Parco Regionale della Maremma

This morning we left for the Parco Regionale della Maremma (or Parco dell'Uccellina) early this morning, but not before we grabbed a caffè at one of my favorite pasticcerie (pastry shops) on the outskirts of centro (downtown area). We drove south toward Grosseto and arrived only a few minutes before the bus left to take the visitatori (visitors) inside of the parco (park) where many trails begin. Almost everyone else was dressed in hiking gear while we were only in jeans and tennis shoes. When Alessandro told me that we'd be going to a parco for a passeggiata (walk), I had assumed something low-key and relaxing.

Living in Florence :: Parco Regionale della Maremma

We all piled onto the bus and were dropped off at the meeting point where the bus stops. Most people took off for the more difficult 6-hour hike while only a few of us headed down a paved path.

The weather was much warmer compared to Florence, and with clear blue skies. We headed down the path that led to the torri (towers). We weren't sure about how long we would stay because we had forgot to bring any food for lunch. We had considered leaving early and taking the 12:45 pm bus back to the centro visite (welcome center), but decided to take the 2:15 pm bus instead.

We hiked down a narrow dirt pista (trail) that was covered with large and small rocks. It was quiet and serene on the shady pista. At one point we finally saw an opening that led us up to the 12th century Torre di Castelmarino, which is shown in the photo. From the torre, we could see the mare (sea), the pineta (pine tree forest), and narrow fiume (river).

We could hear the water lapping against the shore, and I couldn't wait to get down to the spiaggia (beach).

We slowly walked back down the steep and rocky hill to find ourselves in the peaceful pineta. We walked toward the fiume and saw a few fish swimming close to the shore. The dirt pista became sandy and we found ourselves hiking through the thick sand to get to the spiaggia.

The spiaggia was incredibly wide and practically deserted. There were about seven of us in all on the spiaggia along with one woman who was standing in the mare to let the waves hit up against her.

The sun was still blazing, but the wind was a little cool. I had hoped to get in the water, but it wasn't warm enough for me. I did get close and put my hands in it so I could find out the temperature of it.

We didn't stay long on the spiaggia because it was too windy for us. We walked back along an easy trail for a quick visit of the Torre di Collelungo. We were led down a paved road back to the meeting point where there were many unattended olivi (olive trees) that were covered with light and dark greenolive (olives). We both wondered who planted all the olivi.

We were both hoping to see more animals than the few daini (deer) that we saw at the entrance of the parco.

We were exhausted and starving by the time the bus took us back to the centro visite. The next time we come to visit the Parco Regionale della Maremma we'll certainly bring food with us so that we can have a picnic on the spiaggia. I enjoyed the Maremma, and hope that we'll be fortunate enough to have such wonderful weather as we did today.

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