You say Versilia and you immediately think of stretches of sand adorned with iconic cabins, purchases in luxury boutiques and candlelit evenings in starred restaurants on the Tuscan coast. An imaginary that reflects the uniqueness of our destination, but that doesn't do it full justice.

Next to the postcard sea and the Dolce Vita lifestyle, Versilia offers culture, history and natural refuges immersed in peace and silence. As Versiliana Park, very pleasant to visit in every season.

Natural oasis loved by D'Annunzio

The Versiliana Park winds over 800,000 square meters between the municipalities of Marina di Pietrasanta and Forte dei Marmi, encircling them in an embrace of greenery.

It owes its name to the homonymous nineteenth-century villa housed inside, famous for hosting the poet Gabriele D'Annunzio in the early twentieth century, enchanted by the bucolic encounter of oaks, holm oaks, pines and paths in the undergrowth. The poet himself inaugurated the afternoon meetings and open-air shows that are still held in the park in the summer.

Dunes and sandy ditches follow large green areas, pervaded by smells and a refuge for many animal species. Depending on the period, you will be able to see hoopoes, great tits, woodpeckers and serins among the fronds. The generous streams that feed the main river often host turtles and moorhens, which transform a simple walk into an exciting experience, especially for the little ones.

The long history of the park

The Versiliana Park boasts a long and troubled genesis, lost over the centuries. Its luxuriant vegetation derives from an ancient coastal forest of medieval origin, much appreciated by the community of Pietrasanta.

In 1700, however, the Grand Duke of Tuscany ordered the area to be divided up and leveled to make it privately owned cultivation fields.

The pines that you can stroke in the park are not indigenous: they were planted in the 19th century to shelter the undergrowth from the action of the wind. During the 19th century the family of the Digerini-Nutti counts purchased several portions of land affected by the intervention ordered by the Grand Duke of Tuscany. In those years the imposing villa, called La Versiliana, was built.

Today the park and its marvelous villa are municipal property, so that everyone can enjoy the precious green lung of the Versilia coast.

Versiliana Villa 

The three-storey villa overlooking the park was built in 1886 at the request of Marianna Ginori Lisci Digerini Nuti. However, the name La Versiliana comes from the writer Renato Fucini. It appears as a refined place pervaded by poetry, set in a dreamlike natural setting. A place designed for unforgettable relationships and irrepressible passions, like the one between Gabriele D'Annunzio and Eleonora Duse, a famous actress of the time.

Precisely to follow his love, the poet stayed in the villa in 1902 and – once the idyll was over – he went there again on vacation, falling madly in love with this building. It is said that right here he composed Pioggia nel pineto, one of his most inspired works.

Today the Versiliana Park remains a special place, imbued with an impalpable allure that gives every corner a pinch of magic. Visit it as a couple or with the family, taking advantage of the many jogging routes all around. If you like riding, have fun on the Versiliana Bike cycle path, which unwinds between tree-lined avenues and grassy expanses facing the sea.