Wild on boar and wine in good company
- Hilda Steinkamp
- Sep 16
- 4 min read
Autumn trip to the culinary Maremma in Tuscany
Maremma mia!
Autumn arrives earlier in Tuscany than in Germany. Daytime temperatures in mid-September are still wonderfully summery at 27°C. But the fields and meadows have already been harvested.
The grape harvest is over, wine tastings are making the rounds, wild boars have already been turned into venison, the first olive trees have been shaken, and the crops have been brought to market. It's high season for fattorie (estates), tenute (country estates/wineries), and cantine (wine cellars).
So, nothing left to admire outdoors? Indoors, or covered - yes: In the tents of the autumn festivals. Under awnings at the harbor. In the heat-retaining alleys between medieval natural stone walls.
All of this can be found in the Maremma region of southern Tuscany, close to the sea. There's no trace left in this coastal region of the former swamps, breeding grounds for malaria.
Ideal growth conditions have remained after the drainage of the area in the 19th century: sufficient water supply from the mountain rivers and a mild climate.
The InternationsCommunity—a surrogate family for expatriates in Rome—invites us to a weekend Lucullus tour. Southern Tuscany, northern Lazio region. 120 km from Rome. You pay for what you eat. For fuel and accommodation too. But enjoyment in the community – priceless.
Stop 1 : La sagra del cinghiale a Capalbio
The Wild Boar Festival in this medieval village celebrates its 60th anniversary in 2025, the most traditional in the Maremma. It coincides with the Anno Santo in Rome, the Catholic Giubileo.
The festival tent is located a few hundred meters from the center, on a sports field where horses and riders usually romp.
No reservations, the tent is spacious, the food plentiful, prices are reasonable, the guests are excited and hungry.
Tables and benches fill up quickly. So do the plastic plates – with tasty wild boar dishes from the kitchen:
Il borgo storico di Capalbio
This picturesque medieval village has a population of less than 4,000. Strategically situated high above the countryside with sweeping views of land and sea, the castle surrounded by imposing walls, the small town needed the protection of the Sienese Lion at a time when Italy was still divided into city-states and squabbling among the micro-republics was the order of the day.
Wild boar specialties here too, prices with tourist surcharge, historical ambience for free:
Stop 2: Porto Santo Stefano
So much roasted meat from the Wild Boar—we're thirsty for caffè e dolci. Niente problema —Alessandro knows where to go.
And he navigates us directly to the coast to Orbetello, a lagoon town connected to the mainland by three narrow spits of land. Not to Porto Ercole, where the Dutch royal family maintains a villa and yacht, but to Porto Santo Stefano. Swimming, boating, beautiful views. Un gioello, a little jewel, as the connoisseurs say. And along the lagoon dam, a chain of ristoranti, botteghe, enoteche, osterie, and gelaterie.
We stop in front of an ice cream palour. The best, Alessandro swears. And he's right: gelato artigianato, homemade. We linger, chat, and enjoy the view, the calm, and the ice cream. The Italian way of life. No hurry, no swea.
The day is drawing to a close. And here comes the night! We end up in a family-run ristorante in campagna. Here, too, we cherish piatti casarecci, home-style cooking at its finest.
I need a long night of rest before the next stage on our gourmet tour the next morning.
Stop 3: Magliano in Toscana
Skylines of the Maremma
Rows of pine trees, the symbol of Lazio and Campania, and long lines of Tuscan cypresses contour the vast landscape. Olive groves add green-grey hues, plowed fields shine with reddish-brown soil. Smaller rustici crouch in the shelter of dips in the terrain. Larger tenute sit proudly on the hills. The twin-layered Apennine foothills catch the eye on the horizon:
The Wall of Magliano
Before Alessandro leads us to the culinary highlight of the short weekend, we head through the centro storico with its Etruscan settlement remains and up to Le Mura, the fortification from the time of the city-states in the late Middle Ages. During the feuds between Siena and Florence over land and influence, Magliano's hilltop location was an important strategic base for its Sienese protectorate.
The panoramic view extends over rooftops and fields to the lagoon of Ortebello:
Feasting in the Maremma
Back to the pavement with quick steps
and to Alessandro's favorite restaurant Da Sandra, the gourmet queen in Magliano:
Our lunch feast: platters of appetizers and desserts for each of us. The subsequent 3 primi piatti (first courses) and 2 secondi piatti (second courses) are shared among the five of us and spread on five plates for eaters big and small. This allows you to slowly and indulgently sample a variety of delicacies without overindulging. Your stomach expands with your awakened taste buds. And today, they get their money's worth: all the dishes are piatti raffinati e ricchi di sapore, refined and rich in savory flavors! Even the pasta is homemade: ravioli al tartufo , paccheri al cinghiale. The wild boar is after us! Or is it the other way around ;-)?!
So much enjoyment of
landscape, lagoon, lovely people and lucullus!
Seasoned with pinches of history.
In just one giornata!
Solo in Italia -
between Roma and Maremma!
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