Versiliana Park


The Versiliana park (almost a million square metres) is what remains of an ancient wooded area, the so-called Macchia di Marina, which once extended all the way down the coast and was owned by the Pietrasanta Community, the organisation responsible for its upkeep that used its timber resources for its own purposes or for those of the grand-ducal government. In the late 18th century the wood was divided into plots of land for sale to private buyers.

During the 19th century the Digerini Nuti counts, who owned some of these plots, created a huge noble estate. In 1886 the villa was built and was given the name "La Versiliana" by the writer Renato Fucini, who was often a guest here.
In 1906 the poet Gabriele D'Annunzio stayed here. At the time, the estate was a farming and forestry complex criss-crossed by a dense network of geometrically designed paths. Pine trees were grown here for their timber and for the production of pine nuts. The story of his stays at the Versiliana often gets confused with the legend, with many suppositions on his stays, on the women who accompanied him, or on the works he wrote inspired by this natural landscape. It is however possible to recognise in the great poet the promoter of the afternoon meetings and of the open-air shows. In fact, he loved to talk to his friends under the shade of the splendid pine trees of the park and he got involved in promoting an open-air theatre where his work as well as the literature classics could be recited.

In 1980 the estate was bought by the municipality of Pietrasanta and turned into a public park. In the spaces adjoining the villa an area has been set aside for the activities of the La Versiliana Festival. Held here each summer for the last twenty years, the festival has become a highly popular and successful nationwide event. An intense cultural programming of quality (prose, ballet, music, cinema and cabaret) takes place in the summertime in the vast and dense pinewood around the famous The summer is also the time when guided natural history tours of the park as an introduction to the fascinating flora and fauna found in the park are available.


The Versiliana Cafè started at the beginning of the 80s, when "talk shows" didn't exist yet and it soon became a huge success. Every year it presents the most notorious people of the world of culture, politics, journalism, entertainment and fashion. It is a unique space of daily life in Italy.

"The Children's Versiliana" had to be created, a space for children dedicated to creative playing, to fables that small children not only listen to, but also take part into in order to make them come to life: in the process, children come to understand the secret that each fable holds. A small theatre holds daily shows created by companies that are specialised in children theatre. It is a natural space, simple and creative, immersed into the green of the park.