Viareggio
| Address : | Piazza Mazzini - Viareggio |
| Web: | www.comune.viareggio.lu.it |
Viareggio was founded in the XII century by the people from Lucca and Genoa who, allied against Pisa, built a tower to defend the coast. The small fortress took the name castrum di via regia, because it rose at the end of that important road which had been laid under the protection of the Emperor Federico Barbarossa. The castle, which the people from Pisa and Lucca fought over for some time, lost its military importance over the course of two centuries. In the 16th century, after Lucca was forced to move its port to the mouth of the Burlamacca canal, the Torre di Matilde (Mathilda Tower) was built in the place of the oId castrum. In 1559 the first church was built. It was originally called San Pietro and later dedicated to the Santissima Annunziata. Maria Luisa of Bourbon made a large contribution to the urban development of the town. In 1820 a decree elevated it to the rank of city.
Paolina Bonaparte chose it as a holiday spot, and built herself a sumptuous villa which is still in existence. At the beginning of this century, Viareggio took on the physiognomy of a Liberty city, which was, unfortunately seriously damaged in the great fire of 1917. The most important names of those involved in the reconstruction are Galileo Chini and Alfredo Belluomini, the one responsible for the urban layout as it stands today, a grid of wide tree-lined avenues which reach the sea.
The beautiful historical palaces are of certain architectural interest, and although it is not possible to visit the interiors, the exteriors definitely merit a visit. The Palazzo Bernardini was built in the I8th century as a summer residence for the noble Bernardini family of Lucca. Palazzo Belluomini owes its fame to Pope Pious VII's forced visit, having stayed there on his way to France as a prisoner of Napoleon III. The palazzo also had a small theatre for entertnining the noble proprietors and their friends.
Another important building is the Palazzo della Cittadella, built in the l8th century and now the site of the Hotel Vittoria. But the most famous building is the Palazzo Paolina, ordered to be built by Paolina Bonaparte and now the site of two museums. Shelley's monument, in the piazza Shelley, has a romantic flavour. In fact, the great English poet drowned in a boating accident in 1822 off the coast of Viareggio. According to the laws in force at the time, any body found at sea had to be cremated for fear of contagion and eventual epidemics. Shelley had to be buried in Italy, and not in England, as his friend Lord Byron would have wished. In his honour, the citizens erected this monument.
The most interesting architectural motif in Viareggio, however, is represented by the buildings of the 'twenties and 'thirties, generally attributed to Liberty, although the style is rarely so pure and classifiable as that. To be more precise, these buildings are an expression of Art Deco, characterized by the vast ceramic decorations, much in vogue in the architecture of the twenties. In this context it is possible to place the work of the architect Belluomini and the painter and ceramist Galileo Chini. The oldest building, and the only one to survive the terrible fire of 1917, is the Martini store, made of wood, like all the other buildings that once adorned the sea wall. The Gran Caffe Margherita, once the most exclusive meeting place in the city; with its unmistakable exotic turrets in bright yellow, blue and white majolica tiles, reproposes those wooden structures which were such an easy prey to fire. The curvilinear façade of Magazzini Duilio 48, one of the most whimsical survivors in the Liberty style, and the façade of Bagno Balena, are just some of the buildings which made Viareggio world-famous. Art Deco also influenced the building of Villa Argentina and the panels of the building which once housed Hotel Excelsior, as well as many other artistic episodes which make up the historical part of Viareggio.
Elegant and refined Viareggio is one of the more famous coast resorts in Versilia and a tourist destination known all over the world. It is an amusement-centre, the country of the Carnival and of the night-life with its advanced and first-rate disco's and lounge bars.
