hexagonal bastioned circuit of 1564 commissioned by Cosimo I, four kilometers around, intact, now used as the city's public park. Capital of the historical region between Toscana and Lazio, anchor of the Parco Regionale della Maremma and the inland Uccellina hills. Maremma cowboys still herd longhorn cattle and wild horses in the park south of the city, descendants of a working tradition older than the American West.

Grosseto is a comune in the province of Grosseto, Tuscany region of Italy, about 151 kilometers from Livorno.

Tuscany · Grosseto

Grosseto

The Maremma capital on the Ombrone river, ringed by hexagonal Medici walls of 1564 that now serve as the city's public park.

151 km / 94 mi

Nearest hub (Livorno)

81,321

Population

May–Sep

Best time to visit

Recognised as

Why come

Grosseto sits on the right bank of the Ombrone, ten meters above sea level and twelve kilometers inland from the Tyrrhenian. The Roman city of Roselle was destroyed in 935 by Saracen pirates; refugees regrouped on the plain below and Grosseto inherited the bishopric. From 1336 it was Sienese; in 1559 it passed to the Medici after the battle of Montalcino. Cosimo I commissioned Baldassarre Lanci to replace the medieval walls with a hexagonal bastioned circuit, begun in 1565 and finished a decade later. The walls are intact. Six bastions, two main gates, a continuous earthwork four kilometers around, now planted and used as the city's promenade. Inside, the Duomo di San Lorenzo holds a Romanesque-Gothic façade in alternating white and pink marble. The Cassero Senese, the Sienese fortress of 1345 swallowed into the later Medici walls, anchors the southeast corner. Grosseto is the largest city of southern Toscana and the working capital of the Maremma.

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Gallery

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Known for

Mura Medicee
Hexagonal bastioned circuit commissioned by Cosimo I in 1564, designed by Baldassarre Lanci, intact and walkable for the full four kilometers.
Duomo di San Lorenzo
Thirteenth-century cathedral with a façade in alternating white and pink marble, Latin-cross plan, semicircular apse over the nave.
Cassero Senese
Travertine-clad Sienese fortress completed in 1345, incorporated into the southeast corner of the Medici walls, now used for exhibitions.
Museo Archeologico e d'Arte della Maremma
Provincial museum on Piazza Baccarini collecting Etruscan and Roman finds from Roselle, Vetulonia and the Maremma.
Chiesa di San Francesco
Thirteenth-century Franciscan church near the northwest bastion, with a crucifix attributed to Duccio di Buoninsegna above the high altar.
Parco Regionale della Maremma
Coastal park south of the city covering the Ombrone mouth and the Uccellina hills, with wild horses, longhorn cattle and umbrella pines.

When to visit

Best months · May–Sep

Best
Hot or crowded
Quiet
Mostly closed

May, September and October are the Maremma months. The walls and the Parco Regionale are open without the heat, the umbrella pines hold their shade, and the wild horses are visible at dawn near the Ombrone mouth. July and August push past thirty-five degrees and the city empties between one and six in the afternoon. The coast, twelve kilometers west at Marina di Grosseto, fills with Italian families. November through March is quiet and damp; the walls stay open and the museums fill the slow hours. Late winter is malaria-free thanks to the nineteenth-century drainage of the Maremma swamps, the project that turned the plain into agricultural land.