The Municipal Lido «Ammiraglio Zerbi», also known as the Lido Comunale Zerbi, is a historic beach club located in the Rada dei Giunchi, in the northern part of Reggio Calabria's historic centre, facing the natural setting of the Strait of Messina.
What to see
Once the pulsing heart of the city's social, cultural and artistic life, the lido began in the 1920s as a small wooden beach establishment on stilts, divided into sections reserved for men and women both in the changing rooms and in the sea; towards the end of the same decade, Admiral Giuseppe Genoese Zerbi, then mayor of Reggio, worked to build a modern lido in the area, the first in southern Italy, which was later named after him and soon became a venue for parties, sporting events and social gatherings, also drawing tourists arriving by sea from Messina. Occupied during the Second World War first by German and then by American forces, the complex went for a long time without a modern structure, until the municipal administration decided on its reconstruction in 1962; work on the new lido began in 1968 but, due to continually rising costs, was completed only in 1990.
In 1974, shortly after the city had emerged from the tensions of the Reggio revolts, an edition of the Miss Italia pageant was held here at the initiative of Enzo Mirigliani, experienced as a kind of civic rebirth. Today the complex includes hundreds of cabins on two floors, a pedestrian plaza and, at its centre, the so-called Torre Nervi, a three-storey polygonal building designed by the architect Pier Luigi Nervi that once housed a disco, nightclub and bar; the whole structure, largely on state-owned coastal land granted to the Municipality, covers an area of almost three hectares with a children's pool, shops, gardens and fountains, but is now abandoned and in a state of decay.
Visiting
The lido is currently closed and in a state of disrepair; the waters in front of it are considered unsafe for swimming by the Ministry of Health because of excessive bacteria levels linked to the discharge of untreated sewage.
Our editors' tip
Look at the Torre Nervi from a distance, from the seafront: despite its neglect, its polygonal shape remains one of the most recognisable profiles on Reggio's beachfront skyline, a reminder of the era when this lido was the city's drawing room.
