In the heart of Forte dei Marmi, on Tuscany’s Versilia coast, a little-known museum offers a rewarding visit. Housed in historic Villa Bertelli, just steps from the sea and the beaches that have made the town one of the world’s most exclusive seaside destinations, the Museo Quarto Platano offers a glimpse into a chapter of Italian cultural history. Set in a garden shaded by holm oaks, it adds a cultural dimension to the town’s appeal, bringing art and nature together.

Opened in June 2024, the museum houses more than 70 works by major artists who found refuge and inspiration in Forte dei Marmi beginning in the 1920s. They include Arturo Dazzi, Carlo Carrà, Giorgio de Chirico and Renato Guttuso, as well as Ardengo Soffici, Felice Carena, Massimo Campigli, Ugo Guidi, Achille Funi, Marino Marini, Ernesto Treccani, Bruno Cassinari, Giuseppe Migneco and Raffaele de Grada.

Much of the town’s appeal lies in its extraordinary setting. In the 15th century, a harbor was built here to ship blocks of marble quarried in the nearby Apuan Alps. In 1518, Michelangelo Buonarroti himself designed a road linking the quarries to the Versilia coast. By 1618, the harbor had become a village of fishermen and seafarers, and Cosimo I de’ Medici ordered the construction of a marble warehouse. In 1788, Grand Duke Peter Leopold I of Lorraine had the building converted into a defensive fort. That fort would eventually give Forte dei Marmi its name — literally, the “Fort of the Marbles.”

Nestled between the sea and the mountains, Forte dei Marmi emerged in the 20th century as a summer retreat, attracting not only wealthy industrial families — from the Agnellis and the Siemens to the Morattis and Giorgio Armani — but also leading figures in Italian art and culture.

For many of them, the town’s central Piazza Garibaldi became a regular meeting place. The relaxed atmosphere of summer afternoons, beneath the fort and the plane trees, encouraged lively debate, the exchange of ideas and creative collaboration. Alongside the artists whose works are now on display at the museum, poets, writers and intellectuals gathered beneath the fourth plane tree, the largest of them all. They included Enrico Pea, Giuseppe Ungaretti, Eugenio Montale, Alberto Moravia and Giuseppe Prezzolini. International figures from the worlds of art and literature also gravitated to the town, among them Thomas Mann, Aldous Huxley, Henry Moore and Andy Warhol.

In 1926, three years before winning the Nobel Prize in Literature, Mann moved to Forte dei Marmi with his family and set his autobiographical story Mario and the Magician there. Thirty years later, his daughter Elisabeth built a striking villa in the town. Working with architect Leonardo Ricci, she helped shape a design that resembled “an ocean liner ready to set sail for the mountains.” The villa became an architectural icon of style and modernity.

The works at the Museo Quarto Platano testify to the affection that many of the great 20th century artists felt for this corner of Tuscany. During his extended stays in Forte dei Marmi, Carrà captured numerous local scenes and landscapes on canvas. Montale, who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1975, also enjoyed painting during his holidays in Versilia. With characteristic irony, he described himself as a “Sunday painter and incompetent critic.”

Bringing together paintings, sculptures, collections and stories, the Museo Quarto Platano serves as a bridge between past and present. Its permanent collection is complemented throughout the year by themed exhibitions, concerts, music events, talks and book presentations.

A visit offers an intimate encounter with the arts — and a chance to discover a lesser-known side of Forte dei Marmi.