Coast and mountains: From Viareggio to Carrara
Riviera della Versilia, coast between Viareggio and Carrara, is an almost uninterrupted series of bathing areas, without exception, not very attractive. It should be different, because of the beautiful background of the two-thousand-year-old Alpi Apuane, but the beaches share a coastal plain with a railway line, motorway and congested urban roads: water is also contaminated.
On the way through this region to the more attractive Liguria you can stop in Viareggio, where is some parties and beaches, and Torre del Lago hosts an opera festival. Besides, all the major attractions are located inland, especially the Alpine trails above the Massa and Carrara marble mining centres.
Viareggio and Torre del Lago
VIAREGGIO to Biarritz Riviery della Versilia: a large and once elegant nineteenth-century swimming pool, which is focused on a prosperous clientele. It has its attractions, such as the relatively turbulent nightlife (including concerts of famous performers) and a few neat decorative-style buildings on the waterfront Passeggiata Margherita. But the beaches are privatized and expensive, and in high season, and more, hotels, as a rule, do not have places — and these, that have, they often demand the purchase of pensione completa. The only period, when it is worth coming here for a specific purpose, to carnevale (22 1-7II), one of the most colorful in Italy. Every Sunday there is an astonishing parade of carri — giant, Sailing, decorative images of politicians and celebrities with papier-mache. Outside the carnival period, they are exhibited in Han-gar-Camevale at the top of via Marco Polo (10.30-12.00 i 16.30-19.00; Free entrance). They are a form of art. (the best carri designers are very famous), are very inventive and hilarious.
Arriving at the train station, 600 m from the sea, you can take the city plan from the information office. Buses (Lazzi, CAT, and CLAP) stop closer to the center, near Giardini d'Azeglio; to the EPT office at viale Carducci 10 (8.30-12.00) walk from here to the right along the coast through Piazza Mazzini. Most of the cheap hotels are located in via Carducci and via Leonardo da Vinci and via Vespucci (which run from the vicinity of the station to the coast). Bicycles can be rented in the long city park, Pineta di Ponte.
Bike (or by your own transport) you can go to the public beaches behind the port area to the south along the tree-lined road to MARINA DI TORRE DEL LAGO. Further sandy sections are undeveloped, while inland, near Lake Massaciuccoli is Villa Puccini (Summer 9.00-12.00 i 15.00-19.00; in winter to 17.30). In the city of TORRE DEL LAGO PUCCINI itself, during the summer Festival Pucciniano, the master's operas are staged in an outdoor theater. There are many campsites around the city and the lake.
North to Massa and Carrara
On the way from Viareggio to Carrara, there is little inclination to stop. The coast is continuously developed, and the most beautiful beaches are by a tiny cove near FORTE DEI MARMI, the most exclusive bathing area of the Versilia coast.
MASSA together with the port of MARINA DI MASSA form basically one resort town. Mainly Italian families come here. The swimming pool is not very attractive, has seaweed-covered beaches, and the shallow reaches far into the sea. However, a youth hostel in Massa can be useful., Ostello Apuano (0585/240288). It is located exactly in Localita Partaccia, at viale delle Pinete 89; the easiest way to get there from Carrara-Avenza train station (3 km by bus in the direction of Marina di Massa); adjoining it is a free beach.
Also CARRARA has a stretch of beach, MARINA DI CARRARA, which serves as a loading port for marble mined here in large quantities. The marble trade has been going on since Roman times, and has developed on a large scale since Michelangelo found here a block of stone for the tombstone of Pope Julius II. Quarry openings can be seen in the mountainside above the city. Trade in this raw material dominates carrara's economy. The Romanesque-Gothic cathedral is full of marble statues, they are also in the Museo del Marmo (codz. V and VII-IX 10.00-13.00 i 15.30-18.30; VI 17.00-20.00), where interesting exhibitions on the history of stone mining and sculpture in Carrara were organized. However, the most interesting display of contemporary Carrara marble takes place during the annual program Scolpire alPAperto (when. VI-beg. X), when the local commune invites sculptors from different countries and provides them with marble for carving in Piazza Alberica.
To get a better look at the quarries, you can go by bus (every hour from via Minzoni) towards COLLONICA, twenty minutes on a winding mountain road. Ask the driver to drop off just before this village in Cava, a huge marble basin, the bottom and edges of which were cut at right angles with saws.
Even without marble decks, Carrara would be a nice place to stop — uncommercialized., is a respite after the crowded tourist coast. On Mondays there is a market, there are many grocery stores, several bars and pizzerias. Most of the accommodation is in Marina di Carrara, but just north of Piazza Alberica in via Apuana there is a good 2-star guesthouse, Roberto's hotel (0585/54033).
Walks in Alpi Apuani
Alpi Apuani has been covered with a network of hiking trails marked on the map. They are real mountains, despite the relatively low height and short distances - you are never far from the road, rifugio or hotel; you can even walk in sneakers. W EPT w Carrarze (Piazza II June 14) you will get two brochures: unoriented "map" with trails, shelters, roads and rivers, and the second, containing "sightseeing routes for tourists", half a dozen of which at the back are hiking trails. Most trips take two to three hours. Nearby Carrary hostel (Rifugio Carrara; 0585/72232) and the crossroads of the trails is located in CAMPO CECINA, but you have to hitchhike there – buses run only on Sundays.