Parco Regionale della Maremma (Parco degli Uccellini/Uccellina)

The Maremma Regional Park protects a stretch of Tuscan coast between the Ombrone marshes and the Tyrrhenian Sea, including the Uccellina hills, pinewoods and historic watchtowers.

Why it matters

Established in 1975 as Tuscany's first regional park, the protected area brings together wetlands, coastal dunes, woodland and Mediterranean scrub. It is also a cultural landscape where conservation coexists with traditional activities such as cattle grazing.

What to notice

The landscape changes from the Ombrone river mouth and coastal marshes to the pinewood of Marina di Alberese, the ridges of the Uccellina hills and the coastal dunes. Holm oak, cork oak and Mediterranean scrub cover the hills, while watchtowers at Collelungo and Castel Marino recall the coast's defensive history. The park's fauna includes deer, wild boar, foxes and porcupines.

Context and history

Tuscany established the park by regional law in 1975 on land that included part of the Alberese estate of the Knights of Saint John. The ruins of the Benedictine abbey of San Rabano and its nearby tower remain on the ridge. Marsh reclamation in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, pine planting and the grazing economy of the butteri shaped the habitats and cultural landscape now protected by the park.