The White Beaches of Vada

The colour is the first thing you notice: the sand is white, and over the pale bottom the water takes on a shade you do not expect in Tuscany. The shore runs for three kilometres between Vada and Rosignano Solvay, with beach clubs in the middle stretch and free sand at either end.

This is the beach people come to with children: the bottom shelves gently for tens of metres and the afternoon breeze almost always comes off the land. If you prefer rocks, the coves of Castiglioncello are a quarter of an hour away by car.

The free stretch towards Vada can be reached on foot from the village through the pine wood, and stays the quietest even in the middle weeks of August.