IF YOU GO...
Principe di Piemonte is the most stylish hotel in Viareggio. The five-star spot across the street from the beach has a Michelin two-star restaurant on its fifth floor, with superb views out over the water and a menu by Giuseppe Mancino. Otherwise, try the 44-room Plaza e de Russie, also with its own Michelin-starred restaurant, or Villa Ariston, much homier but with direct connections to the yacht world as it’s owned by the Codecasa clan.
The plushest hotel in the whole of Versilia is Augustus, sitting among pine trees in its own park in Forte dei Marmi, a 25-minute drive north along the coast. The 125sqm Lidino suite is closest to the private underpass to the beach.
For food, the shipyards’ de facto canteens include Il Porto, a high-end spot with a terrace overlooking the water on via Michele Coppino, or the casual trattoria Cicero; order the spaghetti with arselle (baby clams) or the branzino all’isolana (with potato, tomato and olives), both local specialities. For more than seven decades, da Giorgio, a short walk north, has also drawn the shipwrights with its fish-heavy menu, which pivots depending on the fishermen’s catch each morning. It’s worth the short drive into the hills to the town of Camaiore for dinner outdoors by the stream at Osteria Candalla, a converted water mill; the menu is heavy on Tuscan classics, like wild boar and tordelli, Versilia’s riff on ravioli.
If you’re a sailor, the waters immediately off the coast are clear and blue but unremarkable. Better to head out to the Tuscan Archipelago, a necklace of islands in the Ligurian and Tyrrhenian seas and similar in appearance to Sardinia, rimmed with sparklingly clear water and fine beaches. Elba is the largest and most populous, but the others are more appealing. Anchor in the bay off Giannutri, home to barely 20 people, or head to the other side of the island to visit the ruins of a Roman villa.
Other than Carnival, which precedes Lent, Viareggio is also known for its Puccini Festival, which takes place every July and August immediately south of the town centre in the frazione, or hamlet, of Torre del Lago. It’s where Giacomo Puccini, the composer of La Bohème,
Tosca and more, lived for much of his life. The first series of concerts was staged here in 1930, just six years after he died.