Destinations
Luxury villas for rent in Versilia
Versilia is the only seaside Tuscany with a capital’s pedigree: Forte dei Marmi and its historic beach clubs, boutiques browsed by bicycle, Pietrasanta — the sculptors’ “little Athens”, all galleries and marble ateliers — and behind it the Apuan Alps, turning pink over the pine forest at sunset. Summering here is a rite handed down through generations: your beach tent in the morning, lunch in the pinewood, aperitivo in the piazzetta, seafood for dinner. It is the choice of those who want the sea without giving up elegance — with art-city Tuscany an hour’s drive away.
What the houses here are like
Versilian villas are a genre of their own: Liberty-era residences and modern houses in the pine forest between Forte dei Marmi and Marina di Pietrasanta, manicured gardens, a pool, and the beach a bicycle ride away. Position and discretion are what count: high hedges, gates, and the sea a few minutes’ pedal from the door.
Book with the people who manage the houses directly
Tripcare, a luxury villa property-management company in Tuscany, manages every house in this area directly. Tripcare manages its coastal villas directly, to the same standards as inland: real availability, in-person check-in, our own maintenance. The concierge knows working Versilia — tents and cabanas at the right beach clubs, restaurant tables, boats to the Cinque Terre, in-villa chefs — and arranges it before you arrive.
Where to stay in Versilia
- Forte dei Marmi
- The historic address of elegant Versilia: the Roma Imperiale villas behind the pine trees, the boutiques, and the best-known beach clubs in Italy. The Wednesday market in piazza Marconi (8:00–13:30, year-round, over two hundred stalls of cashmere, linen and leather) is an institution; from Easter to the end of October a Sunday market joins it. Worth knowing: free beach here is almost non-existent — two stretches only, the larger at Vittoria Apuana — otherwise you book an umbrella at a bathing club.
- Pietrasanta
- The “little Athens”: two or three kilometres inland, with bronze foundries and marble workshops still working, and piazza Duomo used as an open-air gallery — Botero opened a studio here in 1983. It is the cultured alternative to Forte: you dine in a square full of sculpture rather than on the seafront. And its marina holds the largest free beach in Versilia, over thirteen thousand square metres at Motrone.
- Lido di Camaiore
- The stretch that suits families: fine sand and a shallow gradient, so shallow water for a good many metres, and the beach clubs best equipped for children. It also has the best-organised free beaches on this coast. Behind it, Camaiore town is a real working village rather than a resort, and the paths up into the Apuan Alps start there.
- Viareggio
- A real town rather than a holiday village: the Darsena where the yachts are built, the Liberty-era villas along the promenade, and life that continues out of season. The right choice if you want places open in the evening, a range of prices and the option of getting about without a car — the station is central. Its February carnival, with the papier-mâché floats, is the best known in Italy.
- Lucca
- Half an hour from the sea, and a different idea of a holiday: an intact walled city, with the tree-lined promenade along the top of the ramparts — a little over four kilometres, eleven bastions, a raised public park you walk or cycle. Market on Wednesday and Saturday, 8:00–13:00, at piazzale Don Baroni outside the walls. Worth planning around: at the end of October Lucca Comics fills the city for a full week.
Airports, trains and roads
Pisa airport is about 40 minutes away, Florence just over an hour; the A12 Versilia exit serves the whole coast. By train, the reference station is Forte dei Marmi–Seravezza–Querceta on the Genoa–Pisa line. Locally you barely need the car: the local rite is the bicycle, and for evenings out there are taxis and chauffeured cars the concierge books for you.
Our villas in the area
What guests ask us
How do Forte dei Marmi’s beach clubs work?
The beach is organised into historic clubs with tents and cabanas, many booked out from one season to the next. Tripcare’s concierge reserves your tent or cabana at the club that suits you — family-friendly, social or quiet — ideally at the moment your villa is confirmed.
Is Versilia just about the beach?
No — and that is its advantage: Pietrasanta and its ateliers ten minutes away, Lucca and Pisa a generous half hour, the Apuan marble quarries to visit by jeep, the Cinque Terre by boat as a day trip. Few bases allow the sea in the morning and art in the afternoon.
When is the right time for a Versilia villa?
High season runs June to August — with July and early August at peak energy. June and September offer warm sea and freer beaches; May and October are perfect for Pietrasanta, cycling, and the best rates.
Are the villas close to the beach?
Our villas sit in the pine-forest belt, typically 5 to 15 minutes by bicycle from the sea: the classic Versilian position, combining quiet and proximity. The exact distance to the beach is stated on each villa page.
What to experience in this area
Do you own a villa in this area?
Tripcare manages villas and farmhouses across Tuscany directly: bookings, guest welcome, maintenance and compliance, with a transparent monthly statement.
Property management in Tuscany
