Le Marze beach, Grosseto

An untamed Maremma beach for halcyon days you will always remember

The Grosseto beach, Le Marze, is Maremma at its most relaxed. And just a little exclusive. But not because it is a private, chic, elite clientele kind of beach. On the contrary. It is one of Maremma's untamed, wild beaches, open to all.

So what makes it exclusive? Simply because access to it - unless you happen to be staying at a campsite nearby - requires you to walk or cycle (parking is nigh impossible - see "Location and getting there" at the bottom of the page) a long way. And most people just don't want to do that.

But if you don't mind or visit off season when you are likely to find a place for your car, and you can have the whole place to yourselves. Your nearest neighbour will be a "dot" in the distance.

Sat on its sands you have a stunning, sweeping view with the Marina di Grosseto caught in the sunlight to the south and the castled hill town of Castiglione della Pescaia to the north. The places you would need to cycle or walk from.

The view along the beach to the small seaside town of Marina di Grosseto.

Build your own beach house in Maremma

Le Marze beach is also one of a handful of beaches in Maremma with lots of wonderful sculptural driftwood of all lengths and weights with which you can build your own beach house, or two!

This time we decided against a tepee design and built a larger residence with a view :)

The foundation holes have been dug deep and the structural supports are up and secure!

Now for the roof rafters... The first being secured into place with rope found on the beach.

The second being transported into place: wide load coming through!

The clerk of works directing its placement before it too is secured.

The walls and roof are up and our sumptuous and spacious beach house is finished!

On hotter days, drape your towels or a cotton blanket over the roof for that all important shade. Take a picnic, some cushions, a big fat novel, a game of chess, and a fishing rod or two... What else in life could be more perfect?

There are no beach facilities; you will need to take everything you need for the day with you, and back!

With the house built and afternoon turning into early evening it is time for some fishing. And the fishing is good here :)

We watched fish jumping out of the water; silver splashes in a bright blue sea.

The early evening light in September in Maremma makes the combination of the blue of the sea and sky and the gold of the beach simply stunning.

Be there for 20 seconds...

Tiny beach treasure found by tiny fingers :)

The sun is setting and it is time to go home, but we are quite happy here...

Magic in the skies

The sun is setting and, despite none of us wanting to, its time to go home. And then something happens that in the moment that it does, makes you believe in magic again. Not the magicians show type of magic. But the serendipitous, fairy kind. The kind that happens in Tuscany when you turn a corner.

For as we took the first steps along the track on leaving the sands, the air around us filled with fifty and more large, deep velvet blue "fairies", darting here and there and skirting within a hairs breadth over our heads. Skimmer dragonflies - "le libellule". Feasting upon the mosquitoes that had just started to dine on me on the beach.

They were completely unperturbed by our presence, flitting closer and closer as we stood and marvelled. We held our fishing rods up in the air so that they might alight upon the tips awhile, but they were too busy dining well to stop!

A few seconds of a priceless, magical moment in Maremma...

Le Marze beach location and access

The route to Le Marze beach is really straightforward as it is along the main Maremma coastal road - the SP 158 - that takes you heading south from Castiglione della Pescaia to the Marina di Grosseto. And there is a cycle path along its length.

The difficulty, however, and which is why you will find this section of the strip of coast that runs from one town to the other much less busy even in the height of summer, is that access to its sands through the "pineta" pine wood that backs it all the way to the Aurelia is limited to a single narrow sand track. With very, very - we are talking four or five - places in which to park.

Those "spaces" aren't anything formal! Right at the beginning of the track, or tucked in tight up against the wire fence that separates the track from the pineta. Or, space for one, if you car is small and you are deft at maneuvering over large tree roots, holes and bumps, between two tree trunks.

What was a very small "hard-standing" of sorts at the beach end of the track and always full cars belonging to surfers and VW campers, is now so deeply covered in sand and large driftwood so that it is no longer advisable to park there. You will either need a 4 x 4, or otherwise be very confident that you can get out of sand.

The sandy access track to the beach.

But you will have it made if you happen to be staying at the Grosseto campsite, Villaggio Camping Le Marze, situated a little further along on the other side of the Aurelia road. In which case you will be able to cross the road at the pedestrian crossing that connects the campsite with the pineta, and cycle or walk to the beach from there.

The satellite map

Note
Although when you look at the satellite map you will see quite a few cars parked at the beginning of the and then wonder what I had been on about above, that area is no longer accessible. I will update the information if it is opened again.

A note about rubbish

A note about rubbish. Le Marze beach is loved, a lot, by those who know and visit it and who keep it clean. Which is why the limited number of rubbish bins at the back of the beach at the start of the track are nearly always brimming full. So a little request: please take your own rubbish sacks with you when you go with a view to taking the things you don't need anymore back home with you, just in case there is no room in the bins.

More Grosseto beaches

Play, swim, surf on them all and decide which one you love the best :)

Grosseto beaches.