Sighseeing
Sala fortress is the best point to observe Pietrasanta's town-planning plant. From here one can see Cathedral Square and the main citizen monuments: the Cathedral with its red bell-tower, Maroni palace, St. Augustine precious front, Hours tower. And even as far as the coast and the Apuan Alps where the beautiful town of Camaiore is nested. Like Pietrasanta, it is a "founded village".
Events
Besides its artistic fame Pietrasanta is also famous for its rich cultural events taking part through the whole year. Here visitors will be constantly entertained by different occasions and feasts as carnivals, races, fashion shows but above all - great night life.
The Viareggio Carnival
The Viareggio Carnival is a world-famous event visited not only by Europeans but from tourists coming from the furthest parts of the world. It was established in 1873 when some of the local "signori" decided to organize a "little different Sunday". Nowadays this is a colourful masked event full of cheerful participants and merry crowds. The official Viareggio Carnival mask is the "Burlamacco", a clown that wears checkered overalls, a white ponpon and white gorget together with a red headband and a black mantle. His name derives from Buffalmacco a Florentine painter and a character in the "Decamerone" and is a synonym of inevitable fun and happiness.
The Palio dei Micci
This is a picturesque donkey race first held in 1956 through the initiative of a citizens committee and soon became the most important historical-folklore event in the Province of Lucca. Eight city-districts take part in it every year. Nowadays the race is held on the first Sunday of May. More than two thousand costumed figures take to the city streets on Palioday dressed in splendid costumes as princes and queens, warriors and chancellors knights, scholars, jesters and peasants, to animate the most beautiful spring festivity, a fairy-tale day. This is a truly motley occasion worth to be seen and enjoyed at.
Night life
There is a great number of discos and night-clubs offering shows and concerts with famous singers and entertainers. In Marina di Carrara there are Gattopardo dancing, Nigth Club "La Spiaggia", Paradise Beach. And in Marina di Massa you find the famous Miami and Il Pirata, two dancings that acted like a go-between being the cause of many weddings. In Ronchi the well known Oliviero has come to life again.
Versilia's coast
Versilia's coast and its immediate inland represent a unique and rich in charm reality. The sea and the beaches, rocks and pinewoods, parks and protected areas, ancient cities and historic villages, characterize this part of Tuscany. The so-called "Wine paths", a various and tasty cousine, traditions and folklore reflecting in the local manifestations, make Versilia much more interesting. It is in the meantime a rich in peculiarities area that can be visited in every period of the year, thanks to the mild climate.
