Alpemare, Forte dei Marmi

For three consecutive years it has deserved the title of best beach club in Italy. Alpemare confirms the highest score in our guide after a season characterized by the entry of the Cova pastry shop brand into its beach, which has brought not only the sweets of the Milanese maison from via Montenapoleone (including deseasonalized panettone) inside the Alpemare and Marecalmo restaurants, but also a delightful (in every sense) ice cream cart, almost as a reminder that an Italian specialty recognized as excellence in the world must be offered at the highest aesthetic and qualitative levels even facing the sea. After all, what does the world expect from us Italians? Probably something similar to what Alpemare offers on the beach of Forte dei Marmi, with the Apuan Alps as a backdrop and with artistic installations distributed throughout the structure. The tents, each with its respective cabin equipped with a safe, USB ports and courtesy kit, welcome important guests, managed with attention and grace, efficiency and respect for privacy. The temptation, for those who experience Alpemare, is to enjoy the tent, lunch included – which here is also served at the stations –, to move only when it’s time to dive into the waters of Versilia. It could make sense, but why deprive yourself of everything else, from lunch enjoyed inside one of the restaurants, to beach view beauty treatments, to sunset cocktails, to dinners under the stars? In the kitchen, chef Mirko Caldino is a consolidated and appreciated presence even in the winter season, when Alpemare is open every Sunday with the plus of snow-capped peaks behind and an almost always gentle climate. The team, under the direction of manager Fabio Giannotti, is professional and capable of managing every possible situation. What have we forgotten to tell? Perhaps the grace that distinguishes its sea-colored cabins. Certainly the fact, now known internationally, that the ownership of Alpemare belongs to the Bocelli family, but this is no longer, or perhaps never has been, the main element of attraction. Because here nothing is shouted and nothing is flaunted. Elegance in simplicity is, and remains, the correct definition to frame Alpemare. A place, as many of its guests have told us, from which you would never want to leave.