Piazza G.Carducci

Piazza Giosuè Carducci forms the centre of Seravezza in Tuscany. The square developed after the course of the Vezza stream was diverted, joining parts of the settlement that had previously been separated by water. A municipal renewal project by architect Enrico Bascherini, designed in 2010–11 and carried out in 2012–13, reorganised the space and its surrounding traffic. Marble aggregate in the paving, new planting, sculpture, lighting and seating connected the redesign with the town’s material and urban character. The resulting public space accommodates civic gatherings, local theatre and other outdoor performances. Marble from the Apuan Alps above Seravezza went to Michelangelo, who came up to the quarries of Monte Altissimo himself to choose it; the Medici built a villa in the town to oversee the trade. The square named after the poet Giosuè Carducci is the centre of a place shaped entirely by stone and water. Versilia's summer festivals reach it with concerts and open-air opera, Verdi's Rigoletto among them.