Orbetello is a town and ''

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 ...

'' in the

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 Gro ...

(

Tuscany it, Toscano (man) it, Toscana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Citizenship , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = Italian , demogra ...

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 ...

. It is located about south of

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 ...

, on the eponymous lagoon, which is home to an important Natural Reserve.

History

Orbetello was an ancient Etruscan settlement, which in 280 BC passed under the control of the

Romans Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

, who had founded their colony of

Cosa Cosa was a Latin colony founded in southwestern Tuscany in 273 BC, on land confiscated from the Etruscans, to solidify the control of the Romans and offer the Republic a protected port. The Etruscan site (called ''Cusi'' or ''Cosia'') may have ...

(near the modern

Ansedonia Ansedonia is a ''frazione'' of the ''comune'' of Orbetello, in the province of Grosseto, southern Tuscany (Italy). At the time of the 2001 census, its population was 88.Domitian Domitian (; la, Domitianus; 24 October 51 – 18 September 96) was a Roman emperor who reigned from 81 to 96. The son of Vespasian and the younger brother of Titus, his two predecessors on the throne, he was the last member of the Fl ...

had a substantial property here, which had belonged to the Domitii Ahenobarbi and he inherited through his wife Domitia Longina. He also built other sumptuous villas nearby for his courtiers. In the Middle Ages it was a possession of the

Aldobrandeschi The Aldobrandeschi were an Italian noble family from southern Tuscany. Overview Of probable Lombard origin, they appear in history as counts in the 9th century. The first known count was Hildebrand II (857). Their possession extended to what i ...

family, who held it until the 14th century, when it was acquired by the city of Orvieto. After several struggles with the

Orsini Orsini is a surname of Italian origin, originally derived from Latin ''ursinus'' ("bearlike") and originating as an epithet or sobriquet describing the name-bearer's purported strength. Notable people with the surname include the following: *Angel ...

Pitigliano Pitigliano is a town in the province of Grosseto, located about south-east of the city of Grosseto, Tuscany, Italy. The quaint old town is known as ''the little Jerusalem'', for the historical presence of a Jewish community that has always bee ...

and Orvieto, in the following centuries Orbetello was captured by the Sienese Republic. In the mid-16th century it was part of the State of Presides, a Spanish possession, becoming its capital. The town was besieged by the French during the 1635-1659 Franco-Spanish War. This led to the inconclusive naval

Battle of Orbetello The Battle of Orbetello, also known as the Battle of Isola del Giglio, was a major naval engagement of the Franco-Spanish War of 1635. It was fought on 14 June 1646 off the Spanish-ruled town of Orbetello, on the coast of Tuscany, Italy, betwee ...

on 14 June; in July, a Spanish army forced the French to lift the siege. It formed part of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany until 1860, when it joined the newly unified Kingdom of Italy. In 1927–33,

Italo Balbo Italo Balbo (6 June 1896 – 28 June 1940) was an Italian fascist politician and Blackshirts' leader who served as Italy's Marshal of the Air Force, Governor-General of Libya and Commander-in-Chief of Italian North Africa. Due to his young a ...

's "air cruises" started from Orbetello's lagoon. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, the German Air Force's 2nd Squadron of Embarked Air Group 196 used the lagoon as a base for its

Arado Ar 196 The Arado Ar 196 was a shipboard reconnaissance low-wing monoplane aircraft built by the German firm of Arado starting in 1936. The next year it was selected as the winner of a design contest and became the standard aircraft of the ''Kriegsmarin ...

float planes for a brief period in 1943.

Government

''Frazioni''

The municipality is formed by the municipal seat of Orbetello and the towns and villages ('' frazioni'') of

Albinia Albinia is a town in Tuscany, central Italy, administratively a frazione of the comune of Orbetello, province of Grosseto, in the Tuscan Maremma. At the time of the 2001 census its population amounted to Ansedonia Ansedonia is a ''frazione'' of the ''comune'' of Orbetello, in the province of Grosseto, southern Tuscany (Italy). At the time of the 2001 census, its population was 88.Fonteblanda Fonteblanda is a village in Tuscany, central Italy, administratively a frazione of the comune of Orbetello, province of Grosseto, in the Tuscan Maremma. At the time of the 2001 census its population amounted to 904.Giannella Giannella is a village in Tuscany, central Italy, administratively a frazione of the comune of Orbetello, province of Grosseto, in the Tuscan Maremma. At the time of the 2001 census its population amounted to 160.San Donato and

Talamone Talamone is a town in Tuscany, on the west coast of central Italy, administratively a frazione of the comune of Orbetello, province of Grosseto, in the Tuscan Maremma. Talamone is easily reached from Via Aurelia, and is about from Grosseto and ...

List of mayors

Main sights

*The city walls (5th century BC). *Cathedral of ''Santa Maria Assunta'', built over an Etruscan-Roman temple and restructured in 1375 along Tuscan-Gothic lines. Preceded by a step, it houses some notable 15th-century frescoes. *The Spanish ''Forte delle Saline'', in the ''frazione'' of