ISLAND OF GIGLIO AND GIANNUTRI, the mini cruise

1° Day Massa Marittima

Your group will arrive in Massa Marittima in the early afternoon: a jewel on the metalliferous hills, this ancient Mass greets tourists with its beautiful, asymmetrical shaped Piazza Garibaldi, the magnificent Romanesque-Gothic Dome where medieval works of art like the marble Arch of Saint Cerbone (patron saint of Massa) can be seen,and the two hundred year old christening font etc..You can also visit the Museum of History and Archeology, one of the most interesting in Italy. A stroll through the city centre will enable you to visit the characteristic mineral “shops”. If you book beforehand you can visit the Mining Museum. Arrival at hotel, evening meal and accommodation.

2° Day Island of Giglio and Island of Giannutri

Breakfast in hotel. Group arrives at the port of Porto Santo Stefano by 9.15. Embarkation on motorship, departure from Porto Santo Stefano at 9.45. The Captain welcomes you aboard and gives detailed information as regards culture and tourism of the places seen. As the ship hugs the coast of the beautiful promontory of Argentario, enabling you to fully appreciate the numerous tiny inlets and characteristic grottos, and as it passes near the coves where you can see magnificent villas belonging to V.I.P. who have lived there for years, you sail towards Giannutri, where you will arrive after about an hour. Short stop to do as you wish. The Island of Giannutri is about 260 square hectares and is semi-lunar shaped. It has a beautiful,very rugged and rocky coastline with two small beaches: Cala dello Spalmatoio and Cala Maestra. There are many Roman remains on the island, such as Villa Domizia that dates back to I-II centuries AD but which, sad to say, due to its bad condition, hasn’t been open to the public for many years. A visit to Giannutri gives you the chance to see a place where time has stopped, as well as discovering an authentic, natural paradise, where man has as yet left everything as it is, visited only by a flock of Mediterranean herring-gulls, so numerous that the island is sometimes called Seagull Island. Once back on board the motorship you will be served a delicious lunch. Departure for the Island of Giglio and arrival at the Port at about 3.00 p.m., with buses ready to take you to the medieval centre of Giglio Castello. The Island of Giglio is divided into Giglio Porto, Giglio Castello and Giglio Campese. Giglio Porto welcomes you with its low, colourful houses and its lively streets that look on to a port whose crystal clear water takes you by surprise. Giglio Campese is a seaside resort looking on to a beautiful beach with crystal clear water. Back on board the “Revenge” by about 17.30, and you get back to Porto Santo Stefano at about 18.30. Back to the hotel and evening meal.

3° Day Pitigliano – Sovana – Sorano

After breakfast in the hotel you head for Pitigliano (a hillside town on a tuffaceous spur that seems more like something carved out of tuff). Visit to Palazzo Orsini, the Santa Maria Church, the Jewish ghetto and the Dome. Then on to Sovana, often considered the jewel of Maremma, where time seems to have stopped. Visit to the majestic Romanesque style Dome, to the unusual Church of Santa Maria where you can admire a beautiful pre-Romanesque Ciborium, (the only one of its kind in Tuscany). There is also a “Suana Etrusca” (Etruscan Necropolis) very near the town of Sovana. Yoa can also visit the necropolis and the Hildebrand Tomb, an interesting example of a monumental tomb, as well as the ancient roads cut out of the tuff that the locals call “Cavoni”. Typical Maremmano lunch in a restaurant in Sorano.