Modernism in the villas in Viareggio

N° 2 Stops

The panorama offered by the avenues running along the sea at Viareggio shows a double way, with the architecture of the baths on one side (viale Margherita and viale Marconi) and the residential architecture on the other (viale Manin, viale Carducci).
The presence of a multiplicity of buildings guides us along a sort of museum tour, an itinerary created from the succession of the most varied structures, generally characterised by a style deriving from the modernist movement, which are the result of particularly indicative architectural experiments in Viareggio at the beginning of the 1900's. The heterogeneous silhouettes of the façades, the polychrome ceramic decoration, wrought iron balusters and marble ornaments constitute the scenes for the avenues by the sea. From the historic styles reminiscent of the 1800's, to the floral research present in Art Nouveau and Secession, from 1920's eclecticism to deco, the horizon of new styles reveals itself in the city of Viareggio where the different aspects of Modernism are received and elaborated once again. Galileo Chini is responsible for the display of decorative ceramic motifs featuring on the vast majority of the buildings running along the avenues by the sea. Chini was a keen supporter of the cultural revival taking place, particularly in the field of applied arts. His adhesion to new ways of understanding art, which were already present in Europe during the last decade of the 1800's, was upheld throughout his long activity.