Puccini Lake by bike

Between the sea and pine forests, crossing Viareggio, towards Lake Massaciuccoli.

Following this itinerary, we will cycle between the sea and pine forests in Viareggio, towards Torre del Lago and the shore of Lake Massaciuccoli. Right here stands Villa Puccini, an Art Nouveau building where the famous composer lived.

Leaving the Viareggio station we keep slightly to the right and take via 20 Settembre heading towards the sea, where we take the cycle path turning left onto the seafront. On our right we see some beautiful Art Nouveau buildings, including the Margherita café, the Duilio 48 bazaar and the Bagno Balena.

We pass the canal port and continue straight to enter the Lecciona pine forest, along the Viale dei Tigli. If we prefer to continue on asphalt, we continue straight, otherwise at the first traffic light we turn right onto a path and shortly after to the left, to take a beautiful dirt path that crosses the entire Lecciona pine forest, a very fascinating naturalistic oasis.

Once we reach the asphalt road, we take the avenue on the left that leads to the centre of Torre del Lago, we pass the railway underpass and continue towards Lake Massaciuccoli, where Villa Puccini stands, with memories of the great musician, and where a large open-air theatre has been built, a structure that can accommodate over 3,000 people and which offers a very interesting summer programme of concerts and operas.

We then return to the Torre del Lago train station, where we can board a train with bike transport service to return to Viareggio.

Photo by Alberto Conte