The Maremma is at the heart of Southern Tuscany. Well, to be honest, it is Southern Tuscany. For reasons unknown to this foreigner, many regions in Italy have almost unrecognised sub-provinces so to speak.

I don’t know how to describe them. They don’t have defined borders, but are in the real sense of the word, communities, brought together by mutual rulers and kept together by mutual traditions, beliefs and dialects.

The Maremma is one of these provinces, and it’s a big one, covering pretty much all of Southern Tuscany. Funnily it shares a border with Lazio and is actually closer to Rome than Florence by at least an hour.

This is the easiest way into the Maremma. If you’re coming from overseas, then Rome’s Fiumicino airport is the best place to land.

If you’re coming from within Italy, you can also stop at Rome’s Ciampino airport, Florence’s Amerigo Vespucci airport or Pisa’s very cute and very small Galileo Galilei airport.

Unless it’s an issue of budget, I recommend you land at Fiumicino in Rome. It’s the closest to the Maremma and has it’s own car rental places and a train station.

If you’ve just gotten off at Fiumicino and want to catch the train to the Maremma, all you need to do is wander over the train station in the airport and catch the train to Roma Termini.

From there you can hop on the Rome-Pisa line all the way to the Maremma.

There are four Trenitalia train types – direct, regional, Intercity and Eurorail. You need to book Eurorail tickets before you get to the train station.

Make sure you check that your train stops at the stop you want to go to.

The Rome-Pisa line has stops in Albinia, Orbetello, Alberese, Talamone, Capalbio, Scarlino, Follonica, Tarquinia, Civitavecchia and Grosseto.

If you’re coming from Pisa, you can also catch this train.

If you’re coming from Florence, you need to catch the Rome-Florence line, get off at Pisa Centrale and then catch the Rome-Pisa line.

If you’re coming from Siena, you can catch the Siena-Grosseto line direct to Grosseto.

Once you’re at your chosen city, you can rent a car (if you’re in Grosseto or Follonica) or catch the bus to your agriturismo.

Driving to, from and around the Maremma is the easiest and best way to visit the province.

While it might sound daunting to drive in Italy, the Maremma is a relaxed and tranquil place. There is hardly any traffic and most of the roads are small provincial tracks.

The speed limit for provincial roads is 70km/h and in town centres it’s 50km/h.

You can rent a car from all the major car rental companies in Grosseto, Massa Marittima and Orbetello for a fairly reasonable rate.

Check out a complete list of car rental companies here.