Town of holiday camps
Cesenatico, Italy
In the early twentieth century, Cesenatico began to take on a new life as a seaside town. From the 1920s onwards in particular, the new promenade Avenue Carducci, saw the construction of a number of prestigious buildings and small villas in Liberty style. A well-known example is the Grand Hotel, designed by Rutilio Ceccolini.
While the beach area saw the development of small villas and hotels, in the more peripheral areas the so-called “colonie” proliferated. These seaside holiday camps were promoted by Benito Mussolini in the 1930s, and stand out as examples of architectural experimentation. On the eve of WWII, Cesenatico boasted 73 holiday camps, including the particularly interesting AGIP holiday camp (1937-38), designed by Giuseppe Vaccaro for the AGIP company.
The new rationalist style is also expressed in some private residences, such as the Villa Capecchi (1934), by Matteo Focaccia and the Villa Placucci (1937) by Saul Bravetti, who also designed the Casa del Fascio (1936-37), today the town library.