Shoreside Attractions

Carnevale de Viareggio

Feb – March 2020 

The annual much longed for celebrations with gargantuan floats and large caricatures – well worth attending one of the Saturdays!  

Website: www.viareggio.ilcarnevale.com/en/programma-eventi/parades  

Cinque Terre

Cinque Terre is impossibly picturesque, identified by Unesco as “World Humanity Heritage”, are a Natural Park and Protected Marine Area whose aim is to protect this huge cultural heritage.

A handful of villages are shoehorned into the dramatic, rugged, folded coastline, between the beach resort of Levanto, and La Spezia to the south. 

Monterosso, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola and Riomaggiore were originally fishing villages, but have since turned to producing some rather good white wines. The most famous vintage is the Sciacchetra dessert wine, heavy with the flavour of raisins. 

These stunning villages attract huge numbers of visitors for their beauty. 

Sadly on 11th October 2011, a huge tornado caused large landslides around Vernazza with huge damage in the village, killing three people, washing cars and houses into the sea and blocking several roads and path-ways. Hard work by the local residents restored the area to its former wonder.

You can still walk between the five villages and the railway is unaffected, enjoying fantastic views of the Gulf of Genoa below. Innumerable footpaths, bordered with dry-stone-walls, climb and wind their way up the steep hills facing the sea.

Firenze / Florence

(95km from Viareggio) 

Florence keeps an exceptional artistic heritage: with countless museums, medieval churches and cathedrals, palazzos and monuments, theatres and the Duomo, Florence offers a great weekend get-away. 

Shopping, where to start? The cream of Florentine shopping lines both sides of the elegant Via de' Tornabuoni, with an extension along Via de la Vigna Nuova and other surrounding streets.

On the other end of the shopping spectrum is the haggling and general fun of the colourful and noisy San Lorenzo street market. 

Forte dei Marmi 

(7km from Viareggio) 

Forte dei Marmi is a luxury tourist resort for shopping, with a pier stretching out into the sea for about 100m. You can find all the main important brands and boutiques (as Prada, Fendi, Armani, Gucci, etc...) luxury restaurants / hotels. The incomparable Wednesday weekly market held in the town centre is famous all over Italy.

Lucca 

(19km from Viareggio)

This quaint and evocative city retains the charm of bygone days: the imposing tree-lined Renaissance walls (which totally enclose it), the maze of medieval streets flanked by towers and smart boutiques, the enchanting Romanesque churches and bright inviting squares, captivate the visitor. 

The historical centre, now a pedestrian precinct, plunges the visitor back in time and provides the perfect setting to savour the old world charm, where time and space take on a new dimension, no longer found in today’s modern cities.

Pisa

(18km from Viareggio)

Every four years Pisa celebrates its maritime origins by re-enacting naval battles during the Historic Regata on the Arno River. 

The Piazza dei Miracoli (Square of Miracles) is home to many of the city’s most beautiful attractions. The Camposanto is the marble-covered cathedral, a masterpiece of Pisan Romanesque architecture built in the early 1600s. The famous Leaning Tower rises directly behind the cathedral.

Portovenere

The Miracle of the White Madonna is celebrated with a torchlight procession in the Ligurian seaside village of Portovenere on August 17. The church and castle are lit up with candles, making for a spectacular sight.

San Gimignano 

(between Florence and Siena)

Well worth a visit is San Gimignano, a small walled medieval hill town in the province of Siena, Tuscany. It is mainly famous for its medieval architecture, especially its towers, which may be seen from several kilometres outside the town. The town also is known for the white wine, Vernaccia di San Gimignano, grown in the area.

Siena 

(150km from Viareggio)

Siena or the town with the “best quality of life” is an international centre of culture, with a 750-year-old University. Siena's heart is its central piazza known as Il Campo and is world-renowned for its famous and very exciting Palio, a festival and horse race that takes place on the piazza itself twice each summer on July 2 and August 16 every year!  

Tuscan Vineyards 

Land of wines par excellence - indulge in a little tasting at the Ornellaia, Sassicaia, Montalcino, Bolgheri or Chianti vineyards.