GROSSETO COMMUNE
It’s not only seaside…
Cesare Brandi (1975)

The origins of Grosseto date back to the Early Middle Age.
The scarce most ancient findings occurred in some areas of the town are not enough to prove an Etruscan or Roman Origin.
The town lays over an area that is like an amphitheatre between the sea and the first hilly spurs causing a series of very productive farm lands, with a farm activity searching for wider and wider and farer and farer markets,through the suitable improvement of its typical products too (wine, oil, cheeses, vegetables and fruits) and the definitive link between production and transformation. The environment with its natural inclinations has influenced and marked the progress of that land; the industrialisation has not had a great development; there are small and medium-sized firms and handicraft laboratories. The vitality and modernity of the “Italian province” that keeps up with time, and often forestalls it, with a man-sized development: Grosseto is all that, with a charm and genuinity and saviourness of its “peasant soul” more.

An ancient wall ring that was destroyed and built up again already existed in 12th, 13th and 14th centuries and then was replaced by exagon-shaped walls that nowadays still surround the town centre. Francesco 1st in 1574 formerly started the works of building of that wall belt, according to a project of Baldassarre Lanci;
Those were works that were finished eventually 19 years later under the power of Ferdinando 1st; the Cathedral is the most interesting monument of the town and stood over the place of the Saint Maria church that existed in 1138.
The interruptions were several and due above all to wars against Siena. The town is dedicated to Saint Lorenzo, the patron of Grosseto that is celebrated on August the 10th by the traditional liturgical parade along the streets of the historical centre and as the sun goes down the Butteri (similar to US Cowboys) go with the relics and the image of the Saint; the church of Saint Francesco after being to Benedictines, entitled to Saint Fortunato, it was given with the convent to Saint Francesco who, coming back from the East he landed in one of the Maremma harbours.

MAREMMA'S HARBOURS:  MARINA DI SAN ROCCO

The tourist harbour “Marina di San Rocco” takes the name of Maremma harbour for its being at the centre of this great land: in fact the structure lays in Marina di Grosseto village, a blue flag certified harbour by European commission for its sea, at the centre of the Maremma coast and in the green heart of Toscana.

Typical products
Light, sun, the kind of earth, the sea or mountain streams contribute to bring a wide range of Maremma wines to consumer that include Ansonica, Vermentino, Malvasia, Morellino, Ciliegiolo, Aleatico vines.
De luxe Italian wines have gone proud of a Maremma origin for a few decades. Besides the Morellino di Scansano DOC a short time ago a new DOC was born: the MOnteregio di Massa Marittima DOC in his varieties of White, red  and reserve wine.
The olive tree is grown there too, by which some excellent olive varieties are produced and thus also various kinds of Extra Virgin Olive Oil.
The Hunt for Wild Boar for ages has been the unique real venatorial activity practiced by Maremma people and some huntings are set every year since the month of november to the month of january.

The tales and fairy tales linked to that mythic animal are several and it has become  even the symbol of the Park of Uccellina. The wild boar reigns as a king among the kitchen stoves all over Maremma and for the production of precious salami products.
Some specialities
The Acquacotta
It is a traditional course of Transhumance tradition that shows its variations off all over Toscana; for  example in the Province of Arezzo exactly in the High Casentino Valley, a totally different kind of recipe that includes pore mushrooms along with vegetables.
The tortelli are a very well known Maremman recipe, once traditional in the countryside and nowadays it is cooked and served according to the ancient recipe in all the restaurants all over the Maremma area within the province of Grosseto.
The stewed or roasted wild boar is the thread from the Maremma within the province of Pisa down to the the Maremma within the province of Grosseto. There exist many recipes and variations of them: the wild boar white meat sauce, the wild boar with apples typical of Tirli, the fillet with prunes up to the recipe with cocoa powder, dated back of 1600; there fore every village is proud of a recipe of its own as well as regarding Acquacotta.