Via della Dogana (Strada dei Cavalleggeri) Coastal Trail

Beautiful dirt road..... the first part of the dirt road inside a pine forest and then reaching the coast with breathtaking views.
The ancient Via della Dogana starts from Castiglione della Pescaia and reaches the promontory
of Punta Ala, following the conformation of the territory consisting of a rocky coast overlooking the sea. It is a stretch of coast part of a longer route, which starts from Livorno and reaches the Argentario promontory. It has been said that this is "a road created to protect the territory from the dangers that came from the sea".
At the end of the 16th century, the Grand Duke of Tuscany Cosimo I dei Medici also applied a real militarization of the Tuscan territory by creating a coastal defense network with watchtowers: the Cavalleggeri road.
The pre-existing towers were recovered, while new, more robust and functional ones were built, spaced at regular intervals. The towers, 10 to 15 meters high, were located at a distance of 3 miles (about 5 km) from each other.
The military was responsible for defense but also for the collection of taxes, duties or customs from those who passed through the territory to sell their goods or even simply to pass through with their flocks; they cracked down on smuggling and
they prevented the disembarkation of suspicious cargoes because they were carriers of diseases. For this reason the road that goes to Punta Ala took the name of Via della Dogana, as there was a tower which also functioned as a customs house.
But Via della Dogana is only part of the great coastal route of the Strada dei Cavalleggeri, which starts from Livorno and reaches the Argentario, touching the towns of Vada, Castiglioncello, Rosignano and others on the coast.

Hi, but has the gate that incredibly interrupts this splendid route been removed again?

Coming from Castiglione, you avoid the gate by passing on the right and walking for a hundred meters in the woods along the fence to then find a small road... which takes you back to the main road...