Grosseto is a town in the central Italian region of Tuscany, the capital of the Grosseto province. The city lies at 12 km from the Tyrrhenian Sea, in the Maremma area. Grosseto is the largest city in the Maremma area in the most Sothern part of Tuscany; Grosseto was the last city to pass from under the dominion of Siena to that of the Medici who began building the fortifications which we can still see today. They also started the drainage of the marshlands nearby which was completed by the Lorena during the second half of the 18th Century.

A major junction for both the rail and motorway networks, it is today a major agricultural centre.

Numerous historical events have accompanied Grosseto on its road from village to city. Its origins can be traced to the High Middle Ages; the rare remains of greater antiquity found in certain points of the city are not sufficient to prove an Etruscan or Roman origin.

In 803 a document states the assignment of the church of St. George to Ildebrando degli Aldobrandeschi, whose successor where counts of the Grosseto area until the end of the 12th century.

In 1151 the citizens swore loyalty to Siena.

In 1224 the Emperor Federick II was a guest in Grosseto. His fame as a man of culture and patron of the Arts brought to the city nobles and poets from every part of Italy.

The period up to 1552 was characterized by outbursts of revolt and plague epidemics such as those of 1430 and 1527 - to which followed the incursion of the corsair Barbarossa in 1528.

In 1552 the people of Grosseto chased out the Spanish who then ruled the city.

After the treatise of Cateau Cambresis and the fall of Siena under Florence rule, the Medici set about to transform Grosseto into a fortress. The construction of the walls was started while drainage of the wetlands and a network of roads began to take form.

But the Medici neglected the Grosseto territory. It was only under the Lorene, thanks to Pietro Leopoldo, that the province of Grosseto was finally separated from Siena, and set on new political and economical bases. After the Congress of Vienna, Ferdinand III resumed the wise policy which aimed at draining the Maremma wetlands. He was aptly assisted in this task by minister Fossombroni.

Leopold II continued the draining works and the people of Grosseto dedicated him a monument - it was unveiled in the central piazza on 1 May 1846 - in gratitude for his love towards their land. Later though, politics divided the people and the Grand Duke; Grosseto took part actively in the Risorgimento; Leopold II left Florence.

Following the Independence, Grosseto became one of so many other Italian cities in search of an identity.

Places to visit in Grosseto

• Six bastions enclose the old city; the one facing the east is called Fortezza Medicea, Medici Fortress; following its recent restoration, is the most interesting attraction to visit in Grosseto.
• The most important church in Grosseto is the Duomo with its white and pink facade restored during the 19th Century.
• The Chiesa di San Francesco or Church of St. Francis inside the city walls dates from the 13th Century and was part of a Benedictine convent of which only the cloister remains.
• Ramparts - which have been converted into a park for public use.
• Museo Civico Archeologico d`Arte della Maremma - the Maremma Museum of Archeology and Art, in Piazza Bacarinni, it has excellent collection of Etruscan artifacts and religious art from the Dioceses of Grosseto.

For more information visit

• Comune Grosset