With Ferragosto finally behind us, most Italians feel like the summer is actually over. It's a relic of the past, when everybody was on vacation for the whole month of August and the 15th was hump day, when you start to think about work, school and the usual routine. That's rubbish, as this is actually some of the best time of the year for a beach break. There is a place on the Tuscan coast, south of Leghorn, where everything seems perfect: the beach is long, astoundingly white, the sea is turquoise blue, you don't even need to pay to access. As most other things in life, when something is too good to be true, there is a catch. In this case it's a pretty big one and it comes with a lot of controversy. You see, the impossibly white beach that has earned this place the nickname of Tuscany's Caribbean is not natural, but the result of more than a century of pollution from the nearby chemical plant. Despite this, people love this white beach, enough to go there in droves all year round. This place is at the same time fascinating and a bit scary, which explains why this week What's Up Tuscany will bring you to Spiagge Bianche, the 4 km long white beach between Rosignano Marittimo and Vada to see what the fuss is all about. If you listen to the full episode you will learn why this place was chosen by two Belgian brothers to open one of Italy's biggest plants, why people say that the white sands makes it easier to get a tan and what was the impact of the pollution on this area. Despite everything, it's still possible to have a bath almost everywhere, as the concentration of pollutants is actually quite low. If you go there only once, you will be fine even if the UN environmental agency considers this stretch of coast one of the worst of the entire Mediterranean. In the last part of the episode I will give you a bunch of practical advice for turning your trip to Spiagge Bianche into a memorable day, where to stay if you want to explore the area, a great resort with a fantastic spa, one of Tuscany's most beloved fun parks that will entertain your children and a bunch of other things to do in this area. Again, it's a bit of a novelty, you might want to come here to see the whitest beach ever only to realise that this part of Tuscany has a lot to offer. Just don't stay too long on that beach. They say it's fine but, if I were you, I'd snap some pictures and move on. Better safe than sorry. Email: [email protected] Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/larno.it Twitter: @arno_it / @WhatsupTuscany LINKS TO SOURCES (ITALIAN ONLY) https://www.viaggi-estate.com/toscana/spiagge-bianche-rosignano/ https://siviaggia.it/viaggi/spiagge-bianche-rosignano-paradisi-toscani-inquietante-segreto/282670/ https://www.viagginews.com/2021/05/11/spiaggia-bianca-italia-caraibi/ https://www.repubblica.it/green-and-blue/2022/03/26/news/solvay_spiagge_bianche_rosignano_inquinamento-342829196/ https://www.domaniandiamoa.com/2021/06/i-caraibi-toscani-domani-andiamo.html BACKGROUND MUSIC Pipe Choir - Bom Bom Breakthrough (Instrumental) Audionautix - Soulstone Pipe Choir - The Opening Closing (Instrumental) Pipe Choir - Rocking Back and Forth Wayne John Bradley - Blues Rock Original Instrumental All released under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License https://soundcloud.com/pipe-choir-2/pipe-choir-bom-bom-breakthrough-creative-commons-instrumental https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MyyMXafoL-A https://soundcloud.com/pipe-choir-2/p-c-iii-the-opening-closinginstrumentalcreative-commons https://soundcloud.com/pipe-choir-2/pipe-choirrocking-back-and-forth-creative-commons-instrumental https://soundcloud.com/ayneohnradley/blues-rock-original-instrumentalcreative-commons http://www.pipechoir.com/