Piombino Hotels - Tuscany

Piombino Hotel, Tuscany

For many holiday makers, Piombino is simply a town to pass through on their way to boarding one of the big ferry boats headed to the nearby island of Elba or the more distant Sardinia. However, the Tuscan coastal town of Piombino deserves much more than a fleeting visit, and not only because of its fabulous views of the entire Tuscan archipelago, visible from the promontory. Piombino has been inhabited since the times of the Etruscans, civilization which first exploited the presence of ferrous minerals in the area. The principal chapters of the town's history are recounted in the town's Museum of the City and Castle housed, as the name might suggest, within the walls of Piombino Castle; one of the ancient town's oldest surviving monuments.

Those wishing to travel even further back in time, should pay a visit to the Archaeological Museum of the Territory of Populonia. Situated close to modern day Piombino, Populonia and Baratti are what remains of two ancient Etruscan settlements, the coastal position of which makes them quite unique. Recent excavation work has brought to light yet more traces of this enigmatic population, including a number of tombs. It was between the 14th and 16th centuries, that Piombino enjoyed its period of greatest expansion. It was during this time that the town's Castle and impressive perimeter walls were constructed. The Cathedral of Sant' Antimo, a masterpiece of Romanesque-Gothic architecture, also dates back to this era.