.
CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS POST
****************************************
In this area one can also find beach-side RV parks with substantial camping pitches, pitches with views of the Mediterranean. See for instance the Punta Ala Camping Village, at
http://english.campingpuntala.it/camping_tuscany_italy.asp ,
http://english.campingpuntala.it/punta_ala_castiglione_della_pescaia.asp ,
http://english.campingpuntala.it/tuscany_holiday_accommodation.asp ,
http://english.campingpuntala.it/maremma_beach.asp , and
http://english.campingpuntala.it/file/download/map.pdf :
As an alternative in the same area, also see
http://www.baiaverde.com/grosseto-maremma/campsite-tuscany-italy/ ,
http://www.baiaverde.com/grosseto-maremma/campsite-tuscany-italy/pitches.asp ,
http://www.baiaverde.com/grosseto-maremma/campsite-tuscany-italy/campsite.asp ,
http://www.baiaverde.com/grosseto-maremma/campsite-tuscany-italy/caravans.asp , and
http://www.baiaverde.com/grosseto-maremma/campsite-tuscany-italy/photo-gallery.asp .
Notice how on the map there are pitches for caravans right beside the beach. There's also a Legambiente
Guida Blu "4-sail" beach called "
Cala Violina" just north of this RV park, a beach that is completely surrounded by especially thick and extensive forest --
https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cala_Violina ,
http://www.maremmaguide.com/cala-violina.html ,
http://www.legambiente.it/guida-blu/2015 (type in "Scarlino"),
http://legambienteturismo.it/2013/08/cala-violina-gr/ ,
http://www.legambiente.it/contenuti/articoli/guida-blu-2015 ,
http://www.touringclub.it/news/guida-blu-2015-ecco-il-mare-piu-bello-ditalia ,
http://www.touringclub.it/news/guida-blu-2015-ecco-il-mare-piu-bello-ditalia , and
http://www.amazon.it/Guida-blu-2013/dp/8836562884/ref=pd_sim_sbs_14_1 :
[video=youtube;v_WWfORFOfo]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_WWfORFOfo [/video]
[video=youtube;TuaZ4bt5Y3A]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuaZ4bt5Y3A [/video] [video=youtube;EFTetQBWzv4]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFTetQBWzv4 [/video]
Don't get the wrong idea: most beaches in Italy are absolutely
not like this. They bear no resemblance whatsoever to this beach! It's a truly exceptional beach, located in the midst of a truly exceptional bit of Italian mainland coastline. Again, over 90 % of that coastline has been wrecked, and does not look like this at all.
Of course, during the summer season both this beach and the RV park down the coast are packed with families. The RV park even runs small boat-shuttles to Cala Violina, because the only other way to get to the beach is by an arduous trail through the forest. But from mid-September to May both Cala Violina and the RV park completely empty out. So the TerraLiner might be able to make arrangements with the RV park to glamp for a few months, at very low cost. This would be even closer to the good surfing in the Golfo di Baratti. There's also a very friendly, helpful surf + kite-surfing shop in Follonica, a small beach town just up the coast -- see
http://surfrelax.it ,
http://surfrelax.it/contatti/ , and
https://www.facebook.com/puntonebeach .
The owner of "SurfRelax" is a big enthusiast for traditional "Hawaiian-style" surfing, and he runs up to Baratti beach whenever the northwest wind is blowing and swell is up. But needless to say, the whole Grosetto coast is major kite-surfing country, and "surfing" shops along the coast are basically "kite-surfing" shops, filled with kite-surfing gear.
Also see the strip of coast just south of Talamone and the Maremma Regional Park, which is also full of forested camping sites -- see
http://www.talamonecampingvillage.com/en/ ,
http://www.talamonecampingvillage.com/download/talamone_planimetria.pdf ,
http://www.talamonecampingvillage.com/en/resort-tuscany-sea.asp ,
http://www.talamonecampingvillage.com/en/gallery.asp , ,
http://www.talamonecampingvillage.com/en/gallery53-parco-beach.asp ,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kq7BsK77btg ,
http://www.campeggioacapulco.com/about/ ,
http://www.campeggioacapulco.com/piazzole/ ,
http://www.voltoncino.it/en/ ,
http://www.voltoncino.it/en/voltoncino/area-campeggio.asp , etc. etc. There's a whole bunch of them:
But once past Orbitello and the Agrigento peninsula at the very bottom of Grosseto province, the Italian coast begins to build up again with ticky-tacky development. It's ticky-tacky all the way down past Rome and past Naples, until one reaches Reggio Calabria.
Sure, there are a few "bright spots" here and there, like the Almafi Coast, Maratea (located in Basilicata), and Tropea (located in Calabria). There
is beautiful coastline on the Cilento peninsula south of Salerno, where Hemingway wrote "
The Old Man and the Sea" in a fishing village. But that's only because it's a national park -- see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cilento ,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parco_Nazionale_del_Cilento,_Vallo_di_Diano_e_Alburni ,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parco_Nazionale_del_Cilento,_Vallo_di_Diano_e_Alburni ,
http://www.parks.it/parco.nazionale.cilento/Eindex.php , and
http://www.travelandleisure.com/articles/italys-cilento-coast . Aside from such exceptions, the entire coastline from Rome down has also been ruined. Yes, I've driven it.
It's the same on the eastern coastline of Italy, facing Croatia. Again, most of the coastline has been ruined by ticky-tacky development catering to middle-class tourism -- Rimini is especially wretched....
...The only exceptions are the few areas that have been set aside as natural parks, for instance, the Gargano Peninsula – see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gargano and
http://www.parks.it/parco.nazionale.gargano/Epar.php . There are also a few bits of unspoiled coastline in Puglia, Basilicata, and Calabria, i.e. the latter two when facing the Gulf of Taranto.
Sicily is much the same, most of it ruined except bits here and there set aside as coastal parkland. Only on Sardegna will one find Mediterranean coastline with huge beaches and farms still directly abutting the sea.
Still, all of the above suggests that even on a coastline as ruined as the Western Mediterranean, if one is willing to travel out-of-season (i.e. from September 15th to May or June), one
would be able to find some beautiful, still reasonably natural places to glamp on unspoiled, uncrowded beaches thick with trees. Yes, even on the mainland Mediterranean coasts of Spain, France, and Italy,
if one knows where to look.
To say nothing of Croatia, Greece, and Albania, where huge stretches of mainland coastline are still either forest or farmland, and have remained "undeveloped".
****************************************
CONTINUED IN NEXT POST
.