Tuscany · Pisa
Casale Marittimo
A concentric stone borgo above the Val di Cecina, built where a seventh-century BC Etruscan outpost of Volterra once stood.
Picked by Peter Benei
Letter to come
Why Casale Marittimo is on our list
It holds Borghi più belli d'Italia and Bandiera Arancione.
The nearest town with a letter is Castagneto Carducci, No. 37, 25 min by car.
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Visiting
- Best time
- Apr–Oct
- By car
- 57 min from Pisa
- Population
- 1,073
- J12°
- F14°
- M15°
- A18°
- M22°
- J27°
- J31°
- A31°
- S27°
- O22°
- N17°
- D13°
- Best
- Hot or crowded
- Quiet
- Mostly closed
Daytime air temperature, averages for 2020–2024. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com.
Why come
Casale Marittimo rises on a hill above the Val di Cecina, fifty kilometers southeast of Pisa, the Tyrrhenian coast visible from the upper streets. The settlement here was an outpost of Etruscan Volterra in the seventh century BC; the necropolis of Casa Nocera turned up two stone statues of warrior princes, now in the Archaeological Museum of Florence, among the oldest figurative sculptures in European art. The medieval centro is recorded as a castle of the Counts of Gherardesca by 1004, the streets arranged in concentric rings inside the old walls, stone houses pressed against the slope.
Casale Marittimo carries both the Borghi più belli d'Italia and Bandiera Arancione marks, unusual for a commune of just over a thousand inhabitants. The Chiesa di Sant'Andrea sits on the foundations of an older parish church; Palazzo Rocca and the eighteenth-century Santa Maria delle Grazie close the small loop of the centro storico.
How to get there
From Pisa (PSA), about 1 h 3 min by car.
Bologna (BLQ) is about 2 h 36 min away.
By car from the center of Pisa 57 min, Siena 1 h 36 min or Florence 1 h 48 min.
Coming by train into Livorno Centrale? Casale Marittimo is about 47 min away by road.
Every town within reach of Pisa airport.
First time driving in Italy? Read our complete manual.
What to see
Centro storico
Concentric ring of stone streets inside the medieval walls, with houses pressed against the slope and Palazzo Rocca at the top.
Chiesa di Sant'Andrea
Parish church rebuilt on the ruins of an older pieve, the principal religious building of the borgo.
Santa Maria delle Grazie
Eighteenth-century church on the lower edge of the centro storico, simple Tuscan late-Baroque façade.
Necropoli di Casa Nocera
Etruscan burial complex from the seventh century BC, where the warrior princes statues now in Florence's archaeological museum were found.
Living here
Could you live here?
Casale Marittimo is a village with a town close by.
- A village of 1,073, with Cecina (28,062 people) 14 min away for the shopping and a meal out. Our rule is a town within 15 minutes.
- Livorno, a city of 153,154, is 50 min by car. Inside our 30 to 60 minutes: close for the services, far enough to keep its own life.
The rules come from our series Where to Move in Italy, written from the places we have lived: Part 1, The End of the Road · Part 2, The Small Town · Part 3, The City · Part 4, The Postcard · Part 5, The Other Half. The towns we would pick are in Part 6, The Best Towns.
- Population 1,073, down 3.9% since 2015
- Nearest city Livorno, 50 min drive
- Nearest national health service hospital Cecina, 8 km as the crow flies · how healthcare works in Italy
- Homes in the center: €1,300 to €2,000 per m² to buy
Weighing a move here? See the moving year.
All the numbers Common questions, designations, lists and sources.
More about living here
- Remote
- Pharmacy in town
- High school within a 30-minute drive
- Full fibre reaches 80% of homes
- No primary school in the comune's register
- Earthquake zone 3, low hazard
- Pisa airport (PSA), 1 h 3 min drive, the nearest with scheduled flights
- Regional capital Florence, 1 h 48 min drive
If you are moving here
Who lives here
7% of residents are foreign citizens, most often from Romania, Ukraine and the United Kingdom, against 9% across Italy. 27 of them come from English-speaking countries or western and northern Europe, mostly the United Kingdom and Germany. There are 325 people over 65 for every 100 children under 15, against 216 across Italy. 48% of homes have no resident, holiday homes and empty ones counted together, against 27% across Italy. Pisa province ranks 29th of 107 in Il Sole 24 Ore's quality of life ranking for 2025.
Health and schools
The nearest emergency room is in Cecina, 8 km as the crow flies. The nearest major one is in Pisa, 47 km away. The nearest IB school is International School of Siena, 56 km as the crow flies.
