Castiglioncello (formerly ''Castiglione Mondiglio'') is a ''

frazione A ''frazione'' (: ''frazioni'') is a type of subdivision of a ''comune'' ('municipality') in Italy, often a small village or hamlet outside the main town. Most ''frazioni'' were created during the Fascist era (1922–1943) as a way to consolidat ...

'' of 3800 inhabitants of the ''

comune A (; : , ) is an administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions () and provinces (). The can also have the City status in Italy, titl ...

'' of

Rosignano Marittimo Rosignano Marittimo is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Livorno in the Italian region Tuscany, located about southwest of Florence and about southeast of Livorno. Geography Rosignano Marittimo borders the following municipalitie ...

, in the

province of Livorno The province of Livorno () or, traditionally, province of Leghorn, is a Provinces of Italy, province in the Tuscany region of Italy. It includes several islands of the Tuscan Archipelago, including Elba and Capraia. Its capital is the city of Liv ...

Tuscany Tuscany ( ; ) is a Regions of Italy, region in central Italy with an area of about and a population of 3,660,834 inhabitants as of 2025. The capital city is Florence. Tuscany is known for its landscapes, history, artistic legacy, and its in ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. Located in a privileged position from the panoramic point of view, away from major roads, has remained until modern times untouched, with its pine forests and cliffs close to the

Ligurian Sea The Ligurian Sea is an arm of the Mediterranean Sea. It lies between the Italian Riviera ( Liguria) and the island of Corsica. The sea is thought to have been named after the ancient Ligures people. Geography The sea borders Italy as far as ...

. Castiglioncello has become famous in the sixties of last century as a vacation destination of important members of the world of cinema, such as

Alberto Sordi Alberto Sordi (15 June 1920 – 24 February 2003) was an Italian actor, comedian, voice dubber, director, singer, composer and screenwriter. Sordi is considered one of the most important actors in the history of Italian cinema and one of the b ...

Guido Mannari Guido Mannari (13 December 1944 – 10 August 1988) was an Italian actor of film and television. Life and career Guido was born in Castiglioncello, Province of Livorno into a large family. He had three half-brothers. His father, Giulio Mannari ...

and

Marcello Mastroianni Marcello Vincenzo Domenico Mastroianni (26 September 1924Come da lui stesso dichiarato a 1'10" dquesta intervista/ref> – 19 December 1996) was an Italian actor. He is generally regarded as one of Italy's most iconic male performers of the 20t ...

. People who made their homes here also include

Luigi Pirandello Luigi Pirandello (; ; 28 June 1867 – 10 December 1936) was an Italians, Italian dramatist, novelist, poet, and short story writer whose greatest contributions were his plays. He was awarded the 1934 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his bold and ...

Luchino Visconti Luchino Visconti di Modrone, Count of Lonate Pozzolo (; 2 November 1906 – 17 March 1976) was an Italian filmmaker, theatre and opera director, and screenwriter. He was one of the fathers of Italian neorealism, cinematic neorealism, but later ...

and

Vittorio Gassman Vittorio Gassman (; born Gassmann; 1 September 1922 – 29 June 2000), popularly known as , was an Italian actor, director, and screenwriter. He is considered one of the greatest Italian actors, whose career includes both important producti ...

. Castiglioncello was also the set of the famous movie

Il Sorpasso ''Il sorpasso'' (), also titled ''The Easy Life'' in English, is a 1962 Italian comedy film co-written and directed by Dino Risi and starring Vittorio Gassman, Jean-Louis Trintignant and Catherine Spaak. It is considered Risi's masterpiece and on ...

Dino Risi Dino Risi (23 December 1916 – 7 June 2008) was an Italian film director. With Mario Monicelli, Luigi Comencini, Nanni Loy, and Ettore Scola, he was one of the masters of ''commedia all'italiana''. Biography Risi was born in Milan. He had an ...

, with

and

Jean-Louis Trintignant Jean-Louis Xavier Trintignant (; 11 December 1930 – 17 June 2022) was a French actor. He made his theatrical debut in 1951, and went on to be regarded as one of the best French dramatic actors of the post-World War II, war era. He starred in m ...

History

Village of poor fishermen to the extreme margins of the

Etruria Etruria ( ) was a region of Central Italy delimited by the rivers Arno and Tiber, an area that covered what is now most of Tuscany, northern Lazio, and north-western Umbria. It was inhabited by the Etruscans, an ancient civilization that f ...

, it follows the fates of

Volterra Volterra (; Latin: ''Volaterrae'') is a walled mountaintop town in the Tuscany region of Italy. Its history dates from before the 8th century BC and it has substantial structures from the Etruscan, Roman, and Medieval periods. History ...

. Of the period of Etruscan power remains a testimony in the cinerary urn in alabaster, going back to the II century B.C., found just in the necropolis of Castiglioncello. Already outpost of the

Medici The House of Medici ( , ; ) was an Italian banking family and political dynasty that first consolidated power in the Republic of Florence under Cosimo de' Medici and his grandson Lorenzo "the Magnificent" during the first half of the 15th ...

