Capalbio has a medieval town plan, with narrow, curved streets climbing to the top of the hill dominated by the Rocca Aldobrandesca. Its natural environment offers spectacular landscapes with lots of green hills and wild beaches and forests.
Capalbio is compietely enclosed within a double set of Sienese walls, along which extensive stretches of the suggestive patrol bays can still be walked. The historical centre can be reached through two entrances: the first is the Porta Senese which still preserves its 15th-century wooden shutters and locks. The other entrance is called Porticina (the small gate).
A nice place to visit in town is La Rocca, L shape building with a big rook and a closed courtyard, dated back Fifteenth Century, when Siena dominated the area. Inside you can still admire the ancient Giacomo Puccini piano.

Of great importance is the Romanesque Pieve di San Nicola which has at its side a bell tower featuring two 12-century rows of mullioned windows with two lights. The Church of Saint Nicholas is not far from the Fortress.
The church's earliest construction dates back to the 12th century, but in 1466 the building was expanded, as is noted on an inscription on the facade. The interior, with a single nave, has massive Romanic capitals crudely carved with designs of vegetables, eagles and imaginary animals.
Of interest are the 15th and 16th century frescoes in the chapels on the right which, in the robustness of the figures, show clear evidence of Umbrian pictorial culture. The chapels on the left host frescoes of the 13th century Sienese school.

The origins of the first inhabitants of Capalbio are uncertain. The area was probably already inhabitated in ancient times as some archaic tombs have been found in the nearby Valley of the Fosso della Radicata. This area is mentioned in Livy's Annales and Pliny the Elder's Naturalis Historia. The neighbouring city of Vulci owned these lands from the 8th to the 3rd century BC.
However, the Roman conquest left the deepest traces. Interesting remains are those of the late-republican slave-holding villas, such as the villa of Settefinestre (Seven windows), the villa of the Provincia (Province) and the villa of the Colonne (Pillars). More ruins of villas can be found at Monte Alzato and at Casa Morotti and a Roman necropolis has been located between Burano and the Tagliata. In this area the ruins of Imperial villas can also been seen. Extensive cultivation characterized this period and the large estate caused in time the degradation of the land which was followed by economic decline. In the 4th century AD the area was almost completely abandoned. The barbarian raids started from the middle of the 5th century AD, after the fall of the Western Roman Empire (476 AD). We have scarce, fragmented news of this period. The first signs of revival appeared in the Middle Ages, when the castle of Tricosto and the castle of Monteti (on the homonymous hill) were built on the ruins of an old Roman "castrum". The first document to mention Capalbio is a "privilegium" of Pope Alexander III dated 10th July 1161. This document confirmed the ownership of the Maremman territories which were an integral part of the Abbey estate to Baldinone, the Abbot of the Monastery of the Three Fountains. In the same period the powerful Aldobrandeschi family obtained the entitlement of these lands.

Comune

Map of Capalbio url | pdf

Ufficio turistico, Via Collacchioni, 1 (tel. 0564.896611)

To the east of Capalbio lies the hamlet of Pescia Fiorentina. Once the site of a customs house between the Grand Duchy and the Church State, iron-works were established here in the 15th century.
Situated in the tiny Italian village of Pescia Fiorentina, is the Garden of the Tarot Cards, an original creation by the French artist Niki De Saint Phalle. The garden is half a dozen miles from the beach resort of Capalbio.

Il Giardino dei Tarocchi (The Tarot Garden) is surrounded by Mediterranean macchia, a timeless fascinating area. Amidst hilly verdant woods stand the large polychrome sculptures covered in glass, ceramic and mirrors which were inspired by the 22 most important mysteries of the tarot deck. The sculptures are a tribute to Antonio Gaudi and also recall the grotesque garden sculptures at Bomarzo, near Viterbo. The garden is the main and most engaging work by Niki de Saint Phalle.

Based on the images pictured on Tarot cards, Niki de Saint Phalle has created a fantasy world of 20 sculptures. As unpredictable as the Tarot deck used in fortune telling is the serendipitous galaxy of fanciful sculptures, some of which are building-sized. Many of the works are made of iron mesh, sprayed with cement and embellished with a mosaic of Murano glass, mirrors and ceramic tiles, and such symbols as serpents, eggs and hearts abound.
The construction of the garden began in 1979 in collaboration with Niki de Saint Phalle's husband Jean Tinguely.
A few of the noteworthy Saint Phalle sculptures are "The Magician," crowned with a huge mirror-tiled hand; the Empress (or Sphinx), which Niki de Saint Phalle has used as her home and studio, and Falling Tower, which suggests the chaos at the Tower of Babel, with every window a different size and with the roof and top floor teetering. Still to be completed are two sculptures.

To get to Pescia Fiorentina, which is a mile from the main road, Via Aurelia, follow a gravel road and signs for the Villa Caracciolo or those indicating sculture. The garden is open in July and August, from 4 to 8 P.M. and from Monday to Saturday. Admission is free.

Il Giardino dei Tarocchi | Niki de Saint Phalle
Address | Garavicchio - Capalbio (GR)
Opening hours | From 1st April 2006 to 15th October 2006: 14.30 – 19.30

In Ansedonia you can visit the remains of the “city of Cosa” and its museum on the promontory of the Etruscan Tagliata “Spacco della Regina” with a marvellous view on the Argentario.
Cosa is situated on top of the Ansedonia hill, and has a roman forum, the antique dwellings of peasants, the acropolis with the remains of monumental temples, and one of the most beautiful panoramic view of the Argentario and the laguna of Orbetello.

The most impressive feature of Cosa is the 1.5 km long circuit of walls, reinforced by 18 towers, some of which are still standing, including the Porta Romana, through which the site is entered, the remains of the forum with a basilica, two temples and the walled acropolis with the capitol. There is also a small museum.

At the foot of the hill, a port was built and equipped with impressive infrastructures, in part still visible.
From the site a road runs down past the massive Torre San Biagio, built by the Saracens, to the so-called Tagliata Etrusca (Etruscan cut), a drainage channel cut through the tufa. This expedient consists of an artificial canal dug into the rock, partially in tunnels and partially open-air, for a length of more than 80 metres. The interior of the Tagliata can be visited today, crossing over a little bridge over the modern canal.
The name is misleading, for the channel was cut by the Romans (though the Romans did in fact gain their knowledge of hydraulic engineering from the Etruscans). The channel was designed not only to prevent the silting-up of the ancient harbor but also to drain the low-lying hinterland and preserve the little Lago di Burano, to the southeast, from degenerating into marshland. Today, fully 2000 years after its construction, the Tagliata Etrusca still fulfillls its function. On the water's edge is a large cavity in the rock known as the Spacco of Bagno della Regina (Queen's Bath). Popularly supposed to be a rock sanctuary, it is in fact part of the drainage works.

Wikipedia Cosa (eng)
Scientific Itineraries in Tuscany | Tagliata of Ansedonia