Porto del Valle is the main port of Porto Santo Stefano. It is the most important commercial port of the province of Grosseto.
The port has developed over the last two centuries, thanks to shipbuilding and the need to create a larger port for connections to the islands.
Previously, it was used by the Spanish rulers of the State of the Presidi, who considered it safer and more protected than the smaller and near Porto Vecchio.
At the beginning of the twentieth century there was a short section of the current overflow pier, which was extended from 1911 to 1917 for an additional 125m. In 1919-1920 a new pier (Molo della Sanità) and a new section of quay were built. In the 1930s some sections of the quay were extended. The port was completely destroyed during the Second World War by the bombings carried out by the Anglo-American air forces, between 1943 and 1944. In the 1960s the overhead pier of another 30m was prolonged and the present subfloor was built. Between 1976 and 1981 the breakwater pier was extended with a 35m cliff section with a different orientation to the pier. Between 2003 and 2007 the second section was extended for a further 120m.
The port, located on the Tyrrhenian Sea, is marked by two lights. The port basin is protected by overflow and underwater docks. The overflow pier is about 320 m long and is built as a cliff dam with a mantle of natural boulders and a parabolic wall at an altitude of 5.90 m above sea level. Inside the port basin there are two fixed piers (145 and 60m long respectively) and 7 floating piers (with a total length of 480 m).
Bottom min-max: 4.0-10.0m
Width at the entrance: 115m
Backdrop to the entrance: 10m
Docks: water mirror 170.000m²
The Porto del Valle is classified as a “Port of regional and interregional interest” and has the function of a tourist, fishing, merchant, shipbuilding and military port, due to the presence of numerous patrols of the Finance, the Capitaneria and the Carabinieri.
