Gulf of Talamone

The Gulf of Talamone opens onto the Tyrrhenian coast of southern Tuscany, beside a rocky promontory at the southern end of the Uccellina hills. Its harbour offered inland Siena a route to the sea. The Sienese bought Talamone from the abbey of San Salvatore in 1303 and invested in the port, but its position brought serious difficulties: the road from Siena was long, the Maremma hinterland unhealthy, and sandbanks repeatedly obstructed the anchorage.

The bay nevertheless had periods of commercial importance. Florence channelled part of its traffic through Talamone between 1356 and 1364, using access to this coast when relations with Pisa or the need for supplies made another outlet valuable. Maritime warfare later imposed a different rhythm. Andrea Doria captured the place in papal service in 1526, and Khair ad-Din devastated it in 1544. In the following decade it passed into Spanish hands and became the smallest of the Tuscan coastal presidios under the military governor at Orbetello. The same sheltered coast that attracted merchants consequently became part of a garrison system, with harbour access serving the strategic interests of powers beyond Tuscany.