28 km south of Maremma National Park. Three causeways attach the promontory to the mainland. On one stands Orbetello, ringed with Spanish walls. See beside its lagoon a florid monument to Italo Balbo, the long-distance aviator of the 1930s and a hero of Fascist Italy. The hangar at Orbetello is one of the architectural gems of that era. Monte Argentario has a fashionable yacht harbour at Porto San Stefano, a pretty little harbour (but no beach) at Porto Ercole, also three Spanish forts and two Saracen towers. Expensive hotels have commandeered the best coves for bathing, the sea swell deters swimming from the exposed rocks and the promontory seems vulnerable to forest fires, which spoil the thyme-scented high ground. There are ferries from Porto San Stefano to Giglio and Giannutri (1 hour). For more info see www.monteargentario.info/en/.

Detour – Civitavecchia

84 km south east of Monte Argentario. An old port from which ferries sail for Sardinia: to Olbia (7 hours), Arbatax (10 hours) and Cagliari (14 hours). The 17thC Fort Michelangelo presides over a workaday town. Pebbly beaches and small-boat harbours are scattered around, notably at Santa Marinella, 10 km south on a coastline which bristles with old forts. Local buses serve the peaceful Etruscan hinterland.