FORTE DEI MARMI

Forte dei Marmi is a sea town and commune in the province of Lucca, north of Tuscany (Italy).

Tourism in Forte dei Marmi started at the end of the 18th century when the rich families of the inland went to the coast to breath healthy air and to sandbath. At the beginning of the 19th century many wealthy families from Tuscany and the north of Italy started to choose this town for their summer holidays. Later on, also European families started to do so.

Many important and famous people started to arrive in the area and the first villas were built in the pinewood near the sea.

The first ones were Agnelli, Siemens, Giovanni Gentile, Thomas Mann, Renato Fucini, Italo Balbo, Curzio Malaparte, Enrico Pea, Aldous Huxley,Guglielmo Marconi, the writer Riccardo Bacchelli, the sculptor Henry Moore, Luchino Visconti and many Italian noble families.

Artists meeting every day talking about arts and culture created a group called Quarto Platano. The Grand Hotel in Forte became an important place for the European high society and the hotel was chosen also from the Belgian royal family.