One of the beautiful forest pathways in the Feniglia nature reserve tombolo leading down through the pines to the beach. It’s a gorgeous protected woodland area of coastal pine, oak, and ash trees, rich in widlife including deer, foxes, badgers, woodpeckers, blackbirds, herons, and cuckoos, and with a long, straight path running the 6km length of it with beach access exits every kilometer.

Caravaggio died here in 1610, among the pines and marshes, of malaria and starvation while hiding from the authorities and archeological excavations here have found evidence of an iron age Villanovian settlement, which was the oldest precurser to the Etruscans. The tombolo suffered heavy deforestation in the 19th century, became state property in the early 20th, was reforested, and declared a nature reserve in 1971.