Side Trips

Bolgheri Wines & The Coast South of Livorno

Livorno's tourist office has been trying valiantly to sell the idea that the stretch of coast south of it is an "Etruscan Riviera." Few foreigners know about the area, although it is teeming with Italian vacationers in summer. The old Roman Via Aurelia SS1 down the coast has become a highway in some places and passes Castiglioncello, a popular resort town with a good pay beach at Quercetano. Vada is a modern center with passable sand, and Marina di Cécina has some good stretches of free sand.

Another 10km (6 1/4 miles) farther down the road is the turnoff for Bolgheri. This is the birthplace of the so-called "Supertuscans," wines that back in the 1980s greatly surpassed in quality the usual plonk then offered by Chianti vintners. The most prestigious of these remains Sassicaia, its scarcity and correspondingly stratospheric price due largely to the fact that only one vineyard is allowed to produce it under DOC regulations. That estate is the Tenuta San Guido (www.sassicaia.com) and is still owned by the noble Incisa della Rocchetta family. The estate concentrates more on wine than tourism, which is to say they don't offer tours of the property. To tour a well-known Bolgheri estate, try the Tenuta dell'Ornellaia (tel. 0565-718-242; www.ornellaia.com), which produces the prestigious wine of the same name and conducts tours of its giant and awe-inspiring modern cantina, culminating in a tasting or even lunch in the estate's more historic buildings. By appointment only.

Just south of the Bolgheri turnoff is the right turn into the Rifugio Faunistico di Bolgheri (tel. 0565-224-361; reachable Mon-Fri 10am-noon and 3-7pm, Sat 10am-noon), Italy's first nature preserve, established when the land was deeded by its nature-loving owner to the World Wildlife Fund in 1962. Its 22 sq. km (8 1/2 sq. miles) of shoreline, marshland, and wooded areas constitute a microcosm of the Maremma region, one of the best places to glimpse native fauna and flora. Alas, to enjoy it you must reserve at the number above or by stopping by the Vigili Urbani office of Castagneto Carducci, about 10km (6 1/4 miles) south on the SS329 byroad (tel. 0565-777-125). Only 20 people at a time are allowed into the park for 3-hour escorted visits at specific entry times: Fridays and Saturdays at 9am and again at 2pm. The cost is 5€ for adults, 3€ for kids 13 and under.

Back on the coastal road, you'll find that Marina di Bibbona has plenty of sand to go around, and if you don't mind crowds the busy and trendy resort of San Vincenzo has even longer swaths of quality beach. Ancient Populonia, on its promontory beyond some excellent beaches, was an important center in the Etruscan world. On sunny days you get a great coastal view from its castle (daily 9:30am-12:30pm and 2:30pm to dusk), and the town still retains bits of the walls the Etruscans built. The best archaeological materials discovered in the surrounding tombs were carted off to Florence, but you can still visit the tombs in the Necropolis of Baratti/Populonia (San Cerbone), off the road into town (tel. 0565-29-002; www.parchivaldicornia.it). They're open Tuesday through Friday from 10am to 4pm, Saturday and Sunday from 9am to 2pm (open until sunset in spring, until 8pm in summer). At the south end of this promontory sits Piombino, a modern port most popular among travelers taking the ferry to Elba.