Viareggio: is a health and seaside resort and the most important tourist center on the Tuscan Riviera. Ten kilometers of beach lined with over a hundred bathing establishments offer visitors an unlimited range of facilities for relaxation, leisure and entertainment. In fact the city, which was the birthplace of Lorenzo Viani, Giacomo Puccini and Mario Tobino, presents a unique panorama with its pine woods, hills and the lake of Massaciuccoli, Torre del Lago Puccini, the Apuan Alps, the tourist harbor, shipyards and a three-kilometer-long promenade lined with stores, theaters and movie houses, where the Carnival of Italy is held in the winter. Nor should we forget the Puccini Festival in the summer and the proximity of the beautiful city of Lucca, with its one hundred churches. http://www.viareggio.it/

Art Nouveau: In 1917 the city's first bathing establishments, which were simple wooden structures, were destroyed in a fire. As the seaside resort had in the meantime become the favorite haunt of the wealthy middle class of Milan and Florence, they were replaced by elegant constructions built and decorated in the style that was then all the rage, art nouveau. Of the many such buildings, the Cinema Savoia, Magazzini Duilio 48, Galleria del Libro, Gran Caffè Margherita and Bagno Balena are the most representative of this time, when the Tuscan town experienced a period of great popularity.

Carrara: The mountains of the Apuan Alps, regarded up until the nineteenth century as so steep and inaccessible that the main peaks were not conquered by climbers until the period between the two wars, now constitute a major tourist attraction. From the naturalist's point of view, the mountains are home to a wealth of animals and plants, and this has led to the establishment of the Regional Natural Park of the Apuan Alps. But the most striking feature of the area is undoubtedly its open-air marble quarries. Ever since the time of the ancient Romans one of the most prized types of marble in Europe has been extracted from these mountains and while the number of abandoned and exhausted quarries has now reached a thousand, around 130 are still active in the province of Massa and Carrara. It is well known that Michelangelo obtained the marble for his sculptures from these quarries, and on more than one occasion he made his way into the mountains to personally supervise the cutting of the blocks and slabs he needed for his work. Following the winding roads leading up to the main beds of marble where the quarries are located, you will enjoy a panorama that is striking in its natural beauty and in its testimonies to the hundreds of years over which marble has been extracted and transported here.

Italian's Carnival The idea of staging a parade of floats in the streets to celebrate Carnival first came to some fashionable and prosperous young men at the Café del Casino in February 1873. This unusual event, which took place on the Sunday and Shrove Tuesday before Lent of that same year, later developed into the Carnival of Viareggio, as it is known today; one of the most beautiful and spectacular events of its kind in the world. It was toward the end of the century that the processions were introduced and immediately proved extremely popular. The triumphal floats, large structures constructed out of wood, scagliola and jute, were designed by sculptors and assembled by local carpenters and blacksmiths, accustomed to building ships capable of standing up to the battering of the ocean waves. Ever since that time, the floats have sailed passed crowds of astonished and amused onlookers. The tradition of the Carnival in Viareggio, like the belle époque itself, almost died out in the First World War. Yet it rose from the ashes with renewed splendor and magnificence in 1921, when the floats were paraded along the two grand avenues that run along the beach. Known as the mall, these roads draw celebrities from all over Italy and abroad in the summer and - partly as a consequence of the beautiful backdrop provided by the Apuan Alps - form an incomparable stage for the Carnival. Year after year the floats are paraded in front of thousands of visitors, their sense of joy and fun renewed on each occasion.   http://www.viareggio.ilcarnevale.com/

Casa Puccini at Torre del Lago  Just eight kilometers or five miles from Viareggio lies the beautiful lake of Massacciuccoli, now part of the Natural Park of Migliarino, San Rossore and Massacciuccoli. Onto the lake faces the town of Torre del Lago Puccini, where you can find the villa in which Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924) was born, lived for long periods and worked. Today it is owned by the foundation of the same name and displays documents and relics of the maestro, including the pianoforte at which he composed Turandot, medals, drafts and finished scores, costumes, honors and awards, letters and photographs. One series of pictures constitutes a true family gallery. A room converted into a chapel houses the composer's tomb, with sculptures by Antonio Maraini and decorations by Adolfo de Carolis.