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There are places that allow themselves to be discovered little by little, almost as if they were reluctant to reveal their hidden treasures to the hasty traveler. This is not the case with the Maremma Tuscany, a well-known land that immediately dazzles the visitor with its colors, different landscapes, art, history and traditions. The Maremma Toscana and its inhabitants are much more demanding on their guests: they want to be accepted and liked for what they are. This area has a long history, beginning with the Etruscans and then continuing over the centuries with invasions, conquests and the building of fortifications. The variegated forms of the coastal landscape and the gently rolling hills of the interior have been modeled by the ingenuity and toil of generations of peasants, laborers, cowherds, woodmen, quarrymen and miners. The towns, like Marina di Grosseto, villages and isolated hamlets dotting the area have a rich heritage of works of art and handicrafts. Even the hearty local cuisine seems to be immune from fashions and easy compromise. But, above all, it is the character of the people that marks the Maremma off from the rest of Tuscany: it is an area that in the past had a reputation for being rough yet courteous, difficult but not hostile. Then as now, it is a land of sharp contrasts where, for the traveler, everything is fascinating. Few areas in Italy have such a large number of protected areas as does the province of Grosseto. They include the old-established Parco della Maremma, the recent Tuscan Parco dell’Arcipelage, fourteen nature reserves and seven other concerned with, for example, repopulation and biogenesis, as well as the WWF nature sanctuaries. Altogether they cover a vast nature reserve containing all the typical habitats of the coastal strip and the interior, right up to the top of Monte Amiata and the Cornate. The typical images of the Maremma are the butteri – the cowboys of Tuscany – keeping a watchful eye on the huge herds of Maremma cattle; and wild horses frolicking in flat, damp glades; of flocks of water birds taking flight from the lagoons or the ruddy expanses of glasswort reflecting the light of an autumn sunset. Men, animals, plants: the balance between these elements indicates that by and large, in the wide coastal strip between the promontory of Piombino and the Colline Metallifere to the north and the promontory of the Argentario and the hills of Albegna to the south nature still reigns supreme. It is a perfect region for horse riding in Tuscany . On horseback one will discover all the hidden treasures that this unique landscape of Italy offers to its visitors. Bike and horse holidays are offered at the Hotel Prategiano close to Montieri.
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Tuscany, Italy, horse, riding, horseback, horse holidays, mountain, biking, walking,
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