Pereta, the Walled Stone Village of the Maremma Hills

There are places in the Maremma that never appear in glossy guidebooks, and Pereta is one of them. A hamlet of Magliano in Toscana, in the province of Grosseto, it is a tiny village perched on a knoll in the hinterland, surrounded by hills planted with olives and vines. Arriving here after driving the white gravel roads between Magliano and Scansano, you find yourself before a medieval ring of walls and a tower that commands the valley, signs of a past when these ridges were watchpoints over the Maremma countryside.

The village

Pereta's charm lies in its scale. A few minutes are all you need to cross it on foot: narrow lanes, stone houses, the odd cat in the sun and little else. You won't find queues, tour buses or rows of restaurants. Instead you'll find silence, the sound of wind through the olive trees and, if you're lucky, a chat with one of the few residents. It's the kind of place where time seems to have sat down to rest, and where tourism has yet to leave scars.

Nearby

All around, the Maremma offers much to those who know how to slow down. Magliano in Toscana, with its well-preserved walls and the Ulivo della Strega, is just a few kilometres away. Further on lie Scansano and its Morellino wine, the free hot springs of Saturnia and the paths crossing hills and Mediterranean scrub. Pereta thus becomes a discreet, authentic base, far from the crowds that in summer pour onto the beaches of Castiglione della Pescaia and the Argentario.

When to go

To truly experience it, choose spring or autumn, when the light is soft and the inland roads are almost deserted. Move around on foot, buy oil and cheese from local producers, stay the night in a farmhouse rather than on the coast. Pereta doesn't ask to be consumed in a hurry: it only asks to be listened to.

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Getting there

Pereta is a hamlet of Magliano in Toscana, in the hilly Maremma between Magliano and Scansano. By car it is reached from Grosseto in a good half hour along the provincial roads of the hinterland; the nearest railway stations are Grosseto and Orbetello, from which you continue by bus or car. The reference airports are Rome-Fiumicino, Pisa and Florence.