|  Prized
resort for summer holidays since the second half of the 1800s, Castiglioncello
was until that time a poor fishing village.
However, going further back in time, it is found that Castiglioncello
goes right back to the Etruscan period, when the settlement depended on
the powerful Volterra. Testimony to this period is the Necropolis composed
of more that 200 tombs going back to the III to I century B.C. which was
found intact, almost in the centre of the modern town; the finds which
came to light are exhibited at the Castiglioncello Etruscan Museum founded
in 1913-14.
Apart from a brief interest for the place by the Medici family
(Cosimo I had a watch tower built to defend the coast, which is still
in good condition) Castilioncello was for centuries an isolated place,
far away from the grand roads of communication and almost unknown, and
this was its good fortune, in that for its uncontaminated nature and its
mild climate, in the second half of the 1800s it became the favourite
holiday place of the writer and Fiorentino art critic Diego Martelli,
who was followed by certain “Macchiaioli” artists,
who gave life to the famous Castiglioncello School, and by other
Tuscan artists.
Since then the popularity of Castiglioncello has ever increased,
and, being faced with the many tourist requests, the town has also grown.
At the beginning of the 1900s the first bathing establishments where built,
and elegant villas immersed in the green countryside around the Medicea
tower. In the middle of the park, still in the XIX century the Castello
Pasquini was built, an imposing building, Seat of the Visual Arts Centre
where each year important theatrical spectacles and music concerts are
performed, together with cultural meetings etc..
Today Castiglioncello, for the natural beauty which surrounds it, for
the vivacious cultural activity, for the elegance, despite the necessary
growth of the town, with which it distinguishes itself from the other
resorts on the coast, represents one of the most desired destinations
of the Etruscan Coast.
The many tourist proposals offered by the town allow one to spend a weekend
or an entire holiday, in a location which combines, to the perfection,
rest and culture, in a healthy ambience, indicated also for children,
who find many amusements in the well equipped pine forest along the seafront
and in the Castello Pasquini Park.
Picture by Carlo Santoni |
Gallery: Livorno area
