Cover image source: twigafortedeimarmi.com
There are objects that, for better or worse, become symbols of a place or an era. For
more than 20 years, a pair of papier-mâché giraffes, positioned incongruously on the
Versilia beach, on the border between Marina di Pietrasanta and Forte dei Marmi, have
embodied a certain way of experiencing summer, the beach and the night.
More than four metres tall, the giraffes of Twiga, the bathing establishment-
restaurant-disco inaugurated in the summer of 2000, have now left their post,
“victims” of a change of ownership that has seen Leonardo Del Vecchio’s Lmdv
Hospitality group take over from Flavio Briatore and associates
The change of ownership took place in the middle of winter and the new and final look
of Twiga will not be ready until 2026. But Del Vecchio’s team wasted no time. Away,
now, the giraffes, then. And away with those afro-style tents or huts, with straw and
bamboo. Beautiful, spacious and comfortable, no doubt, but hardly in keeping with the
atmosphere of the place.
The “genius loci” of this part of the Tuscan coast is very definite and deeply tied to a
few iconic objects: the cabins with the pointed roof and the small veranda, the more
traditional beach umbrella, the wooden skate.
Many years have passed since these icons became established in the first half of the
20th century, and much has changed. Tents share space with parasols, wooden skates
have become rare and many cabins have been replaced by concrete or even fine
marble structures. However, the evolution has always maintained a continuity of style
with the past.
In this evolution, some proposals have appeared excessive or out of context to many,
and it is difficult to imagine anyone regretting them.
In the meantime, all we can do is wait to discover, in a year’s time, what the future
look of Twiga will be. The Lmdv Hospitality group has announced that it has entrusted
the restyling of the venue, from the disco area to the sandy shore, to the well-
established Milanese studio Fanti Bozzetti Menegon. The Vesta Mare restaurant,
inaugurated by the same group last summer in Marina di Pietrasanta, has already
found a new home in the Twiga spaces. In place of Vesta is the new bathing
establishment Casa Fiori Chiari, named after one of the restaurants that the Lmdv
group controls in the centre of Milan.
The intention of Leonardo Del Vecchio and partners, as far as Versilia is concerned,
does not seem to be limited to transforming a club or a couple of bathing
establishments. Behind the acquisitions, settlements, and moves to define spaces and
locations, a broader design can be glimpsed.
‘Soon Versilia will experience an epochal transformation,’ said Marco Talarico, sole
director of Lmdv Hospitality, «and the new openings will strengthen our presence on a
global scale. We are building something unique: an Italian group that is not limiting
itself to growth, but aims to be a reference point in the international hospitality
panorama».
A role in which the tradition of Versilia cannot but play a leading role.
