Orbetello

Orbetello, like the rest of the Argentario shores, is undoubtedly a not to be missed destination for the many that come to the sea marshes along the Via Aurelia.

The lively town of the Maremma coast is situated on the homonymous lagoon (second in size only to that of Venice, but far "wilder") and joins Monte Argentario through the artificial dam that divides the it in two shares of water known as "Laguna di Ponente" and "Laguna di Levante". On the same dam, until '44, ran a railway line linking the city of Porto Santo Stefano.

Tourists and Orbetello inhabitants are lucky to be there to observe a sunset over the lagoon during the warm summer evenings. I have been living there for a long while but it is still a tough job to choose the right words to describe how fabulous are the few clouds in the otherwise clear sky being reflected by the placid lagoon waters.

Orbetello and the surrounding area are immerse in a splendid Mediterranean climate with mild winters and warm but well ventilated summers.

On the plains and rolling hills that embrace the city, there are large intricate patches of wild vegetation crops, ideal for a relaxing moment feeling in touch with nature. Cycle paths run along almost the entire city and costs creeping up through the green pinery that leads to Ansedonia.

As a proof of the natural wonders of this area, the WWF created the Lagoon of Orbetello Reserve, considered "wetlands of international interest" and one of the most important Italian wintering areas for many species of birds.  Here Fulco Pratesi, the founder of WWF Italy, in 1971 founded the House of Giannella to accommodate the many visitors (especially children), that nowadays can be counted in thousands.

In addition, the two strips of land called "tombolo di Feniglia" and "tombolo di Giannella" which separate the same lagoon waters from the Tyrrhenian sea, represent a total of about 12km of extremely busy coastline during the summer. Being clean coastlines, poorly entangled in the logic of mass tourism (very few seaside resorts, especially on the Feniglia beaches), make them ideal tourist destination for those who, as much as the same inhabitants of Maremma, love sunbathing by getting to the seashores by bicycle and armed just with a towel.

The mill, the real symbol of the city, is the only one left to witness the nature of many of these agricultural areas (like the rest of the Maremma) and the ancient origins of this city. Founded in the Etruscan period, long controlled by the Romans (who founded the colony of Cosa, whose remains are still visible near Ansedonia) and by the Aldobrandeschi family in late Middle Ages, Orbetello boasts a long period of "capital city" even if only by the narrow meanings of it during the Italian Renaissance.

Right in the XVth century, the city became the capital of the "Stato dei Presìdi", a strong military entity created by the will of King Philip II of Spain and remained as a bastion of the spanish kingdom on this land after the annexation of the capitulated Republic of Siena by the Granducato di Toscana. History itself testifies how the strategic location of these lands was of great help to the Spaniards to maintain the domination of the seas of central Italy. Orbetello lost the title of Capital only in XIXth century by joining the Granducato di Toscana as wanted by the post-Napoleonic Restoration.

Traces of this glorious past are spread everywhere in the city: the gates that separate the Spanish old town with the most recent quarter Neghelli, the gunpowder storage Guzman (built in 1692, it supplied the same Garibaldi for his last stage of the conquer of Rome with his thousand men army), up to the architecture of the oldest houses in the center.

Orbetello, as should much of its history and its thriving summer tourism, is now a city among the most exciting of the Maremma thanks to the initiative of its inhabitants, who often are and remain stubbornly attached to it.

The downtown streets, alive with dozens of shops, bars and restaurants are crowded with young people, the benches of the two main squares from which the elder look at boisterous grandchildren are always overcrowded; small groups meet and mingle in the eternal walk along Corso Italia, on that same street that, back in the 20's, Italo Balbo and his aviators crossed several times before leaving for the New World on board of their seaplanes.