Cala Violina and the Bandite di Scarlino, from Follonica

Getting there

From Follonica you follow the coast south to the Puntone and take the provincial road 158 delle Collacchie, which climbs behind the promontory: the Val Martina car park is at kilometre 10. You can enter the Bandite only on foot, by bicycle or on horseback.

• From the Val Martina car park: it is the closest to Cala Violina, and in summer it is booked online with the beach admission, on the same website, from 72 hours before; you pay for the whole day, whatever time you arrive, and motorhomes have their own rate. On the weekends of May 2026 you paid on the spot to the staff of the Bandite, without booking, and the area is not supervised. From here the dirt path crosses the woods to the beach, about a kilometre and a half, half an hour on foot; Cala Martina and Cala Civette are about two and a half kilometres away
• From the Puntone: the motorhome stays at the car park of the marina, on lungomare Garibaldi, which in summer is charged by the hour. You walk south to where the road starts to climb, at Portiglioni: three hundred metres further on, on the left, is the barrier of the Costiere. From there a dirt road through the woods takes you to Cala Martina in about three kilometres and to Cala Violina in about six; according to Visit Tuscany it is a tiring but very beautiful route, only partly shaded, to be done early in the morning or late in the afternoon
• From the Pian d'Alma side: for Cala Civette there is the car park on the strada vicinale Pian d'Alma, Torre Civette, which you reach from the provincial road 158 and which, according to the Cala Violina website, which does not give the year, costs 10 euros a day without booking; from there it is about 1.2 kilometres on foot to the cove
• By bicycle: the Costiere are open to everyone, and anyone arriving at Cala Violina by bike must also have the beach booking. From Val Martina to Cala Civette it is about two and a half kilometres; according to Visit Tuscany a loop of about fifteen kilometres, with viewpoints, also takes in Cala Violina. They are dirt tracks with ups and downs, for mountain bikes or gravel bikes
• By boat: from the harbour of Scarlino at the Puntone and from the Fiumara canal private boatmen run boat trips along the coves

Practical information

In summer Cala Violina is booked on a single website, together with the Val Martina car park: you pay with pagoPA, the Italian public payment system, and you show the ticket on your phone. Bookings open 72 hours before the chosen day, and tickets are not refunded and cannot be moved to another date. Cala Martina and Cala Civette do not need booking.

