A medieval mining town with one of the finest cathedral squares in Italy
Despite its name, Massa Marittima is not on the sea but on a hill of the Colline Metallifere, the mining hills of the Maremma, which made it rich in the Middle Ages with copper and silver. In the thirteenth century it was a free commune with its own mining code, one of the oldest in Europe.
Its Piazza Garibaldi, irregular and sloping, is one of the most beautiful medieval squares in Italy, with the Romanesque-Gothic cathedral of San Cerbone raised on a flight of steps, the Palazzo del Podestà and the town hall. In the upper town, the Città Nuova, the Torre del Candeliere is linked to the Sienese fortress by a spectacular arch. A curious fresco, the Tree of Fertility, shows a tree laden with phalluses watched over by women.
Tip: visit the Mining Museum, set in a former air-raid shelter dug into the hill; in May and August the Balestro del Girifalco is a crossbow contest in costume.
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