The variegated coast of Tuscany, lapped by crystal clear waters, is where fine sand beaches give way to impressive wind carved cliffs. Exploring it you discover a never-ending series of incredibly beautiful and natural scenarios where the main players are the deep blue of the sea and the green of the maquis shrub land.
To the North, the so-called “memorable beaches”, the most fashionable of the region, stand out, part of Versilia, laying on imaginable comfort, refreshment, entertainment and facilities of every kind.
In the Centre, the sea is clearer and you will find smaller and less crowded beaches: those of the archipelago are little gems, not too deep and not too large with a magnificent sea, the best of the region.
To the South, the Tuscan coast offers a wide choice between miles of beaches with bathing establishments and just as many free beaches, with nature in its pure state around you.
The Cinque Terre (the Five Lands) were listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997 and represent a part of the country where sea and land merge, a unique example of its kind: 18 kilometres of rocky indented coastline full of coves, beaches, deep sea and dominated by a chain of hills that run parallel to the water’s edge, and the five villages (or as they said in ancient times, “terre”, lands) of Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola and Riomaggiore are situated. http://www.cinqueterre.it/info.php http://www.cinqueterre.eu.com/ http://www.parconazionale5terre.it/ Cinque Terre – 113 km (1 h 25 min) One of Liguria’s most famous fishing villages (on the Levante Riviera) and in the north of Italy in general, Lerici has become a popular location with visitors and tourists throughout the year looking over the Bay of Poets. Formerly known as the Gulf of La Spezia, the Bay of Poets owes its name to Lord Byron and the couple Percy Bysshe Shelley and Mary Shelley, poets who resided there. The seabed is quite shallow and sandy and you can stand easily in the water, unlike the rocky sea floor near the Cinque Terre. Declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997 together with the Cinque Terre, Portovenere (or Porto Venere) is a small village standing on the southern tip of the peninsula that forms the western edge of the Golf of the Poets. Renowned for its beaches, thanks to the crystal clear water and the strong current of the Ligurian Sea, which not far off the coast can be quite deep. The ancient village, the cliffs and the small islands of the archipelago insist the Regional Natural Park of Portovenere. http://www.terredilunigiana.com/lerici.php http://www.castellodilerici.it/index.html Lerici – 85 km (58 min) http://www.portovenere.it/html/index.htm http://www.parconaturaleportovenere.it/ http://www.prolocoportovenere.it/it/ Portovenere – 110 km (1 h 20 min) Versilia is the northeast part of Tuscany bordered by the Apuan Alps mountain range (running parallel to the coast) and the so called Versilia Riviera, renowned for its bathing resorts on the Ligurian Sea. The towns that make up the Riviera of the Versilia are: Forte dei Marmi, Pietrasanta, Camaiore, Viareggio and Torre del Lago Puccini. The Riviera is all about tourism, with wide golden beaches (renowned all over Europe and considered among the best in Italy) and a fashionable and lively nightlife (there are many clubs and discotheques right on the sea). http://www.versiliainfo.com/it/la-versilia/la-versilia.asp Versilia – 50 km (40 min) The Etruscan Coast covers the whole area of the province of Livorno (islands excluded) and is so named because of the numerous Etruscan necropolis found near the sea. The coastline is rocky interrupted by fine golden sand beaches, and a one-off “white sand beach” in Rosignano Solvay. http://www.costadeglietruschi.it/ http://www.costaetrusca.com/Costa_degli_Etruschi_Tuscany/ San Vincenzo – 90 km (1 h 07 min) The bay delimits the southern boundary of the Ligurian Sea and takes its name from a locality called Baratti where a little inland Etruscan burial grounds abound. The cove offers a sandy beach, wider towards the north of the bay and much narrower towards the south where the beach reaches the yacht marina in the port of Baratti. The sea is generally shallow, while the beach stand out for its gold and amber colour with traces of iron debris (waste from the metalworking activities here during the Etruscan period). In the hinterland around the bay a pinewood offers shade, with different pines and an undergrowth with typical bushes and shrubs of the Mediterranean maquis shrub land. http://www.turismo.intoscana.it/site/it/natura/Il-mare-di-Baratti-e-Populonia/ http://www.discovertuscany.com/it/costa-degli-etruschi/golfo-di-baratti.html Baratti – 109 km (1 h 20 min)
