Colline Metallifere · Maremma

Roccatederighi

The village carved into the rock, where the houses turn pink at sunset and the view reaches Elba.

Roccatederighi is the most spectacular village in the municipality of Roccastrada, in the Tuscan Maremma, province of Grosseto: a medieval settlement set on a spur of volcanic rock on Monte Sassoforte, at 537 metres. Here the houses, roofs and stairways merge with huge boulders of trachyte and rhyolite, which turn pink at dawn and at sunset. You enter through a twelfth-century arched gateway into a maze of alleys cut into the stone, between the Clock Tower and the church of San Martino, which looks out from the spur. And from the viewpoints, on clear days, the eye runs across the Grosseto plain as far as the islands of Giglio and Elba.

At the table

Maremma hill cooking, honest and generous: pappardelle with wild boar, tortelli maremmani, acquacotta, wild boar with olives, pecorino and cured meats. And the treasure of the surrounding woods: truffles, for which this part of the Alta Maremma is one of the finest grounds.

Alleyways and stone houses in the village of Roccatederighi, Tuscan Maremma

Panorama of the Maremma hills from Roccatederighi, province of Grosseto

Wine and olive oil

This is the municipality of Roccastrada, land of Monteregio di Massa Marittima DOC (Sangiovese and Vermentino) and of the Strada del Vino Monteregio: in Roccastrada the Museum of the Vine and Wine, dug into an old cellar in the rock, tells the story of this tradition. The surrounding hills produce Toscano IGP extra virgin olive oil.

Festivals

Festivals are the soul of Roccatederighi, and the village lives them with rare pride. In August two events transform the place. Early in the month, for one weekend, Medioevo nel Borgo turns the clock back to the fourteenth century: more than 250 volunteers fill the castle with ladies and knights, farmers and craftsmen, jesters and flag-throwers; in the evening the alleyways are lit by torches and at the entrance the euro disappears — you pay in "fiorini rocchigiani". Then, on 14 August, comes the day of the Palio dei Ciuchi, run without interruption since 1927 and born of a medieval joust of 1295. The five districts — Corso, Nobili, Torre, Tramonto and Ventosa — compete along Via Roma not on horseback but on the backs of donkeys: an unpredictable, tongue-in-cheek race in which the donkeys have minds of their own and anything can happen. It is preceded by a historic procession with more than a hundred costumed participants, drummers and flag-throwers; at the end, the winning district takes home the painted banner and celebrates all night. It is the festival that carries Roccatederighi into the heart of the whole Maremma.

Distances

Grosseto: 34 km · Sea (Follonica): 40 km · Siena: 56 km · Hot springs: Petriolo: 30 minutes · Firenze: 113 km · Airport: Pisa: 145 km.