Viareggio and the Versilia Riviera have been one of the most famous and exclusive Italian holidays resorts since the 1960s, even if to tell the truth the first balneotherapy treatments started here during the first half of the XIX century! Nowadays Versilia gives everybody a chance to spend a beautiful holiday all the year round thanks to its mild climate and a wide range of entertainments and leisure facilities.
In Viareggio you can spend your time lying on the beautiful sandy beaches or resting in the pinewood, go shopping along the seafront promenade, have lunch or dinner in a “a la mode “ restaurant or in a cosy trattoria, spend the night in a disco, bar or nightclub.
If you are fond of opera, you can see Giacomo Puccini’s masterpieces, such as TOSCA or MADAMA BUTTERFLY, at the Great Opera Air Thetre which opens on to the Massaciuccoli Lake and is surrounded by a wonderful park. The Puccini Festival takes place every year in July and August and it’s famous all over the world.
Viareggio is also famous for its Carnival which took place in 1873 for the first time. Every year enormous allegorical papier-mache’ floats display in a parade along the seafront promenade on Carnival Sundays and on the Mardi Gras. Nowadays Viareggio Carnival is the most popular in Italy.
Moreover from Viareggio you can easily reach other famous towns and places of Versilia (Forte dei Marmi, Pietrasanta, Camaiore), Tuscany (Pisa, Lucca, Firenze, the Chianti area, Siena, San Gimignano, the Alpi Apuane Natural Park (Carrara Marble) and the San Rossore Natural Park) and of Liguria (Lerici, Portovenere, La Spezia and Le Cinque Terre).
You can get further information at: http://turismo.comune.viareggio.lu.it/
