Villa Bertelli
The 19th-century Villa Bertelli in Vittoria Apuana is the beating heart of Forte dei Marmi’s cultural life. It hosts the Quarto Platano Museum of Modern Art, as well as music series, talk shows, book presentations, and exhibitions throughout the year.
VILLA BERTELLI IN THE HISTORY OF VITTORIA APUANA
The history of Villa Bertelli is closely tied to the founding of S.I.P.E. (Società Italiana Prodotti Esplodenti), established in Milan in 1891. Owing to the strong demand for explosives from the quarries of the Apuan Alps, the company identified Forte dei Marmi as a strategic location for its operations. Between 1891 and 1896, S.I.P.E. acquired an existing explosives company in Vittoria Apuana, on the site where the Fondazione Villa Bertelli now stands, and established its headquarters there, under the direction of engineer Ferdinando Quartieri.
In front of the building, a straight roadway was laid out to connect directly with the sea, providing access to a wooden pier built for loading explosives destined not only for local use but also for export to Sicily, Corsica, Spain, and Morocco. This pier was dismantled in the early 1930s.
That stretch of road is still recognizable today as Via Crispi, linking Via Mazzini to the seafront, opposite Bagno Bertelli. During the First World War, S.I.P.E. was tasked with producing munitions for the Italian army; demand rose sharply, leading to a significant expansion of production into surrounding areas.
After the war, demand for gunpowder plummeted, forcing the company to sell its properties. In 1926, the former S.I.P.E. headquarters was purchased by Ilio Bertelli, who, at the dawn of Forte dei Marmi’s tourism development, converted it into the “Villa Bertelli” Hotel-Pension. The former wooden loading pier was transformed into a place for water games and a romantic walkway from which to admire sunrise and sunset, an enchantment the coastline still offers today.
The hotel welcomed entire families seeking healthy relaxation and contributed to attracting prominent figures from the artistic and cultural world, inspired by the distinctive landscape of wide beaches and dunes merging into Mediterranean scrub – features that continue to characterize Villa Bertelli Park.
Among the artists associated with this milieu were Carrà, De Grada, Funi, and many others; most notably Arturo Dazzi, who made this area his home on Via Canova, between Via Mazzini and Viale Italico, not far from Via Crispi.
In the mid-1980s, Dazzi’s wife, Gry, donated several of his works to the Municipality of Forte dei Marmi. In 2009, under the current Mayor Bruno Murzi, these works were brought to Villa Bertelli for the exhibition “Dazzi Trova Casa” (“Dazzi Finds a Home”), honoring the artist.
In 1971, the building closed and remained abandoned until 2002, when the Municipal Administration of Forte dei Marmi, led by Mayor Roberto Bertola, acquired the property and began its redevelopment as a cultural center.
Following restoration by architect Tiziano Lera, the building deliberately retained the name “Villa Bertelli”.
Today, the Fondazione Villa Bertelli serves as a vital artistic and cultural hub for all generations. Open daily to the public, it hosts events year-round, indoors and outdoors, serving as a vibrant microcosm of cultural exchange, open to the local community and to the many visitors who pass through its doors. The highlight of the summer season is a program of major concerts by Italian and international artists, staged in the open-air theater set within the villa’s park.
In December 2023, an anchor was installed at the corner of Via Crispi and Viale Italico to commemorate the maritime activities once associated with the old pier facing Villa Bertelli. The anchor was donated to the Municipality of Forte dei Marmi by Tullio and Silvio Tonini.
Text by Elisabetta Mattugini
All images are part of the Photographic Archive of the “Lorenzo Quartieri” Municipal Library of Forte dei Marmi
