art

Villa Argentina

 Palace of Tourism and Culture - Liberty of Viareggio  

The building is set in 1868 in a large garden located in via A. Fratti, corner of Via A. Vespucci, in the residential area called "four winds" of Viareggio. The architect Alfredo Belluomini, in 1926 undertakes the project of expansion and restructuring, while the painter Galileo Chini intervenes with many decorations from both external and internal, that characterize the facades along the first floor, and are perhaps the most extensive and representative of His work, with panels with geometric motifs that alternate with decorations with figures of cherubs and swags of flowers and birds in a succession very interesting from the point of view of composition. These decorations are very similar to those made by Chini for the spa "Berzieri" of Salsomaggiore.Successivamente, the villa was transformed into a hotel and therefore undergoes an expansion on the back north, up to appear with the prospectus on via A. Fratti, in adherence to the one already esistente.Le architectural forms assumed by enlargement reproduce the characters and the type of the existing building, but no pottery or decorations on the facade, while the turret with a view to the sea is the most significant element of the new edilizio.Anche body inside the villa, Galileo Chini has certainly worked, especially in the main hall of the ground floor, where rich stucco decorations are the silver supplied to the large wall painting of G. Biasi, built in the twenties and entitled "Departure for the tiger hunt. "