The Medieval town of Gavorrano, situated in the heart of the upper Grosseto area of the Maremma, stands on the side of Mount Calvo, with a panoramic view from the hills to the sea. It has always been an important mining centre, especially because of the exceptional purity of the pyrite extracted there.
Stone quarries and the infrastructures for extracting and working the material are to be seen throughout the territory. Currently, a part of the unused mining structures has been converted into a vast museum complex, the Parco Minerario e Naturalistico (Mineral and Nature Park) which provides an important contribution to a historic-cultural and touristic revival of the area.
The origins and history of the town are tied to the noble Pannochieschi family and its story. The tragic fate of Pia dè Tolomei, who was killed by her husband, Count Nello in the Castello di Pietra, has been recounted by Dante Alighieri in 'The Divine Comedy' and the ruins of the castle itself can still be seen.
The village retains its Medieval architectural design: the square towers and the elliptical form of the walls of the Keep can be recognized and many of the buildings, large palaces with towers, arches and doors within the walls are important examples from the Middle Ages. The church of San Giuliano was built at the end of the 18th century and contains an excellent marble sculpture of the Madonna with Child executed by Giovanni d'Agostino, the last of the great 14th century sculptors and master builder of the cathedrals in Siena and Arezzo.
The small towns of Caldana, Ravi and Giuncarico are also worth a visit. Their old fortresses, churches and historic castles punctuate itineraries through a territory that is fascinating from a historic-artistic, environmental point of view and provides a backdrop of unspoiled nature.
A series of Etruscan tombs, one dome-shaped and two of the ditch type, containing funeral appointments from the orientalizing period, have been found few kilometres from Giuncarico and complete this itinerary.
The park extends over a large portion of the territory and includes the mines both in Ravi (with the structures where the slag was washed from the minerals, the shafts and systems for the transport of the pyrite) and in Gavorrano. Here the preservation of the mining structures has resulted in the creation of a museum housed in the tunnels of the former powder magazine and construction of an amphitheatre built on face of the quarries.
The vast museum complex provides an important contribution to the understanding of the history of mining within an attractive natural and cultural setting.
The Medieval town of Gavorrano, situated in the heart of the upper Grosseto area of the Maremma, stands on the side of Mount Calvo, with a panoramic view from the hills to the sea. It has always been an important mining centre, especially because of the exceptional purity of the pyrite extracted there. 
