Located on the Tuscan coast between the sea and the Apuan Alps, Forte Dei Marmi is the place for exclusive and relaxing holidays

The Augustus Hotel & Resort, comprising its numerous private villas, its spacious and tranquil grounds and its reserve and exclusivity, is the embodiment of the Forte Dei Marmi and Versilia ethos.

Since the 1920s, everyone from artists and intellectuals to aristocrats and businessmen have flocked to this little town, attracted by the privacy and comfort offered by its pine woods and sandy beaches, hidden away behind the Apuan mountain range.

In 1926 Edoardo Agnelli, son of Senator Giovanni, founder of FIAT Car Company, and father of Gianni, bought Villa Costanza, a neo-renaissance style villa built by Admiral Costantino Morin in the early 1900s. So the legend of Villa Agnelli was born and the celebrated family from Turin then spent their summers in the Villa for over thirty years.

In the same years, other families began construction of villas in the nearby pinewood, including that of the Pesenti family, which was then transformed into an hotel by its owner, Augusta Pesenti who gave her name to the new and charming hotel (Augustus).

But the driving force behind the Augustus Hotelfrom the start was its first manager, and then owner, Nino Maschietto, who granted the Villa Agnelli a new lease of life when the acquired it in 1969.

Personalities from the world of cinema, art, culture and society have all stayed, some many more than once, in these splendid and secluded villas. Protected from the public eye, stars like Jimi Hendrix, Charlton Heston, Oriana Fallaci, Eugenio Montale, Francesco Messina, Mario Monicelli, Paul Anka and Vittorio Gassmanhave all spent time at the Augustus, as well as many others who still come today and see the villas as an ideal playground for themselves and their families.

The Maschietto family still run the resort today as well as the Hotel Hermitage, situated in its own beautiful grounds just outside the town centre.

From 40’s to today

The Augustus Hotel & Resort was conceived in the 50’s, with the transformation of Villa Pesenti. Howevwer, in line with the Modernist Movement, the Augustus Hotel reflects the preference in style and design of the artistic and literary elite frequenting Forte Dei Marmi in the 1930s.

The original Villa Pesenti, later to become the Augustus Hotel, was designed by the famous architect, Osvaldo Borsani in 1939. With its mixture of rationalist and Mediterranean influences, it became the crown jewel of the new Modernist movement. Augusta Pesenti added an extra floor to the villa in 1953 and turned it into the Augustus Hotel.

It was to remain the only luxury hotel on the Versilia coast for the next 20 years.

The most innovative aspect of the building is the row of wide balconies, designed to be experienced as spacious outside living rooms. Additionally, seven villas, each with different architectural and interior design, were built in the park surrounding the main building by architects and artists, under the patronage of Signora Augusta.

Completing the Augustus Hotel & Resort, a large swimming pool was built in the quietest area of the park, and the modern complex La Nave (the Ship) with its unique long, terraced outside spaces, reminiscent of a cruise ship, was constructed amongst the pine trees.

The acquisition of the late nineteenth century neo-renaissance Villa Agnelli in 1969 gave the complex further stylistic variety and access to the sea and to its the private beach.

The resort has been carefully restored to the highest standards over the years by the Maschietto family. Recently, a salt-water heated swimming pool has been inaugurated on the beach alongside spa treatments, water sports, over 100 beach tents, two restaurants and a meeting room.

The charm of living in Villa

The Agnelli’s long love affair with Forte Dei Marmi, lasting well into the 1960s, attracted many other members of Italy’s high society, and the family’s villa became a successful cornerstone model on which the town would build its template; comfortable and secluded villas set in pine woods, situated just a stone’s throw away from the centre of the town and the seaside alike.

Agnelli’s preferred holidays was spent with a large group of relatives and friends, as well as an equally numerous number of staff. The villa maintains today a superior level of exclusivity and privacy, in part due to the underground passageway that leads directly from the garden of the villa to the sea, avoiding the road and the public. The tunnel is still the only one of its kind along the whole Versilian coast. Once out of the tunnel, the beach resort is reached along a small, hydrangea-lined path.

The Augustus Hotel & Resort in Forte Dei Marmi is the most exclusive of its kind on the Tuscan coast, and situated ideally to enjoy the social, artistic and geographical resources at the area’s disposal, whether it be a cultural encounter in the Villa of the Versiliana park, a visit to the art exhibitions in Pietrasanta, a drink at La Capannina, a trip to the famous boutiques in the town centre or to admire the gigantic yachts built by Perini in their waterfront shipyards in Viareggio or to the marble quarries used by Michelangelo. Not forgetting the sea front with its bars, clubs and restaurants!