05/08/2026
I learned a new word on this trip: villeggiatura.
It’s the Italian tradition of moving to the coast for the entire summer. Not a week. The season. Families packed up and relocated, the same town, the same hotel, the same room, year after year. That’s how has worked for over a century. And somehow, almost no one outside Italy knows about it.
The town sits between the Ligurian Sea and the Apuan Alps, the same mountains where Michelangelo sourced his marble. You can actually go inside the quarries. That alone is worth the trip.
I stayed at one of the family hotels. Sara is the creative director behind Collezione Em, her family has run Villa Roma Imperiale here for decades (guests return every summer and request the same room). She just reopened after a four-year restoration: 17 rooms, adults only, a hand-painted Sicilian ceramic pool hidden in the garden. It’s a member of Leading Hotels of the World, but it doesn’t feel like a hotel. It feels like someone’s very well-kept home, which is exactly what it was in 1899.
What to know before you go: the beach clubs here are organized by color and concession, each one has its own identity. Bagno Assunta (also Sara’s family) keeps its original retro striped tents. Order the spaghetti alle arselle, tiny local clams, a Versilia tradition. Bike into town for an aperitivo at Caffè Principe (recently taken over by Prada, yes, that Prada, Miuccia has a house here). And if you have a morning free, the cashmere market is real cashmere at local prices. It’s a weekday ritual, not a tourist trap.
The season runs late May to early September. After that, everything closes. The town goes quiet until next year.
If this sounds like your kind of Italy, we know it well. DM us.
