TuscanyArea guide

Versilia, Tuscany

North-west Tuscany’s coast and hills, with beach clubs around Forte dei Marmi and art in Pietrasanta.

On Versilia

Versilia,
from Smaranda.

Planning a stay in Versilia?

Tell us your dates and group. A personal reply within 24 hours, with the villas that fit.

Versilia is Tuscany's fashionable coast, the ten-kilometre run of fine sand under the Apuan Alps where Italian summer has been conducted with full seriousness since the 1920s. Forte dei Marmi is its capital: cabana rows in family hands for generations, bicycles as the only sensible transport, and the Wednesday market where the well-dressed of Milan buy cashmere from stalls. Behind the beach, Pietrasanta has been the sculptors' town since Michelangelo came for the marble, and its bronze foundries and studios still draw artists from everywhere; Botero worked here for decades and left frescoes in the Misericordia church.

We keep no villas on the beachfront, deliberately: the coast in season is for days, not for sleeping. The pattern our guests use is a villa in the Lucca countryside, thirty to forty minutes inland, with Versilia as the sea-day valve: a booked beach club for the day, dinner in Pietrasanta's gallery-lined centre, and the quiet of the villa to return to. The Castelfalfi estate runs its own Forte dei Marmi beach-club arrangement in season.

Beach days from a countryside villa

Choose whether you want the beach to be the centre of the holiday or an occasional outing from the villa. For frequent visits, compare the journey to the particular beach or club you intend to use, parking and arrangements for the whole group. A property described as near the coast may still require a drive for every swim.

Check seasonal openings and the booking arrangements for loungers, meals or activities. Keep a second plan for a day when the weather does not suit the beach, such as time in Lucca or a meal at the villa. For children and older relatives, a manageable transfer and somewhere comfortable to spend the hottest part of the day can matter more than the choice of beach club.

When to come

June to September for the full beach-club season; May and late September for the coast without the column of Milanese traffic. August is peak everything: atmosphere, prices and crowds.

Towns worth knowing

Forte dei Marmi: The beach-club capital; the Wednesday market is an event in its own right.
Pietrasanta: Little Athens: sculpture studios, foundries, galleries and the coast's best dining.
Torre del Lago: Puccini's lakeside villa; the open-air opera festival each July and August.
Camaiore: The workaday inland town; honest shops and none of the seafront pricing.

Best for

Sea days from a Lucca villa base
Families who want sand rather than coves
Sculpture and gallery afternoons in Pietrasanta
Puccini evenings at Torre del Lago

Practicalities

Beach clubs book by the day or week; in July and August reserve ahead and we arrange it. From the Coselli villas the drive is about forty minutes; the A12 exit at Versilia saves the coast road in season.

Other villas to consider

The whole collection

These villas are outside Versilia. Compare their locations with the places you want to visit and confirm the journey from the individual property before choosing your base.