Marina Cala de’ Medici, Tuscany’s state-of-the-art port

The whole story of the state-of-the-art Tuscan port that changed the face of the Etruscan Coast

With a full calendar of events, personal services and businesses, Castiglioncello’s Marina Cala de’ Medici is the place to be in the area.

In the heart of the Etruscan coast, between Rosignano and Castiglioncello, Marina Cala de’ Medici is today one of the most innovative and dynamic realities of Italian boating. Its history is rooted in a visionary project that has been able to transform a stretch of Tuscan coastline into a pole of excellence for pleasure boating, tourism and the enhancement of the territory.

It starts from afar

The intuition was born in the early 1980s, when the Burlando Decree gave impetus to the development of private tourist ports in Italy. As early as 1985, talk began of a port at Rosignano Marittimo-Castiglioncello, a name inspired not by an existing place but by its historical proximity to the Medici family of Florence and its strategic location: just a few miles from Elba and Capraia, close to Pisa airport and at the easiest point for those arriving from both the north and south of the peninsula, but above all – in fact – the closest port to the city of Florence. The area of Castiglioncello also experienced a golden period as it was loved by a great many Italian film personalities of those years. The path was anything but quick, marked by complex authorization processes and a long phase of design definition. The port took shape only starting in 1999, thanks to a group of entrepreneurs from Pisa (Teseco Group) who took over from the first company established by the Fiat Group, finally starting the construction site. In 2003, the first docks were finally inaugurated, followed by the gradual delivery of the commercial spaces and service infrastructure, the beating heart of the Marina’s social life.

Marina Cala de’ Medici . All stages

Marina Cala de’ Medici was immediately conceived as a state-of-the-art marina, capable of accommodating boats up to 36 meters, with 650 berths, a shipyard, commercial establishments and personal services. For the first few years, management was entrusted to the construction company, while since 2012 the port’s leadership has definitively passed to Marina Cala de’ Medici SpA, a reality now comprising more than 600 members and led by CEO and port director Cav. Matteo Italo Ratti, a member of the Board since 2006. This transition marks the start of a new phase, marked by attention to the quality of services, sustainability and integration with the territory. Energy and resources are invested in infrastructure maintenance, security, redevelopment of the commercial village and customer care, with one goal: to make the port a true open square, a meeting point between sea and land, residents and sailors, seasonal guests and the local community. This focus shines through in the results: Marina Cala de’ Medici is positioned as a reference for charters in the northern Tyrrhenian Sea, hosting both private boats and charter flotillas.

The glue between sea and land

A modern port, however, does not live on moorings and water space alone. Cala de’ Medici “offloads” between 12 and 14 million euros of induced revenue to the Rosignano area each year. In first place, by turnover, is catering and food, followed by boater services and personal care. The relationship with the local community is a strong point: in fact, the port presents itself as a “hinge” between those who arrive from the sea and those from land, combining the needs of boating with those of tourism, commerce, events and culture. Marina Cala de’ Medici animates the summer season (and soon also wuella winter) with a busy calendar of events: live music with DJ sets, concerts, outdoor cinema, regattas, shows, markets and food and wine events. The goal is to make the marina “the piazza” of Castiglioncello and Rosignano for families, boaters and tourists. In recent years there has been a strong focus on advanced dock services, the opening of restaurants of various levels , the enrichment of the commercial offer and initiatives to promote Tuscan excellence also in collaboration with the Consortium Marine della Toscana.

Marina Cala de’ Medici. A glimpse into the future

The boating market today imposes new challenges: increasingly larger boats, growing energy demands for sustainability and superior comfort. The Marina is planning an extensive redevelopment project of state concessions and infrastructure regeneration, with a second dock designed to accommodate superyachts up to 100 meters. A development that will ensure Cala de’ Medici remains at the forefront and continues to anticipate industry trends. Marina Cala de’ Medici is not just a port. It is a project that combines history and innovation, business and community, high quality services and promotion of the area. It is a perfectly successful example of how the tourist port can be an engine of economic, social and cultural development along the coasts of Italy: a port of call that, every day, renews its promise to welcome, amaze and experience the best of the territory to anyone who wants to discover it, from whatever latitude they arrive.

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