Viareggio, Province of Lucca, Tuscany Region, Italy

Economy | Tourist Industry | Motorway | Train | Transport : Air | Port and marina

🇮🇹 Viareggio is a city and comune in northern Tuscany, Italy, on the coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea. It is the second largest city within the province of Lucca.

It is known as a seaside resort as well as being the home of the famous carnival of Viareggio (dating back to 1873), and its papier-mâché floats, which (since 1925), parade along the promenade known as "Passeggiata a mare", in the weeks of Carnival. The symbol of the carnival of Viareggio and its official mask is Burlamacco, designed and invented by Uberto Bonetti in 1930.

The city traces its roots back to the first half of the 16th century when it became the only gate to the sea for the Republic of Lucca. The oldest building in Viareggio, known as Torre Matilde, dates back to this time and was built by the Lucchesi in 1541 as a defensive fortification to fight the constant menace of corsair incursions.

Viareggio is also an active industrial and manufacturing centre; its shipbuilding industry has long been renowned around the world and its fishing and floricultural industries are still fundamental sectors to the city's economy.

Viareggio hosts the Premio letterario Viareggio Répaci for literature, established in 1929. Amongst the other events organized around the year, it is worth mentioning the Festival Gaber, which has been held every August since 2004 to celebrate the memory of Giorgio Gaber, and is attended by several high-profile Italian musicians.

Economy The primary sectors of Viareggio's economy are tourism, commerce and services, include fishing and floriculture (the flowers of Versilia).

The city also houses prolific shipyards.

At the beginning of the 19th century, craftsmen from Viareggio built small fishing vessels along the banks of the Burlamacca canal. As the century progressed, however, this small shipbuilding activity prospered until it became an internationally acclaimed centre. Nowadays, Viareggio is the main luxury yachts producing city in the world thanks to the presence of shipyards with builders such as Azimut Benetti, Codecasa, Fipa, Rossinavi, Perini navi and many others.

Tourist Industry • Villa Orlando • Villa Borbone (between Viareggio and Torre del Lago Puccini). • Villa Puccini, Museum. • Monument to the Resistance and to Peace, (largo Risorgimento). The monument is made of columns taken from the old City Hall, destroyed by the aerial bombardments of World War II, and two walls running perpendicular to each other. On one of these a mosaic from Jean-Michel Folon can be found together with a quote from Quasimodo: "E come potevamo noi cantare con i piedi stranieri sopra il cuore?"/"And how could we sing with foreign feet trampling onto our hearts?"

Motorway Viareggio is connected to Autostrada A11 from Florence via A11/"Bretella" Lucca-Viareggio and to Autostrada A12 linking Genoa-Rosignano.

Train Viareggio railway station is located near the city centre, with 60 daily trains running along the Rome–Pisa–La Spezia–Genoa line, and the line to Florence, as well as international trains.

Transport: Air The nearest airport is Pisa's "Galileo Galilei" international airport, just 20 km (12 mi) south of Viareggio's city center. Florence's "Amerigo Vespucci" airport is 95 km (59 mi) to the east.

Port and marina Two extensions to today's Burlamacca canal were built in 1577. It was on its banks that the first maritime activities developed. In 1740, Bernardino Zendrini had a water-gate built in order to prevent the sea water from reaching lake Massaciuccoli. In 1820 Maria Luisa, duchess of Lucca, had the first marina of Viareggio built. It was completed in 1823 and took the name of Marina of Lucca. Between 1871 and 1873 the so-called Marina of Tuscany was built, followed by the Marina of Italy, from 1907 through to 1911. In 1938 the Marina of the Empire was also built, which was followed in the 1970s by the Marina of Viareggio (also known as the New Marina), the Marina of La Madonnina, and the new lighthouse. The Madonnina can host up to 500 vessels. The city hosts the local Capitaneria di Porto, and all vessels registered here bear the marking VG.

Viareggio, Province of Lucca, Tuscany Region, Italy 
<b>Viareggio, Province of Lucca, Tuscany Region, Italy</b>
Image: Arne Müseler

Viareggio has a population of over 62,000 people. Viareggio also forms one of the centres of the wider Lucca Province which has a population of over 390,025 people.

To set up a UBI Lab for Viareggio see: https://www.ubilabnetwork.org Twitter: https://twitter.com/UBILabNetwork

Twin Towns, Sister Cities Viareggio has links with:

🇮🇹 Acireale, Italy 🇫🇷 Bastia, France 🇺🇸 Bridgeport, USA 🇨🇳 Kunshan, China 🇵🇱 Opole, Poland 🇮🇹 Palmi, Italy 🇨🇴 Pasto, Colombia 🇮🇹 San Benedetto del Tronto, Italy
Text Atribution: Wikipedia Text under CC-BY-SA license

Antipodal to Viareggio is: -169.767,-43.867

Locations Near: Viareggio 10.2333,43.8667

🇮🇹 Massa 10.139,44.035 d: 20.2  

🇮🇹 Pisa 10.4,43.717 d: 21.4  

🇮🇹 Carrara 10.1,44.067 d: 24.7  

🇮🇹 Lucca 10.515,43.842 d: 22.8  

🇮🇹 Livorno 10.32,43.553 d: 35.6  

🇮🇹 Capannori 10.567,43.85 d: 26.8  

🇮🇹 La Spezia 9.82,44.102 d: 42.2  

🇮🇹 Montecatini Terme 10.783,43.88 d: 44.1  

🇮🇹 Pistoia 10.924,43.932 d: 55.8  

🇮🇹 Prato 11.1,43.882 d: 69.5  

Antipodal to: Viareggio -169.767,-43.867

🇹🇴 Nuku'alofa -175.216,-21.136 d: 17437.9  

🇦🇸 Pago Pago -170.701,-14.279 d: 16723.9  

🇼🇸 Apia -171.76,-13.833 d: 16670.1  

🇵🇫 Papeete -149.566,-17.537 d: 16528.7  

🇺🇸 Hilo -155.089,19.725 d: 12787.4  

🇺🇸 Maui -156.446,20.72 d: 12706  

🇺🇸 Maui County -156.617,20.868 d: 12693.1  

🇺🇸 Wailuku -156.505,20.894 d: 12688.1  

🇺🇸 Kahului -156.466,20.891 d: 12687.6  

🇺🇸 Honolulu -157.85,21.3 d: 12667.6  

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