Viareggio - Encyclopedia

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES

VIAREGGIO, a maritime town and sea-bathing resort of Tuscany, Italy, in the province of Lucca, on the Mediterranean, 13 m. N.W. of Pisa by rail, 7 ft. above sea-level. Pop. (1906) 14,863 (town); 21,557 (commune). Being sheltered by dense pine-woods on the north, and its malaria having been banished by drainage, it is frequented as a winter resort, and in summer by some thousands for its sea-bathing. In 1740 the population was only 300, and in 1841, 6549. The body of Shelley was burned on the shore near Viareggio after his death by drowning in 1822. The town possesses a school of navigation and a technical school, and carries on some shipbuilding.