Things to do in Castiglioncello, Tuscany: The Best Sights & Landmarks

Reviewed By Brun066 - Florence, Italy

The history of the urban form of Castiglioncello has in the building of this pedestrian promenade (as far as I understand around 1935) one of its happiest chapters. The promenade starts from the area of ​​the "Ausonia" cove - which gave its name to the current bathing facility - which on the other hand is one of the most scarred of the town, being reduced to a sequence of concrete piers that have erased all traces of the former sandy shore: then the promenade proceeds towards the promontory called "Punta Righini". It is closed upstream by the fences of the villas which, built from the end of the nineteenth century, today almost completely occupy the promontory, and on the other side it faces the cliff, which by its size protects the waterfront from the waves of winter storms. Being facing south, the promenade is warm in winter and can be quite hot in summer. A refreshing dive in the nearby sea is always possible, but you have to cross the cliff on foot. The cliff, consisting of Miocene conglomerates and limestones, for a considerable stretch is quite low and filled with quiet pools of sea water occasionally renewed by the storms. As far as I understand, this unusual form of the cliff is because from here in the first half of the twentieth century large amounts of boulders for the piers of the Livorno port were extracted. The promenade is named after Alberto Sordi, a well-known Italian actor, who together with other movie stars attended Castiglioncello, especially in the 1960s. Further along, the actual promenade ceases and the path along the coast is possible (as it must have been in the first stretch before 1935) only by walking on the cliff. However, the path in this case is facilitated by a narrow concrete strip that covers the pipe of the former sewer drain of the town. We say "former" because since the 1980s this pipe has been decommissioned, and the sewers no longer end up in the sea of ​​"Punta Righini", but in the municipal sewage treatment plant. It's thus possible today to fully enjoy the almost Caribbean scenery of the yellowish cliffs surrounded by an intense blue sea. Of course you have to accept the very rough surface of the cliffs (which also makes it difficult to place an umbrella), and the lack of any swimming facilities.