Contacts

Where it is

Riserva delle Bandite di Scarlino, Scarlino · Toscana

You set off from

Notes

• The summer facilities: from 1 June to 30 September at Cala Violina there are a kiosk with water, soft drinks, ice creams, sandwiches and coffee, toilets in the woods and not on the beach, stewards who check the bookings and give information, and a lifeguard from the rescue plan of the Comune with the MareScarlino consortium. In 2026 the Red Cross had a mobile first aid post at the weekends of the last two weeks of June and the first two of September, and every day in July and August. Near the beach there are benches and tables in the shade for picnics. Out of season the beach is free and without facilities
• No bins: in the Costiere they have been removed, partly so as not to attract wild boar at night; everyone brings a bag and takes away what they have produced. Under a 2021 order of the Comune, dropping litter in the Costiere costs from 300 to 3,000 euros and a cigarette end from 60 to 300; smoking is not allowed on the beach
• Dogs and horses: from 1 June to 30 September every year dogs and other animals are not allowed on the beaches of Cala Violina and Cala Civette, except guide dogs and certified rescue dogs, and the fine is 200 euros; in the woods of the Costiere dogs stay on a lead. Horses are never allowed on the two beaches, and in the woods they go only on the official paths
• Fires: no fires may be lit in the woods. In summer the fire risk period applies throughout Tuscany, when lighting fires outdoors is banned, and in 2026 the Region extended it until 13 September
• People with limited mobility: holders of a disabled badge, with a companion, park at Val Martina and enter the beach without paying. Anyone who cannot walk the path can ask to drive into the Bandite and park near the beach, by writing at least three days before to bandite@comune.scarlino.gr.it with the day, the times, the make and number plate of the car and a photograph of the badge; the Comune grants at most two a day. Telephone 0566 866190
• The singing sand: you hear it walking firmly, when it is quiet around you: in June, in September and out of season more than on a Saturday in August
• Cala Martina: it is the first cove you come to arriving from the Puntone, between Punta Francese and Punta Martina, narrower than Cala Violina and with a mostly stony sea floor, good for watching the fish with a mask. It has no facilities. On the path down to the beach is the bust of Garibaldi, made in 1949 by the Grosseto sculptor Tolomeo Faccendi, and a stone marker in the sea remembers the embarkation. In the summer of 1849, after the fall of the Roman Republic, Garibaldi had hidden in the countryside of Scarlino Scalo, in the house of Angiolo Guelfi, pursued by the papal guards; from here a fishing boat took him to Portovenere
• Cala Civette: the last cove of the Bandite to the south, beyond Punta Le Canne, with sand, the pine wood behind and a sea full of fish. On the promontory above the cove is Torre Civette, rebuilt in the sixteenth century on a medieval fortification as a watchtower of the Principality of Piombino, from which the whole gulf could be seen; turned into a house in the nineteenth century, it is now private, part of the nearby farm, and cannot be visited. After Cala Civette the coast drops into the plain of the Alma stream and becomes the long beach of Punta Ala
• Cala del Barbiere and Punta Ala: beyond the plain of the Alma, in the municipality of Castiglione della Pescaia, the coast rises again at Punta Ala, with the marina and the Torre Hidalgo, also called Torre del Barbiere, built in 1577 as a tower of the Principality of Piombino and bought in the twentieth century by Italo Balbo together with the castle of Punta Ala; below it is the Cala del Barbiere. With the motorhome you get there by road, from Pian d'Alma
• The woods of the Bandite: the Bandite stretch from the coast up to Monte d'Alma, 559 metres, across the municipalities of Scarlino, Castiglione della Pescaia and Gavorrano, and they are a special area of conservation and a wildlife protection oasis, where the paths are walked, cycled or ridden on horseback. Wild boar live in the scrub
• The Scarlinottata: on Friday 7 August 2026 the Pro Scarlino association, with the patronage of the Comune, led an evening walk with an environmental guide to Cala Violina, with a swim and the starry sky: meeting at 19:30 at the Val Martina car park, 15 euros per person, a packed supper and the bar of the refreshment point open
• The village of Scarlino: it stands on a hill at 229 metres, with its walls, its gates and at the top the Rocca Pisana, the Pisan fortress, which began as a stronghold of the Aldobrandeschi, was first mentioned in 1108, was rebuilt by the Pisans and enlarged by the Appiani, the lords of Piombino. At the Rocca is the Centro di documentazione del territorio Riccardo Francovich, the local documentation centre, with the objects from the excavations on the hill from the Bronze Age to the seventeenth century and the Treasure of Scarlino, a hundred gold coins found in the excavations; telephone 0566 38023. In the village the church of San Martino in San Donato holds the marble funerary monument of the Appiani by Andrea Guardi. In summer the Rocca is the stage for the Comune's concerts and evening events
• Le Carriere del 19: every year in mid August Scarlino remembers the end of the cholera epidemic of 1855 with the festival of its three contrade, its districts, Rocca, Centro and San Donato: the historical procession, the flag throwers, the relay race and the archery final on the piazzale del Castello. In 2026 it was on 18 and 19 August, with a free shuttle to the village on the day of the festival and food stalls
• The Puntone: it is the seaside village of Scarlino, with the marina, the sandy, shallow beach of the gulf and the tourist office in the shopping arcade of the harbour. In the 1905 waterworks house on the river Pecora is the MAPS, Museo archeologico di Portus Scabris, the archaeological museum, with the Etruscan and Roman amphorae and vases found while digging the harbour; at the harbour there is also the marble marker for Garibaldi, put up on 2 September 2007. The car park on lungomare Garibaldi costs 0.50 euros an hour in summer, or 30 euros a week, according to the Comune, which does not give the year

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