Wild Tuscany: Flamingos, Islands and Marble Mountains

Tuscany’s wild side, from the flamingos and waterbirds of the Orbetello lagoon in the Maremma to the Tuscan Archipelago National Park, the coastal park of San Rossore, the Val d’Orcia and the Apuan Alps, with a directory of the parks in our guide. Facts from Visit Tuscany, WWF Italy and the parks themselves.

Tuscany is famous for its cultivated landscapes, the cypress avenues, vineyards and hill towns, but it keeps a wild side too. In the Maremma, the region’s wild south, flamingos winter on the lagoon of Orbetello; off the coast, a national park protects the Tuscan islands and their seas; and behind the beaches of Versilia, the Apuan Alps rise in marble peaks.

This is a short guide to where to find it, from a winter morning with binoculars at the lagoon to a walk on Elba’s granite.

Every winter, thousands of flamingos turn the shallows of the Orbetello lagoon pink.

The Maremma and the lagoon of Orbetello

The Maremma is Tuscany’s wild south: hot springs and hill villages inland, and on the coast the lagoon of Orbetello and the rocky promontory of Monte Argentario. The lagoon is one of the best places in Italy to see waterbirds, and in winter thousands of greater flamingos feed in its shallows. WWF Italy has managed a nature oasis here since 1971, with paths and hides on the western lagoon.

Islands, pinewoods and mountains

The Tuscan Archipelago National Park protects most of the Tuscan islands and their seas, and on Elba, an hour’s ferry from Piombino, it maintains a network of trails, from the granite of Monte Capanne to the coastal paths.

Between Pisa and Viareggio, the Parco Regionale Migliarino San Rossore Massaciuccoli protects the coast, its pinewoods and wetlands, with trails and guided visits; deer graze in its clearings. Inland, the Val d’Orcia park covers five municipalities from Pienza to Castiglione d’Orcia, with walking and cycling routes, and behind the Versilia coast the Apuan Alps rise straight from the plain, their quarries worked for marble since Roman times.

Feature: the WWF oasis at Orbetello

The oasis on the lagoon of Orbetello began with a discovery: in 1971 a nesting colony of black-winged stilts, the elegant wader the Italians call the cavaliere d’Italia, was found on the lagoon, and WWF stepped in to protect it. Today the oasis is a refuge for herons, egrets, waders and the flamingos that winter here. Visit on a weekend guided walk, keep to the paths and hides, and bring binoculars.

Did you know? The black-winged stilt, whose colony led to the oasis in 1971, is called the cavaliere d’Italia, the knight of Italy, for its long legs and elegant black-and-white plumage.

Our advice

Our advice: visit the Orbetello lagoon between late autumn and early spring for the flamingos, with binoculars; walk Elba’s trails outside the heat of summer; and book San Rossore’s guided visits ahead. Keep to marked paths, never feed wildlife, and take your rubbish home.