Grand Dukes of Tuscany This is a list of grand dukes of Tuscany. The title was created on 27 August 1569 by a papal bull of Pope Pius V to Cosimo I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, Cosimo I de' Medici, member of the illustrious House of Medici. His coronation took pl ...

, that here in the XVII century made build a tower of sighting on the promontory, is a famous bathing locality since the half of the nineteenth century; moreover between its sheltered cale and the thick Mediterranean scrub found development of the current pictorial

Macchiaioli The Macchiaioli () were a group of Italian painters active in Tuscany in the second half of the nineteenth century. They strayed from antiquated conventions taught by the Italian art academies, and did much of their painting outdoors in order ...

, which is expressed through the works of

Giovanni Fattori Giovanni Fattori (September 6, 1825August 30, 1908) was an Italian artist, one of the leaders of the group known as the Macchiaioli. He was initially a painter of historical themes and military subjects. In his middle years, inspired by the Bar ...

Odoardo Borrani Odoardo Borrani (22 August 1833 – 14 September 1905) was an Italian painter associated with the Macchiaioli group. Biography He was born in Pisa. The Borrani family moved to Florence, where Odoardo enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts in 1853. ...

, Silvestro Lega,

Telemaco Signorini Telemaco Signorini (; August 18, 1835 – February 10, 1901) was an Italian artist who belonged to the group known as the Macchiaioli. Biography He was born in the Santa Croce quarter of Florence, and showed an early inclination toward the stu ...

Giuseppe Abbati Giuseppe Abbati (January 13, 1836February 21, 1868) was an Italian painter who belonged to the group known as the Macchiaioli. Biography Abbati was born in Naples. He received early training in painting from his father Vincenzo, who specialized ...

and many others, who used to vacation in Castiglioncello, often guests of the patron Diego Martelli, and whose paintings often portray the town and the surrounding hills. At the end of the nineteenth century was built by Baron Fausto Lazzaro Patrone the Pasquini Castle, whose neo-medieval style then influenced the architecture of the nearby railway station, opened in 1910 along with the stretch of railway Vada-Livorno that improved the path on the Genoa-Rome line. The Baron built the castle on land belonging to Diego Martelli purchased at the same time as all his possessions, with the specific intent to create the center of one of the first seaside resorts in the late nineteenth century. He also realized the first "baths" in the form of real bathing establishment complete with every comfort, pursuing the dream of transforming the small town of Castiglioncello in a famous seaside resort. The tourist fortune of Castiglioncello began in the second half of the nineteenth century, when struck by the mildness of the climate and the beauty of the landscape, Diego Martelli, art critic and patron, established his residence there. Here he invited continuously until the end of the century, almost all the painters, then became famous, the group of

giving rise to an artistic period as famous as the School of Castiglioncello. Meta always coveted by celebrities from the world of art, culture and entertainment is now one of the most popular tourist destinations, known in

and abroad for the beauty of the landscape, for the quality and sophistication of services that it offers and cultural initiatives and associations of high value that promotes. Since 1992 Castiglioncello has obtained several times the attribution of the Blue Flag by the FEE, an acronym of

Foundation for Environmental Education The Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE) is a non-governmental organization, non-governmental, non-profit organisation promoting sustainable development through environmental education. FEE is active through five programmes; Blue Flag be ...

Places of interest

* Castello Pasquini: the castle was built between 1889 and 1891 in a style similar to that used for the Florentine palaces of the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

. *Chiesa dell'Immacolata Concezione: the construction of the church was begun in 1922. The dome dates from the years immediately following the

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, when the building was restored following wartime damage. *Oratorio di Sant'Andrea Apostolo (Chiesa di Sant'Andrea): The church stands on the ruins of a 17th-century oratory. The present structure dates from 1864. *Torre di Castiglioncello: The tower dates back to the 17th century and was part of the system of sight of the coast of Livorno. It underwent some changes in the 1800s. *National Archaeological Museum: set up at the beginning of the 20th century, it was closed around 1972-1973 but was reopened in 2001.National Archaeological Museum of Castiglioncello news
*Monte Pelato (Poggio Pelato): the highest hill in the town has many paths for

hiking A hike is a long, vigorous walk, usually on trails or footpaths in the countryside. Walking for pleasure developed in Europe during the eighteenth century. Long hikes as part of a religious pilgrimage have existed for a much longer time. "Hi ...

, and provides views of the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

, as well as the remains of mines for

magnesite Magnesite is a mineral with the chemical formula ( magnesium carbonate). Iron, manganese, cobalt, and nickel may occur as admixtures, but only in small amounts. Occurrence Magnesite occurs as veins in and an alteration product of ultramafic r ...

Transports

* Castiglioncello railway station

Photo gallery

References

All demographics and other statistics: Italian statistical institute

Istat The Italian National Institute of Statistics (; Istat) is the primary source of official statistics in Italy. The institute conducts a variety of activities, including the census of population, economic censuses, and numerous social, economic, a ...

External links

*
Castiglioncello Forum, tourist information General Site about Castiglioncello Webcam and meteo of Castiglioncello from Marina Cala de Medici port
{{authority control Frazioni of the Province of Livorno Cities and towns in Tuscany de:Rosignano Marittimo#Castiglioncello