The highest point of the beautiful coastal road that goes from Livorno to Castiglioncello barely reaches ninety meters above sea level (enough, however, for the less trained cyclist or the one with luggage to feel a bit tired). It is a promontory overlooking the sea that takes the name of Romito and hosts a building that brings to mind a medieval fortress, even if it is little more than a century old: the Sonnino castle (named after the minister Sidney Sonnino who had it built).
The name of the promontory, Romito, originates from a romantic legend with some historical references that are yet to be verified. It is said that, at the time when King Charles VIII descended into Italy and took away Florence's dominion over the city of Pisa and the coast, the commander of the French troops, Ernesto d'Estrangues, fell madly in love with a noble Pisan girl, Gabriella Lante. When Charles VIII, breaking his word to the Pisans, decided to return Pisa, making it return under the hated Florentine yoke, Ernesto, torn between the duty to obey the king's orders and the heartfelt pleas to the contrary of the beautiful Gabriella, gave in to passion and allowed the Pisans to organize, counterattack and repel the Florentine troops who had arrived. The citizens thus regained their freedom, but Ernesto with his betrayal had lost his honor and had also been sentenced to death. Feeling unworthy of continuing to live among men and wanting to atone for his guilt, he decided not to see Gabriella again and to disappear from the world. Nothing more was heard of him, but a few months later the rumor spread that a Hermit had settled on a promontory of the coast on which many years later the tower was built and which took the name of Romito. The legend finally concludes by telling that only on the point of dying did Ernesto want to see the young woman again and that she, having become a cloistered nun, later died on the anniversary of her beloved's death.