Palazzo dei Governanti Porto Ercole (GR)

Porto Ercole () is an Italian town located in the

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

Monte Argentario Monte Argentario is a ''comune'' (municipality) and a peninsula belonging to the Province of Grosseto in the Italian region Tuscany, located about south of Florence and about south of Grosseto. The peninsula is connected with the mainland by thre ...

, in the

Province of Grosseto The province of Grosseto ( it, links=no, provincia di Grosseto) is a province in the Tuscany region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Grosseto. As of 2013 the province had a total population of 225,098 people. Geography The Province of Gros ...

Tuscany Tuscany ( ; it, Toscana ) is a Regions of Italy, region in central Italy with an area of about and a population of about 3.8 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence (''Firenze''). Tuscany is known for its landscapes, history, art ...

. It is one of the two major towns that form the township, along with

Porto Santo Stefano Porto Santo Stefano () is a seaport town on the west coast of Italy, in the municipality of Monte Argentario, in the Province of Grosseto, Tuscany. It is the municipal seat of Monte Argentario and one of the two major towns that form the townshi ...

. Its name means "Port

Hercules Hercules (, ) is the Roman equivalent of the Greek divine hero Heracles, son of Jupiter and the mortal Alcmena. In classical mythology, Hercules is famous for his strength and for his numerous far-ranging adventures. The Romans adapted the Gr ...

Geography

The resort is located on the eastern side of Monte Argentario

promontory A promontory is a raised mass of land that projects into a lowland or a body of water (in which case it is a peninsula). Most promontories either are formed from a hard ridge of rock that has resisted the erosive forces that have removed the so ...

, and is from

Grosseto Grosseto () is a city and ''comune'' in the central Italian region of Tuscany, the capital of the Province of Grosseto. The city lies from the Tyrrhenian Sea, in the Maremma, at the centre of an alluvial plain on the Ombrone river. It is the m ...

, from

Orbetello Orbetello is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Grosseto (Tuscany), Italy. It is located about south of Grosseto, on the eponymous lagoon, which is home to an important Natural Reserve. History Orbetello was an ancient Etruscan settlemen ...

and about from Porto Santo Stefano. To the north of Porto Ercole are located the Laguna di Orbetello and the

Tombolo A tombolo is a sandy or shingle isthmus. A tombolo, from the Italian ', meaning 'pillow' or 'cushion', and sometimes translated incorrectly as ''ayre'' (an ayre is a shingle beach of any kind), is a deposition landform by which an island become ...

della Feniglia.

History

Porto Ercole was first mentioned in 1296, when Margherita

Aldobrandeschi The Aldobrandeschi were an Italian noble family from southern Tuscany. Overview Of probable Lombard origin, they appear in history as counts in the 9th century. The first known count was Hildebrand II (857). Their possession extended to what i ...

, countess of

Sovana Sovana is a small town in southern Tuscany, Italy, a ''frazione'' of Sorano, a comune in the province of Grosseto. History Etruscan by origin, Sovana became a Roman ''municipium'', and, from the 5th century, an episcopal see. Conquered by Lomba ...

, ordered the construction of a tower named ''Torre di Terra'', the oldest core of the town.Municipal history of Monte Argentario
/ref> In 1610, the Italian Baroque painter

Caravaggio Michelangelo Merisi (Michele Angelo Merigi or Amerighi) da Caravaggio, known as simply Caravaggio (, , ; 29 September 1571 – 18 July 1610), was an Italian painter active in Rome for most of his artistic life. During the final four years of hi ...

, exiled by the Pope, died in Porto Ercole on his way back to Rome and was buried in a local church. The

Dutch Royal Family The monarchy of the Netherlands is a constitutional monarchy. As such, the role and position of the monarch are governed by the Constitution of the Netherlands. Consequently, a large portion of it is devoted to the monarch. Roughly a third of ...

maintained a summer residence here in the latter half of the twentieth century.

Transportation

Porto Ercole was once connected by rail to

via a small rail line to Porto Santo Stefano, closed in 1944. The former station, named Porto Ercole-Terrarossa, was located 4 km from the town, in the hamlet of Terrarossa. It counts two harbours: Porto Vecchio, the old town's port, and Cala Galera, located in a northern bay.

Twin towns

, Italy; since 1973Infos at tuscanytravels.info

Photogallery

File:Porto Ercole - Vista fortezza dalla rocca.JPG, View of the town and, upon the hill, the fortress named ''Forte Filippo'' File:Forte Stella Porto Ercole (GR).jpg, ''Forte Stella'' File:Porto Ercole - Porta della rocca. Rest.jpg, ''Porta di Porto Ercole''

References

External links

Porto Ercole official website

Monte Argentario official website
{{Authority control Coastal towns in Tuscany Frazioni of Monte Argentario Mediterranean port cities and towns in Italy