42.775° N, 10.808° E
Complete guide
Roccamare beach: beach guide
What the beach is like
Roccamare beach lies in the seaside locality of the same name in the municipality of Castiglione della Pescaia, in the province of Grosseto, and faces the Tyrrhenian Sea. The locality stands inside the Roccamare pine forest, which stretches for more than 8 km along the Tyrrhenian shore between the frazione of Riva del Sole and that of Rocchette. The pine forest is a thick green mantle rich in vegetation with the sea in front of it. At the southern end of the pine forest rises the headland called Capezzolo, while at the northern end it is bounded by the Punta Ala headland, where the frazione of Rocchette lies.
In the pine forest, maritime pines are more common near the shore and stone pines towards the hinterland, together with Mediterranean scrub species. In ancient times the area was a marshy zone on the edge of the now vanished Lake Prile. The pine forest took on its present appearance after the land reclamation carried out by the Lorraine rulers in the eighteenth century and, later, under Fascism. The pine forest is crossed by the Tonfone ditch, a short watercourse just 4 km long that flows into the Tyrrhenian Sea by Roccamare beach. The mouth of the Tonfone lies right at the beaches of Roccamare.
Roccamare beach is tucked away behind thick and wild pine forests, with walking and cycling paths. Visit Tuscany describes it as a less crowded beach. Roccamare is a modern settlement that developed during the twentieth century together with the nearby frazione of Riva del Sole after the last reclamation works in the Maremma. It began as a housing development inside the pine forest, a gated community with roads and about two hundred villas, mostly built from 1963 onwards.
Getting there
Castiglione della Pescaia lies 5.9 km as the crow flies to the east of the beach and Punta Ala 5.5 km to the north-west. The frazione is crossed by the provincial road 158 delle Collacchie, which links it with Follonica and Grosseto. The SP158 and the SP3 link Castiglione della Pescaia to the SS1 Aurelia.
The Roccamare pine forest is crossed along its entire length by the Castiglione della Pescaia-Bivio di Rocchette cycle path, which starts from the centre of the main town of the municipality and runs to the turn-off for Rocchette. The path runs along the main road and leads from the centre of Castiglione della Pescaia to the coast. According to Wikivoyage, parking in Castiglione della Pescaia is difficult in summer and the best way to reach the municipal beaches is on foot or by bike.
When to go
According to QualeSpiaggia data, the beach faces south. With the scirocco, the ostro and the libeccio the wind comes from the sea and the beach is exposed to waves and rough sea. With the tramontana, the grecale and the mistral (maestrale) the wind blows from the land and the beach is sheltered, with calmer water close to shore. The levante and the ponente, on the other hand, blow across the shoreline. These are indications derived from the orientation of the coast, not weather forecasts.
Visit Tuscany presents the Roccamare pine forest as a place to spend a restful, quiet afternoon away from city life.
Seabed and sea
In the 2025 season the bathing water of this stretch is classified as excellent by the European Environment Agency (EEA). The whole municipal territory faces the Sanctuary for marine mammals, also called the Cetacean Sanctuary, a European marine protected area.
Facilities and free beach
In 2026 the Rocchette/Roccamare stretch is on the list of Blue Flag (Bandiera Blu) beaches compiled by the FEE for the municipality of Castiglione della Pescaia. Much of the beach that connects Rocchette to Riva del Sole is free, although a few sailing schools occupy an area of it. According to Wikivoyage, Castiglione della Pescaia has received many awards for its environmental and tourism quality.
With children
The beach is popular with families with children and groups of friends, and is suitable for playing football or beach tennis on the shore. Bringing shade and water helps during the hottest hours.
Nearby
The Punta Capezzolo headland lies 4.5 km as the crow flies to the east of the beach. According to Visit Tuscany, Capezzolo beach, reachable on foot or by bike, has a waterfront with bars, beach establishments, ice cream shops and a children's playground. From there you can see the islands of the Tuscan archipelago, Elba, Montecristo and Giglio, and sometimes the mountains of Corsica. Le Rocchette is a sandy beach with a rocky seabed suited to snorkelling.
Among the villas of Roccamare, Villa Bartolini, built between 1957 and 1958 by the architect Ernesto Nathan Rogers, has been declared of particular historical and artistic interest. Italo Calvino spent every summer in Roccamare from the seventies until September 1985, and the pine forest and its beaches inspired his Palomar. According to Visit Tuscany, Calvino wrote the book here and set it here. It was the writer Pietro Citati who introduced Roccamare to Calvino, inviting him to his villa in 1972. The winter atmosphere of the villas in the pine forest and of the seaside village is at the heart of the crime novel Enigma in luogo di mare by Fruttero & Lucentini.
The chapel of the estate, built in 1970 to a design by Ugo Miglietta, is reserved for residents and holds services in the summer period.
Sources
- Wikipedia (it) — Roccamare
- Wikivoyage (it) — Castiglione della Pescaia
- FEE Italia — Bandiera Blu 2026, elenco spiagge
- OpenStreetMap
- EEA — Bathing water quality 2025 (IT009053006009)
- QualeSpiaggia — open data spiagge (CC BY 4.0)
- Pineta di Roccamare | Visit Tuscany
- The best beaches near Castiglione della Pescaia in Maremma | Visit Tuscany