The municipal area, rich in numerous settlements from the Etruscan era, includes the characteristic towns of Pereta and Montiano, of medieval origins. The historic center is surrounded by walls built between the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance.
It extends over a total area just over 250 km², which includes the central part of the Grosseto Maremma and the north-western area of the Albegna and Fiora hills. It borders to the north-west with the municipality of Grosseto, to the north-east with the municipality of Scansano, to the south-east with the municipality of Manciano, to the south with the municipality of Orbetello, while to the west it is bathed for a short stretch by the sea Tyrrhenian Sea in the central part of the Monti dell’Uccellina coast which also includes Cala di Forno.
Morphologically, the municipal area has a short coastal stretch that is mainly high and rocky, with the exception of the sandy Cala di Forno, near which there are some modest promontories that form a limited sub-coastal hilly area. The hinterland consists of a flat stretch of the Maremma, enclosed to the west by the Uccellina Mountains and to the east by the foothills of the Albegna and Fiora hills. The innermost part of the municipal area alternates between modest hilly reliefs, which hardly exceed 300-350 meters above sea level, and some valleys which wind their way between the hills following the course of tributary streams on the right of the Albegna.
Magliano preserves the medieval city walls intact: they are formed by stone curtain walls, sometimes decorated with blind arches and crenellations, interspersed with 9 towers and equipped with 3 access doors. Taken together, the walls are intact, with the characteristic Renaissance stylistic elements clearly evident.
In the south-eastern section, the medieval remains of the primitive defensive structure have been well preserved, well integrated into the remaining circle of a later period. In particular, the Porta di San Giovanni, which has a round arch in blocks of travertine, and the adjacent Tower of San Giovanni, with a square base, located just to the right of the gate, date back to the fourteenth century: the plaque indicates 1323 as the year of construction.
Of the other 8 towers along the walls, there are two others with a square base, of clear medieval origins, and six with a semicircular base that overlook the western section: the latter were built in the Renaissance period.
The other two access gates are the Porta di San Martino, of medieval origins, which opens onto the northern side near the parish church of the same name with battlements and stylistic elements from the Aldobrandeschi era, and the Porta Nuova, from the 15th century, commissioned by the Sienese along the south-western section of the walls with machicolations and summit battlements.
Along the stretch of the Porta Nuova there is a patrol walkway.
•Walls of Montiano, also erected in the Middle Ages, entirely enclose the village of Montiano, albeit in various sections incorporated into the external walls of other buildings. Access to the center is through a door that opens to the south.
•Walls of Pereta, defensive system of the village of Pereta built in several stages during the Middle Ages, with an older inner wall than the outer one, where to the south the gate of Pereta.
Places of Interest
•Monastery of San Bruzio, is a ruined monastery in the countryside southeast of Magliano in Toscana.
The remains of the building, begun around 1000 by the Benedictines and finished towards the end of the 12th century, consist of the apse, in the eastern walls of the transept and in the arches that support the dome with the spandrels from which the octagonal cap developed and the base of the lantern still stands. The capitals of the semi-pillars, decorated with foliage and anthropomorphic heads, have been compared to those of San Rabano in the common derivation of models beyond the Alps. The apse is decorated with hanging arches divided into pairs by slender semi-columns. The external curtain wall is in large squared blocks of travertine.
•Palazzo di Checco il Bello, is a historic palace located in the historic centre. Built in the early fourteenth century, the building was the ancient residence of the Monaldeschi family of Orvieto and the Aldobrandeschi counts also stayed there. In the early years of the twentieth century then, a certain Francesco Salvi lived there, nicknamed Checco il Bello, both for his aesthetic qualities and for the fame of Casanova, hence the name by which the building is known today. Today the building is used as a residential building.
It stands on the main street of the old village, Corso Garibaldi, not far from the square where the church of San Giovanni Battista is located. The building was built with local stone according to the patterns of Sienese Gothic architecture of the fourteenth century</strong >. There are mullioned windows, now walled up for a better rationalization of the internal spaces, and frames in light local travertine</ strong>. On the façade you can see the coat of arms of the Monaldeschi family.
• Church of San Giovanni Battista is of Romanesque origin but of composite look for subsequent transformations.
The windows on the left side are Gothic, the façade, of sober elegance, from the Renaissance (1471 ). Also noteworthy is the apse, accompanied on the right by a cuspidate bell tower.
The interior has a nave, with a ceiling supported by three full-centre arches, the triumphal arch rests on two Romanesque columns with decorated capitals. On the walls, votive frescoes from the 15th and 16th centuries by the Sienese school. In the apse, a wall tabernacle from the beginning of the 13th century with, in the architrave, the mallet (the emblem of the Community) and the inscription in Gothic letters of the craftsman (M. Nicholaus). On the left, a refined baptismal font in travertine with six panels, dated 1493.
•The Palazzo del Podestà, or Palazzo dei Priori, is a historic building built in 1425, by the will of the people’s captain Pietro Salimbeni Benassai, who used it as a residence. The building was also the residence of the priors for the period of their office. The renovations it has undergone over the centuries have changed part of its original appearance.
The building is presented in late Gothic style, typical of Sienese architectural schemes of the fifteenth century. On the facade of the building, the coats of arms of the main illustrious citizens of Magliano are still recognizable today, such as that of Salimbeni Benassai himself, that of the Piccolomini family and that of the Bandinelli family.
