The beautiful restored Collelungo tower overlooking the long Alberese beach in the Maremma National park. It was built but the Sienese in the early Renaissance, destroyed and rebuilt in the 16th century, destroyed again in 1847 by lightning and fire, and extensively rebuilt by archeologists and historians in the 20th century as one of the best examples of coastal defense fortifications in Italy.

The Republic of Siena had expanded west to the sea to secure it’s hinterland and encourage trade in the 12th and 13 centuries, and built an extensive chain of forts along the coastline to fend off regular pirate raids from the sea. This system of towers, newly built or inherited from the Aldobrandeschi, were used for communication between troops, early warning lookout towers, defensive battlements, and forts housing soldiers. They fought Saracens, pirates, Papal forces, the Spanish, and the French.