Information, not medical advice. Confirm with a professional.
Taxes
A home that is not your main one pays 1.06% a year in property tax at the 2025 rate, charged on the cadastral value rather than the price. A main home pays none unless it is in a luxury category. The town adds 0.8% to your income tax, with nothing due on income under €8,000. 7% pensioner tax: this town is not in a qualifying area.
Information, not tax advice. Confirm with a professional.
What it costs
The average household in Tuscany spends about €2,410 a month, €540 of it on food, against about €2,170 across Italy. A family of three pays about €770 a year for water, on the Tuscany average.
Climate and risk
It is in climate zone D, on a scale from A, the warmest, to F, the coldest, and heating may run from November 1 to April 15, up to 12 hours a day, unless the mayor changes it. Under 1% of residents live in a zone the national maps rate high for floods. 7% live in a zone rated high or very high for landslides.
These shares cover the whole comune, not any one street. Check an address on IdroGEO.
Moving from abroad? Which visa you need. Sources: ISTAT, the Ministry of Health, ISPRA, the Finance Ministry, the Ministry of Enterprise, Poste Italiane, the comuni, the IB, International Schools Database, Il Sole 24 Ore, Cittadinanzattiva.
Known for
ETRUSCAN PRINCES
Two stone warrior statues from the Casa Nocera necropolis, seventh century BC, now in the Museo Archeologico of Florence.
CONCENTRIC BORGO
Medieval village of concentric stone streets recorded as a Gherardesca castle from 1004, holding both Borghi più belli and Bandiera Arancione marks.
VAL DI CECINA VIEW
Open prospect from the upper streets over the Cecina valley to the Tyrrhenian, the sea visible on clear days less than ten kilometers out.
Common questions
- What is Casale Marittimo known for?
- Casale Marittimo is a concentric stone borgo at 214 meters above the Val di Cecina, built where a seventh-century BC Etruscan outpost of Volterra once stood.
- Where is Casale Marittimo?
- Casale Marittimo is a comune in the province of Pisa, in Tuscany.
- What is the nearest airport to Casale Marittimo?
- The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Pisa (PSA), about 1 h 3 min by car.
- How long is the drive from Pisa to Casale Marittimo?
- About 57 min by car.
- When is the best time to visit Casale Marittimo?
- Best in Apr–Oct. August is the warmest month, averaging 31 degrees, and December the wettest, with about 14 rain days.
- Which other towns are like Casale Marittimo?
- Chiusdino, Castiglione d'Orcia and Castelnuovo di Val di Cecina.
- How many people live in Casale Marittimo?
- 1,073 residents, by ISTAT's count on 1 January 2025.
- Is Casale Marittimo a good place to live?
- By the rules in our Where to Move in Italy series, Casale Marittimo is a village with a town of 5,000 people within 15 minutes (Cecina, 14 min). The nearest city, Livorno, is 50 min away by car. The nearest national health service hospital is in Cecina, 8 km as the crow flies. Full fibre reaches 80% of homes.
Tags & data designations · numbers · sources
Recognized as
Landscape
The numbers
- Elevation: 214 m
- Population: 1,073
- Surface area: 14.29 km²
These figures were compiled from public directories: ISTAT, OpenStreetMap and Wikidata, and from the official listings of the guides named on this page. Town details change; verify with official sources before you travel.
The ranked lists
Lists Casale Marittimo appears in
Near here, with a letter
- Written about. No. 37.
Castagneto Carducci
Province: Livorno
A hilltop borgo at 194 meters above the Costa degli Etruschi, renamed for the poet Carducci in 1907 and the home of Bolgheri and Sassicaia.
25 min by car
- Written about. No. 40.
Suvereto
Province: Livorno
A stone borgo at 127 meters above the Val di Cornia, named for the cork oaks of its forests and first recorded in 973, under a twelfth-century Aldobrandeschi fortress.
25 km away
- Written about. No. 38.
Campiglia Marittima
Province: Livorno
A walled hilltop borgo above the Val di Cornia, where the Rocca tower watches a mining landscape worked from the Etruscans to 1976.
39 min by car
Our guide
Our nearest guide, 47 km away
Arno Corridor: the towns, when to go, how to get there
The Arno Corridor guide came out of the letter. Letters from the towns we visit. Free.
Read the guide: The working road from Florence to the sea. 8 towns, the drive and train times, the months, where to eat and sleep.
Paid plans, the moving year and the books are on the membership page.