Massa Marittima

It was still early after we visited the mostra scambio (swap meet) near Grossetto so we decided to visit the small hill town of Massa Marittima. I had been perusing a Tuscany guidebook recently and read that it was worth seeing. 

The town is only about 15 kilometers off the autostrada so it was a quick hop over there on our way north. If you enlarge this picture you can see that the hill on which the town is located rises steeply out of pretty flat terrain. Below us all the fields were lush with growing wheat or tawny where the hay had been mowed. 

This was taken from the "top" of the town. the dome and bell tower are located in the town's main piazza.

We parked just outside the old city walls. The ledge above the road was large and contained a variety of old fruit trees--plums, cherries and figs--that had run wild. The poppies made bright red splashes and bobbed furiously in the breeze.

We walked up a staircase and through the old wall and quickly found ourselves in the town's main piazza. It is roughly triangular shaped. This is the church and a lovely building beside it, perhaps the bishop's palace at one time.

This was the town hall with variety of plaques and coats of arms dotting the facade. The history of who controlled the town can probably be read in them.

The rest of the piazza contains equally lovely buildings. There were quite a few tourists around but because we were there during lunchtime the streets were pretty quiet.

A number of streets led out of the main piazza. This turned out to be one of the largest and most interesting although we found it as we were returning to the piazza after our perusal of the town.

The entire town is one of the most picturesque in Italy and the perfect size for an hour's wander. Everywhere you go there are evocative lanes curving away into the distance. The hot sunshine and disembodied voices made one wonder what is just out of sight.

There were a lot of potted plants and window boxes. If one lives in a medieval walled town that is often the only garden one has.

Some gardens are larger but only glimpsed through closed gates.

At the top of the hill we found more churches. This is the church of St. Augustine. It reminded me of San Domenico in Siena--bright but very spare decoration.

Next to it is a lovely cloister with the campanile towering over it.

I met a cat that was friendly enough to jump up on the wall and allow me to scratch it behind the ears. Living in Capannori we do not have much contact with the local gatti.

Towards the top of the hill was a large fortified gate complex. The tower in front is quite tall and seems to protect the smaller tower and gate below.

I thought this was a lovely home with greenery at all the windows and vines growing across the facade. The color was a perfect butter yellow.

Obviously another avid window box gardener lives here.

This courtyard could be glimpsed from the street and there was a sign advertising holiday apartments for let. So I stepped inside to take a closer look. It all had a very Moorish look but it was difficult to take a good picture because of the strong light and shadow.

After our meander through the town of Massa Marittima we went back to the main piazza, bought some gelato and joined the other tourists sitting on the steps of the church in the shade.

Between the mostra scambio, our visit to Massa Marittima and the lovely Maremma countryside, it was a wonderful day out.