•The church of San Martino is a sacred building. The Romanesque portal opens on the façade, preceded by a flight of steps and framed by sculpted reliefs with monstrous creatures and a warrior with a dragon; above a mullioned window probably belonging to the original building. The right side has a lateral portal delimited by two semi-columns and around it sculptured panels with plant and geometric motifs.
The interior is decorated on the left side and in the presbytery by very fragmentary frescoes from the 15th and 16th centuries. In the building, after the detachment from the bell tower following the bombing of 1944, the bell bearing the date 1625 and the civic coat of arms of Magliano was placed.
•Olivo della Strega, is a monumental plant in an olive grove adjacent to the Romanesque church of SS. Announced. The tree is considered one of the oldest in Italy, perhaps in Europe, given that its age is estimated to be around 3000-3500 years, in fact adopting the method of active carbon, experts have assigned the plant the longevity record for Tuscany. The plant is made up of two individuals, one, the old tree, aged around 3000-3500 years, therefore datable to around 1000 BC, now dead< /strong>, which formed the gigantic and particular base on which the new sucker was born, which has become a tree, which seems to have at least two centuries of life and which, in any case, is the extension of the ancient tree. All that remains of the old olive tree is a wrinkled and twisted trunk, but still vegetated with a fruiting shoot. The plant is now a monument and a fence has been made which guarantees a certain protection to prevent people, any collectors of objects linked to the places visited, from being able to remove fragments of the trunk or branches as a souvenir or at least damage it. Magic in Maremma has roots in pagan antiquity: witches, goblins and evil spirits, enchanted souls guarding ancient treasures; even the Devil was a common presence and many claimed to have seen him, disguised as a great lord, as a donkey, even as a priest.
The name of the Witch’s olive tree is due to some figures or representations that could be guessed rather than seen, particularly at certain times of the day, such as towards sunset, when the shadows begin to create suggestions, on the trunk or on the wrinkled, twisted branches, sculpted by the wind and atmospheric agents. Until the 1940s one could distinguish upper, on a central branch, the face of a man or an old woman and on the trunk > perhaps the figure of a large cat in the act of climbing and next to its head the profile of a woman with long hair. These images are no longer seen today, but photos exist that portray them and confirm their presence.
According to ancient legends handed down by popular oral tradition and not by written sources, pagan rites were performed around the tree and, after the invocation of the priests, the olive tree contorted in an incredible way assuming disturbing shapes so much that the thing was considered a kind of sorcery and also for this reason it was called the Olive Tree of the Witch.
It is said that during the Middle Ages the witches of Maremma met at the foot of our olive tree to exalt the devil with their sabbaths, but the most widespread legend tells of a witch who every Friday, during his sabbatical rites, he danced around the olive tree, thus forcing the plant to writhe until it assumed its current shape. It should be noted that at the basis of an explanation that transcends rationality on the twisted aspect of the trunk of the olive tree there is always an external agent or a motivation that pushes the tree to assume its characteristic appearance. At the end of the ritual, the witch transformed into a huge cat with fiery eyes and stayed to watch over the tree all night. Other versions of the story narrate that the olive tree doubled in size.
It is also said that a witch, to protect the olive tree, once threw olives, as hard as stones, at a boy who had thrown a stone at a robin hidden among the branches of the tree.
Archaeological sites
•Necropolis of Sassone, near the town of Magliano in Toscana.Via della Marsiliana
•Necropolis of Cancellone, in Sant’Andrea, along the provincial road of S. Andrea
•Necropolis of Santa Maria in Borraccia, in Santa Maria in Borraccia, along the Colle Lupo local road.
•Tomb of the Ficaie, along the provincial road to Sant’Andrea. (almost disappeared now)
•Tomb of Sant’Andrea, also called of the Chimeras in Sant’Andrea. (not open to visitors, closed to the public)
The Etruscan archaeological areas that can be visited are those of the necropolis of Santa Maria in Borraccia and Cancellone. The set of Etruscan necropolises around Magliano in Toscana were built between the 7th and 6th century BC.
Beaches
•Cala di Forno: the beach is located in the heart of the Maremma Natural Park and can be reached after a couple of hours of walking along the paths; the environment appears to be uncontaminated, with the fine golden sand that takes on a color tending towards white under the powerful sun of Maremma spring and summer.
The place is reachable only in the period between autumn and spring; in the summer months the paths leading to the beach are closed. The reason justifying this closure is essentially linked to the conservation of the environment: in fact, while on the one hand the risk of fires is reduced during the driest summer months, on the other it is avoided that, in the high season, the mass tourism could compromise the ecosystem of an area, precisely protected, characterized by a high bio-naturalistic value.
However, the optimal microclimate can allow pleasant breaks and exposure to the sun even in winter.
•Collelungo beach
Trivia
The Magliano Disc is an Etruscan lead artifact with a rounded shape with a diameter of about 8 cm, found in 1882 and dated to the 5th-4th century BC. It is now preserved in the Archaeological Museum of Florence.
It bears engraved on two sides an inscription in Etruscan, spiraling from the outside towards the centre, containing about 70 words, and for this reason it can be counted among the longest texts in the Etruscan language . The interpretation of the text seems to indicate that they are rules for sacrifices to be made as an offering to the divinities Tin, Maris, Calu and Canthas in given times and places.
The shape of the object recalls the more famous Phaistos disk.