Tuscany & Maremma Coast, Italy

About Tuscany & Maremma Coast

The Maremma is the quiet corner of Tuscany — the coastal south, where the hills run down to long pine-backed beaches and the tourism is Italian rather than international. For kitesurfing it offers something specific: shallow, sheltered, flat-water bays that are unusually forgiving, in a part of the world people visit for entirely other reasons.

Talamone sits in a bay beneath a medieval castle, relatively flat and shallow and well suited to beginners and improvers, with thermal effects strengthening the westerlies — the Maestrale from the north-west and the Libeccio from the south-west. Marina di Grosseto, further north, is flat water and beginner-friendly, with the elegant old town of Castiglione della Pescaia and one of Italy's better-regarded beaches immediately alongside.

Wind here is lighter than in Sardinia — think 10 knots averaged with gusts into the low twenties rather than a reliable blow — so it suits a trip where riding is one part of the week rather than all of it. The season runs March to October, and what surrounds it is the argument: Montalcino and Morellino wine, hot springs at Saturnia, Etruscan sites, and hill towns half an hour inland.

When to go

Best months: March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October.

Kite areas

3 distinct riding areas documented within this destination.

• Castiglione della Pescaia

  Best months: March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October.

• Marina di Grosseto

  Best months: March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October.

• Talamone

  Best months: March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October.