Italy · Versilia, Tuscany
Yacht Charter Forte dei Marmi
A long sand beach with the Apuan Alps standing straight behind it, and Michelangelo's marble quarries above.
Forte dei Marmi takes its name from the fort built to guard the marble that came down from the Apuan Alps behind it — the same quarries Michelangelo climbed to choose his own blocks. The result is a stretch of coast where a flat sand beach runs for kilometres with mountains of white rock rising directly behind it, which is a combination the rest of Italy does not offer.
The coast and the mountains
The beach is fine sand and shelves gently, so the water stays shallow a long way out and the anchorage off it is calm in settled weather. Behind, the Apuan Alps go to nearly two thousand metres and the quarries cut into them read white from the sea all year.
The pier — the pontile — was built to load marble onto boats and now runs three hundred metres out over the water, which is the best place to stand at either end of the day.
Inland, and along
Carrara and its quarries are half an hour north, and can be visited: the marble basins are worked to this day and the scale of them is difficult to convey. Pietrasanta, twenty minutes inland, is a town of sculptors' studios and foundries where artists still come to work the stone.
South, the Versilia runs to Viareggio and then to the Tuscan archipelago; north it reaches the Gulf of Poets in about three hours.
Practical notes
- The nearest base is Cala de' Medici, about two hours south
- Fine sand shelving gently, so the anchorage off the beach is calm in settled weather
- Carrara and its marble basins are half an hour north and can be visited
- Pisa airport is fifty minutes by road, Florence about ninety
Reached from: Cala de' Medici
Where to dine
A table by the water
Lorenzo
Forte dei MarmiThe town's serious fish kitchen, a street back from the front, and there since 1981.
Bistrot
Forte dei MarmiA small room near the market doing Tuscan cooking with a lighter hand than the tradition asks for.
Pietrasanta
PietrasantaTwenty minutes inland, where the sculptors eat between the studios and the foundries.
What to do
Anchorages & excursions
The pontile
A three-hundred-metre pier built to load marble onto boats, now the promenade and the place to stand at either end of the day.
The Carrara quarries
Half an hour north: marble basins worked since Roman times and still being cut, on a scale that photographs badly.
Pietrasanta
A town of sculptors' studios and bronze foundries twenty minutes inland, where artists still come to work the stone.
The Apuan Alps
Nearly two thousand metres of white rock standing directly behind the beach, and visible from the anchorage all year.
The fleet
Yachts available for Forte dei Marmi
Vessels that operate here, from flagship motor yachts to smaller crewed boats. Every rate is quoted on enquiry.
Good to know
Questions we are asked about Forte dei Marmi
- What is there to do ashore?
- Carrara's marble quarries half an hour north, and Pietrasanta twenty minutes inland — a town of sculptors' studios and bronze foundries where artists still come to work.
- What is the pontile?
- A three-hundred-metre pier built to load marble onto boats. It is now the promenade, and the best place to stand at either end of the day.
- What does a yacht charter at Forte dei Marmi cost?
- It depends on the yacht, the season, the crew and the positioning, so we quote on enquiry rather than publish a figure that would be wrong for most weeks.
Destinations
Nearby destinations
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Enquire about a charter at Forte dei Marmi
Tell us your dates and how many of you there are, and we will come back with the right yacht and a full quotation.