My Favourite Place in Tuscany

We are back in Tuscany, my partner’s home region! It’s been a year since we have been here and I’ve missed Tuscany so much. You can read about some hidden pearls of Tuscany discovered in our previous visits over here.

My favourite place in Tuscany is Tomboli di Cecina Nature Reserve. This beautiful natural park consists of 15 kilometres of forest pathways and 12 beaches, some of them also for dogs.

Inside the Pineta, My Favourite Place in Tuscany

The Grand Duke of Tuscany, Leopold II created the nature reserve in the 19th century. The goal was to protect the cultivations of the local farmers from the salt and wind coming from the sea.

The Tomboli refer to the long dune stretches covered in vegetation. These bushy parts change beautifully as you walk from the sea towards the inner parts of the forest. They are a home for many animals such as foxes, wolves, woodland rabbits, and porcupines. In the sky, you might be able to spot for example a wood pigeon or a turtle dove. However, the only animals I have been able to spot there are small lizards. They slide along the road and vanish in a heartbeat into the bushes as they sense a human approaching.

The inside part of the forest consists of many paths that are easy enough for also children to walk. I am especially fond of the little bridges that take you over the little streams, all with their own wooden sign telling the name of the stream. A joker has transformed “Fosso dei Prate” (“The Ditch of Meadows”) into “Fosso dei Pirate”, “The Ditch of Pirates” with one stroke of a black pen.

A Drop in the Raw, Real Nature

The immense forests are pulsing with the laughter of cicadas and the sunny smell of the pine trees. Walking there feels like being hugged by Mother Nature herself.

At the other side of the trees, there are plenty of beaches to different tastes. I prefer the slightly rough and unmade ones where tree trunks lie about and the sand is not covered by a sea of beach umbrellas. I recommend a drop in the ocean and getting rocked in the warm, salty waves of the Mediterranean. However, actual swimming might prove challenging in these massive rolling waves. This is why the Italian “swimming” actually means more like blobbing in one spot and letting the ocean swing you up and down.

There is a reason to why the tomboli have lately become my favourite place. Namely, I have now lived for over two years in the Netherlands, and I really struggle with how artificial and man-made everything is. Meaning, you cannot find one bit of untouched nature. If there is a tiny slice of grass and trees somewhere, the Dutch builds there a perfectly designed café with an impressive online presence. I prefer the raw nature of Tuscany over the artificial, overly designed “experiences” that the Dutch call nature. This is why my favourite place in Tuscany is not something fancy and man-made but this down-to-earth, raw paradise.