A neo-Renaissance residence overlooking the long Versilia beach and protected by the Apuan Alps: at the end of the 19th century, the Grand Hotel Royal was already a symbol of understated, elegant hospitality, where the sea, nature, art and social life intertwined in perfect harmony.
It became a hotel under the name Palagio Hotel and was then renamed Grand Hotel Royal in the 1920s. It was enlarged and transformed thanks to the intervention of renowned architect Alfredo Belluomini in 1925, who added three floors and gave it its majestic shape with two turrets (now the Ondina and Burlamacco suites). The façade was then embellished with Art Nouveau decorations by the Florentine ceramist Galileo Chini.
The interior, spacious and bright, as befitted the Grand Hotels of the time, consisted of a spacious entrance hall, a ballroom where guests entertained themselves on summer evenings, and rooms for reading, a bar and a smoking room, while the outdoor garden, planted with trees and enriched with statues and ponds, was the setting for pleasant conversations in the cool air.
In those years, Viareggio, which had become the Pearl of the Tyrrhenian Sea thanks to its mild climate, its healthy baths and its sparkling social life, was a favourite destination for Italian and European high society, and the Royal was home to illustrious figures such as the princes of Savoy and the Belgian royal family, as well as intellectuals who loved Versilia, such as Luigi Pirandello, Gabriele D'Annunzio, and later Giuseppe Ungaretti, Eugenio Montale, and Pablo Neruda.
Since the 1950s, the hotel has undergone several conservative renovations aimed at preserving some of its original architectural features and ensuring maximum comfort for guests.
Today, the Grand Hotel Royal looks to modernity with an international outlook, renewing the charm of its history and the unique flavour of a holiday in Versilia.
