Forte Dei Marmi - Tourism

Tourism

Tourism in Forte dei Marmi started at the end of the 18th century when the rich families of the inland went to the coast to breath healthy air and to sandbath. At the beginning of the 19th century many wealthy families from Tuscany and the north of Italy started to choose this town for their summer holidays. Later on, also European families started to do so. Many important and famous people started to arrive in the area and the first villas were built in the pinewood near the sea. The first ones were Agnelli, Siemens, Giovanni Gentile, Thomas Mann, Renato Fucini, Italo Balbo, Curzio Malaparte, Enrico Pea, Aldous Huxley, Guglielmo Marconi, the writer Riccardo Bacchelli, the sculptor Henry Moore, Luchino Visconti and many Italian noble families. Artists meeting every day talking about arts and culture created a group called Quarto Platano. The Grand Hotel in Forte became an important place for the European high society and the hotel was chosen also from the Belgian royal family. Tourism increased after the Second World War, especially in the Sixties when more and more families love spending their summer and this lovely paradise. Many houses and hotels were built near the sea. In 1991 hotels were 101, most of them open only during the summer and some of them family-run businesses. Today the area is still a popular destination for businessmen, managers, politicians, show-men, movie and sport stars. Forte dei Marmi continue to offer to its guests the same peace and tranquility. It is still a town immersed in the pinewood with a beautiful sand beach. It is not very crowded and it is ideal for biking and shopping. The number of hotels decreased from 101 in 1991 to 58 hotels today. However, the number of people that have bought vacation houses here has increased. The hotels are from 1 to 5 stars, the majority are 3 and 4 stars. Only 7 of them are one and two stars – in 1991 there were 45. Many of them have been renovated and are now apartments, private villas or three and four star hotels. Today, the 58 hotels have a total of 1.965 rooms. In 2010 in Forte dei Marmi 109.379 tourists spend an average of 3.9 nights for a total of 428.352 visits. The total visits were 423.250 in 2009 and 450.800 in 2008. In 2010, 49% were foreign tourists, in 2009 45% and in 2008 46%. The majority of Italian tourists come from Tuscany, then Lombardia, Piemonte, Emilia Romagna e the fifth region is Lazio. The foreign tourists came from Germany, Russia, Great Britain, Holland, France, Switzerland and the USA (ISTAT data).