Parco Nazionale Arcipelago Toscano

Easy trail

• Trail Conditions: On foot
• Interest: Flora, Wildlife, Panorama

• Departure: Procchio
• Arrival: Procchio
• Duration: 2 hours 45 min
• Difficulty Level: Easy
• Length: 5 km
• Difference in height: Uphill 237m

Together with a pleasurable walk, this itinerary offers the opportunity to discover two pretty and not crowded beaches: Porticciolo and Lamaia. Take path No 245 at the eastern end of Procchio beach; the path crosses some private estates - right of way is granted - and then merges with a carriage road called Via della Cicala. The itinerary follows the coastline through a coppice wood of evergreen oaks: you will notice new shoots growing from the stumps, which grant the regrowth of the wood after trees are cut; along the way you will also see the empty round spaces where charcoal piles used to be built using an ancient technique. At the end of the wood, after crossing path No 245A, the itinerary leads to the small Porticciolo beach where, with some luck, you may observe the shags coming by the shore to catch small fish. A few minute's walk along the coast will take you to the larger Lamaia beach. In the wetland around the bay, a small grove of reeds thrives. Some typical beach plants grow in the surroundings: low shrubs of hard-leaved, thorny eryngo; cockleburs, easily recognisable by their thorny, hook-shaped seedheads; searockets with their small pink flowers. The latter plant can grow on the part of beach nearest to the sea, and produces floating fruits that can carry the seeds overseas.
From Lamaia you can either walk back to the point of departure or, if you don't mind slopes, take the steep uphill stretch that ends on path No  245A, the first stretch of which is a carriage road; it then goes downhill through the vegetation and makes a loop with path 245, that will take you back to Procchio.