A ten-minute drive south, Montemerano is the model medieval hilltop village — concentric rings of stone houses spiralling up to a tiny piazza and the parish church of San Giorgio, which holds an unexpectedly fine 15th-century altarpiece. The village is intact, immaculately maintained, and almost devoid of cars within the walls.
Two of the best-known restaurants in the Maremma sit in the lower square: Caino, a Michelin-starred place that has been at the top of national rankings for decades, and the more accessible Trattoria Verdiana. Either way, book ahead. Stroll the upper village in the late afternoon when day-trippers have left and the swallows take over the lanes — the light on the warm stone is what the postcards promise.