Rocchette is a village in

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 ...

, central

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

, administratively a

frazione A ''frazione'' (plural: ) is a type of subdivision of a ''comune'' (municipality) in Italy, often a small village or hamlet outside the main town. Most ''frazioni'' were created during the Fascist era (1922–1943) as a way to consolidate territ ...

of the

comune The (; plural: ) is a local administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions ('' regioni'') and provinces (''province''). The can also ...

Castiglione della Pescaia Castiglione della Pescaia (), regionally simply abbreviated as Castiglione, is an ancient seaside town in the province of Grosseto, in Tuscany, central Italy. The modern city grew around a medieval 12th century fortress ( it, castello) and a large ...

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 ...

Geography

Rocchette is about 25 km 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 ...

and 6 km from

, and it is situated at the foot of Poggio Peroni, one of the peaks of the promontory of

Punta Ala Punta Ala (formerly Punta Troia) is a ''frazione'' of the town of Castiglione della Pescaia, in the province of Grosseto, Tuscany, Italy. The small town with a population of 402 people lies at the bottom of the northern hillsides of the promontory ...

, in the pine forest of

Roccamare Roccamare is a village in Tuscany, central Italy, administratively a frazione of the comune of Castiglione della Pescaia, province of Grosseto. At the time of the 2001 census its population amounted to 107. Geography Roccamare is about 25 ...

along the Tyrrhenian coast. Rocchette is known for its beaches and it is populated especially in summer, by tourists, mainly from

Northern Europe The northern region of Europe has several definitions. A restrictive definition may describe Northern Europe as being roughly north of the southern coast of the Baltic Sea, which is about 54th parallel north, 54°N, or may be based on other g ...

. The village is situated west to the Provincial Road which links Castiglione della Pescaia to

Follonica Follonica () is a town and ''comune'' (township) of province of Grosseto in the Italian region of Tuscany, on the Gulf of Follonica (''Golfo di Follonica''), about northwest of the city of Grosseto. History It was founded in 1834 by Grand Duke L ...

History

Rocchette was formerly known as ''Campo Albo'', a small village born in the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

, with a castle and a notable ''

pieve In the Middle Ages, a pieve (, ; la, plebe, link=no; plural ''pievi'') was a rural church with a baptistery, upon which other churches without baptisteries depended. The Italian word ''pieve'' is descended from Latin ''plebs'' which, after th ...

'', that no longer exists.Bruno Santi, ''Guida storico-artistica alla Maremma. Itinerari culturali nella provincia di Grosseto'', Siena, Nuova Immagine, 1995, pp. 78-79.

Emanuele Repetti Emanuele Repetti (1776-1852) was an Italian historian and naturalist who wrote extensively on the history of Tuscany. He was born in Carrara.Italian Institute of Archaeology, University of Siena http://www.archeogr.unisi.it/repetti/paginerep/bior ...

,
Rocchette
�, ''Dizionario Geografico Fisico Storico della Toscana'', 1833–1846.Carlo Citter, ''Guida degli edifici sacri della Maremma'', Siena, Nuova Immagine, 2002, p. 129.

Main sights

* Fort of Rocchette (12th century), it was built as a

watchtower A watchtower or watch tower is a type of fortification used in many parts of the world. It differs from a regular tower in that its primary use is military and from a turret in that it is usually a freestanding structure. Its main purpose is to ...

in the Middle Ages and later known as ''Rocca di Campo Albo''. It was restructured by the

Medici The House of Medici ( , ) was an Italian banking family and political dynasty that first began to gather prominence under Cosimo de' Medici, in the Republic of Florence during the first half of the 15th century. The family originated in the Muge ...

in the 16th century. * Chapel of ''Madonna del Carmine'' (18th century), it's the chapel of the castle of Rocchette. It was built to replace the lost ''pieve di Rocca'' (12th century). * Tower of Cala Galera (13th century), it was built as a watchtower by the

Republic of Pisa The Republic of Pisa ( it, Repubblica di Pisa) was an independent state centered on the Tuscan city of Pisa, which existed from the 11th to the 15th century. It rose to become an economic powerhouse, a commercial center whose merchants dominated ...

and then restructured by the Medici in 1568.Santi, p. 81.

References

Bibliography

,
Rocchette
�, ''Dizionario Geografico Fisico Storico della Toscana'', 1833–1846. * Bruno Santi, ''Guida storico-artistica alla Maremma. Itinerari culturali nella provincia di Grosseto'', Siena, Nuova Immagine, 1995, pp. 78–81.

Geography

History

Main sights

References

Bibliography

See also