Radford University Study Abroad Program
Dr. Jolanta Wawrzycka
European Literary Trails
Bliss Mulligan's Web Site 2003

Viareggio

    Viareggio is a beach town in North- West Tuscany. None of us having seen the Italian beaches we decided that a trip to the beach was the best thing to do. This impromptu trip to the beach was an interesting experience. Once we finally realized what train we needed to take and where to buy the tickets, we had about fifteen minutes until the train departed. We had to run all the way to the platform and made the train with two minutes to spare. It was like we were on the "beach train" with more and more people getting on at every stop for the entire two hour train ride. There was no sitting room and hardly any standing room, I swear I think all of Italy was trying to go to the beach.

    Once the train finally arrived in Viareggio we began the walk to the beach. We really had no idea where to go, but we were just able to follow the rest of Italy to the beach. It did not take us long to find out that the majority of the beached are privately owned and you had to pay to lay on the beach. It cost about eighteen euros for the day if you're a tourist and we found out that the rates were cheaper for Italians. There is a public part of the beach that we were forced to go to because who wants to rent a patch of sand. Well this public beach was probably twenty feet wide at most. I have never seen so many people in such a concentrated area. You had to literally walk on your tip-toes because there wasn't any room between the towels.

    People watching was the best at the beach. There was such a wide variety of beach garments being worn by the people. There were women with no tops, women with full pants suits on, women with one-pieces. The men wore speedos (lots of speedos) and short shorts. It was great to see the difference between the beaches here in the States and in Italy.

    I loved the beach, but I would like to visit one that is not so populated and commercialized. There were far less tourists in Viareggio than in Florence which was nice. Being at the beach allowed us to see what it is the Italians do when they are not at work.

Public part of the beach

(thanks for the picture Lindsey)