Talamone Travel Guide

There is a porta Garibaldi, a via Garibaldi, a piazza Garibaldi and a monument to Garibaldi in Talamone.
I know that all Italian towns have somewhere a "via Cavour" or "via Garibaldi" but in Talamone there seems to be a special cult for Garibaldi

Was he born here, did he live here, did he fight a battle here, did he die here? No, Giuseppe Garibaldi, who led many of the military campaigns that brought about the formation of a unified Italy, arrived by ship in Talamone on May 7th 1860 and organized here the expeditionary force of "the thousand". They made provision of food, water and arms and on May 9th sailed on two ships to Marsala in Sicily to conquer the island.

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There was a time when this harbour, now a marina, was the commercial seaport of the republic of Siena and was as such opposing the maritime supremacy of Pisa and Genoa.
Even more, around 1350, a treaty between Siena and Florence made of Talamone the commercial port of this famous city.

It is difficult to imagine this period when looking now at the quiet marina of Talamone.
Grandeur et décadence!

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Siena reactivated the harbour in the 14th c. to make of Talamone their principal maritime port, although the distance is about 100 Km.
The Sienese built the mighty fortress called "Rocca di Talamone" which still dominates the centre and the surroundings and is visible from far away. The fortress has a rectangular form with one big square tower on one corner and three smaller ones on the corners overlooking the sea. The present aspect without crenels or machicolations goes back to the period when Talamone belonged to Spain under the name of "Stato dei Presidi Spagnoli" or State of the Spanish Garrisons (1557 - 1801) as well as the other towns of the Argentario area.
The fortress was the central pivot of the fortified town. An important wall still exists at the limit of the inner town towards the harbour.

It is easy to walk up to the fortress and the views on the Tyrrhenian Sea, the Monte Argentario, and the island of Giglio are wonderful. We could not visit the inside of the fortress

The restaurant La Scesa had been advised to us by friends living in the region. We had first a lunch on the terrace. The service was very kind, the wine proposed by the head waiter was excellent and at a moderate price but the dish of "spaghetti al vongole" were a bit small in quantity.
We returned in the evening and had a very good dinner, inside the restaurant, in an excellent atmosphere. The head waiter Andrea had recommended to my wife a "branzinno" bass fish which was excellent, I had taken among others a plate of "cose" of perfect freshness and I am a connoisseur in mussels (see my tips on Belgium and its cooking).
We had noticed the presence of several tourists who seemed to be regular customers.
At the end of this very good dinner the head waiter told us that it was his last workday as on the next day on October 1st began the low season.

We returned the next day October 1st at noon with our family (5 persons) and to our surprise the staff refused to lay a table on the terrace although the temperature outside was 25°C. They wanted us to eat inside.
We found somewhere else a welcoming terrace to have lunch.
The next day persons of our hotel who were regular customers of The Scesa told us to have also been badly received by the "low season" team of waiters.

We feel some perplexity about this restaurant: excellent until September 30th with the butler Andrea, and bad service from October 1st!