Since 1873 Viareggio has devoted a month a year to the art of laughing at power: the allegorical floats of its Carnival — papier-mâché machines as tall as buildings, driven by theatrical mechanisms — parade along the seafront avenues and are built all year round in the Cittadella. Burlamacco, the mask designed by Uberto Bonetti, is their ambassador.
The city was born for the sea: in the sixteenth century it was the only port of the Republic of Lucca, and its oldest building is the Torre Matilde, raised in 1541 against corsair raids. The trade has not changed since: the shipyards launch superyachts known all over the world. The rest is Belle Époque — the art nouveau cafés of the Passeggiata, the ceramics of Galileo Chini — plus one of Italy's most important literary prizes, the Viareggio, awarded since 1929. At Torre del Lago, inside the comune, Giacomo Puccini wrote nearly all his operas: the summer festival sings them a few steps from his villa, between the lake and the sea.
Chiesa dei Sette Santi Fondatori · Chiesa di San Giuseppe · Chiesa di San Paolino and 3 more
Bistecca alla Fiorentina
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Next up: The Most Holy Annunciate Mary, patron celebrated with the ancient fair of the ciottorini, Thursday 25 March
Nearest airport: Pisa Galilei, 23 km away
Viareggio is part of 🏖️ Seaside
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📅 Every year, on 25 March, with the fair of the ciottorini the week before
Viareggio celebrates the Most Holy Annunciate Mary on 25 March, with the 18th-century fair of the ciottorini the week before; the town's first historical records date from 1172, when the Lucchesi built a watchtower there on the coastline.
Chiesa dei Sette Santi Fondatori Church in Viareggio's Darsena district, founded in 1939 and enlarged to include a shipwright's carpentry. Chiesa di San Giuseppe Eighteenth-century church of Torre del Lago Puccini, frescoed inside and out by Ferruccio Orlandi. Chiesa di San Paolino Minor basilica in Viareggio, built in 1896, with gold-ground mosaics on the façade and in the apse. Chiesa di Sant'Andrea Servite minor basilica in Viareggio, where Saint Antonio Maria Pucci worked and is buried. Faro di Viareggio White 14-metre lighthouse of 1863 at the mouth of the Burlamacca canal; no longer in use. Villa Borbone Ducal villa of 1821 in Viareggio's royal estate, with the Bourbon-Parma burial chapel. Straight-line distances from the town centre. Tap a point to open its page.
The closest destinations covered by our editors, with straight-line distance.
Outside Viareggio, but an easy day trip away.
