Versilia coast

The Versilia coast is one long sandy shore on the Ligurian Sea, with the Apuan Alps rising behind it. From north to south it runs from Cinquale, the beach of Montignoso, through Forte dei Marmi, Marina di Pietrasanta, Lido di Camaiore and Viareggio to Torre del Lago Puccini. North of Viareggio's harbour the beach is lined with bathing establishments; south of it the shore stays largely wild, inside the Migliarino, San Rossore, Massaciuccoli nature park, where the Lecciona reserve keeps its dunes and woods.

Forte dei Marmi is named after the fort that Grand Duke Pietro Leopoldo had built in 1788 to guard the loading of marble from the Apuan quarries; the old loading pier still reaches out into the sea. Until 1914 it was part of Pietrasanta. Next door, Marina di Pietrasanta covers 4 km of coast up to Lido di Camaiore, with the pine wood of Villa La Versiliana and its summer festival.

Viareggio's Passeggiata was rebuilt in masonry after a fire in 1917, and Alfredo Belluomini and Galileo Chini gave it its Liberty and Art Deco seafront. The city's Carnevale goes back to a first parade on 25 February 1873; its floats are built in the workshops of the Cittadella del Carnevale.

Torre del Lago lies between the sea and Lake Massaciuccoli. Giacomo Puccini lived in his villa by the lake from 1900 to 1921 and is buried there, and the village has carried his name since 1938. The Festival Puccini, founded in 1930, stages his operas every summer in the open-air Gran Teatro, which seats 3,200.