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Viareggio is deservely known as the “Pearl of the Tyrrhenian”, thanks to its beaches of fine golden sand, marinas, vast pine woods, and the elegant shops that face onto the long boulevards lined with palm trees and oleander bushes. The city, which spreads out over the magnificent coast of Versilia, is circumscribed to the south by the Burlamacca canal, from which the name of the mask-character representing the Carnival derives, and to the north by the Abate Trench, which separates Viareggio from Lido di Camaiore. Its name derives from the “Castrum de via Regia”, a huge fortress on the seashore that was built in 1172 by the Lucchesi and Genoese, who were allied against Pisa, in order to defend the coast and surrounding territory.
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