What to see in Grosseto, itinerary including the main monuments and places of interest, including the Cathedral of San Lorenzo, the Church of San Francesco, the Archaeological Museum and the Walls.
Tourist information
City of Tuscany located 12 km from the sea, in the center of the plain known as Grosseto Maremma, Grosseto is part of an area formerly occupied by Lake Prile, a coastal lake basin that thanks to various reclamation works has been almost completely dried up.
The hexagonal walls built by the Medici at the end of the sixteenth century, which has remained intact as a whole, enclose the historic center of the city.
Near the ancient Roselle, an Etruscan and Roman city, which was destroyed by the Saracens in 935, the first inhabited nucleus of the future city of Grosseto was formed.
In 1138 Pope Innocent II moved the bishopric there, decreeing the birth of the Diocese and therefore also of the city of Grosseto, which from the eleventh to the thirteenth century was at the center of an important commercial and economic development, first as a fief of the Aldobrandeschi and then as free municipality, thanks to the production and marketing of salt.
In 1336 Grosseto was definitively subjected to the Sienese, who had always had expansionist aims on the city.
From then Grosseto followed the fate of Siena, until he surrendered to Florence in 1559.
The Medici began the reclamation works, but due to malaria, the city decayed and became depopulated.
During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the Lorraines were responsible for carrying out major reclamation works, greatly increasing the development of the city.
What see
The Walls offer a 3 km path entirely pedestrian and surrounded by greenery.
The Cathedral of San Lorenzo, patron of the city, was built on the site of a previous church, between the end of the thirteenth century and the beginning of the fourteenth century, on a project by Sozzo di Rustichino.
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The building, restored several times, houses numerous works of art, including the baptismal font by Antonio Ghini, to whom the altar of the Madonna delle Grazie is also due, with the image of the Madonna painted by the Sienese Matteo Giovanni's.
Noteworthy is the sixteenth-century stoup which is located at the first pillar on the left when entering.
The Church of San Francesco d'Assisi, located in Independence Square, houses an interesting Crucifix inside, a panel work attributed to the thirteenth century school of Duccio di Buoninsegna.
The Archaeological and Art Museum of the Maremma covers the whole history of the Maremma, from prehistory to the modern age.
In the same building there are exhibition halls relating to the Sacred Art Museum of the Diocese of Grosseto.
The archaeological area of Roselle, located about 10 km north of Grosseto, along the road leading to Siena, includes within it a path of about two km, which allows you to visit the remains of this ancient city.
