Tuscany · Lucca
Camaiore
The Versilia commune that runs from the mountains to the sea, a Roman Campus Maior on the Via Francigena with a beach at its western end.
- Best time
- May–Sep
- By car
- 44 min from Pisa
- By train
- Station in the comune
- Population
- 31,842
Known for
LIDO DI CAMAIORE
Wide Versilia beach with Bandiera Blu and a row of bagni concessions running back to the early 1900s belle époque.
VIA FRANCIGENA
The pilgrimage route from Canterbury to Rome enters Camaiore at the Badia di San Pietro and leaves it eastbound for Lucca.
BADIA DI SAN PIETRO
Twelfth-century Romanesque church, the surviving piece of a Benedictine monastery first documented in 761 under Lombard rule.
When to visit
Best · May–Sep
- J12°
- F14°
- M15°
- A18°
- M22°
- J27°
- J30°
- A30°
- S26°
- O21°
- N16°
- D13°
- Best
- Hot or crowded
- Quiet
- Mostly closed
Daytime averages, 2020–2024. The sea is warmest in August at 29° and coldest in February at 12°. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com.
The festa: Santissimo Nome di Gesù, 1 June
Why come
Camaiore stretches from the Apuan Alps to the Versilia coastline, the only Versilia commune with substantial territory in both. The town center sits on the alluvial plain, named Campus Maior by the Romans for a military encampment on the road from Lucca to Luni. That name and that road explain the town's shape: a fixed inland center built around the Collegiata and the medieval grid, connected by the Via Francigena to a coast six kilometers away that the Romans never had reason to build toward.
The inland town and the beach at Lido di Camaiore function as two settlements under one name, joined by the road rather than by contiguous streets, with the Apuan Alps visible from the shore as the backdrop to both. A commune this shape, mountain territory, a Roman road town, and a beach at the end of it, holds together not because its parts resemble each other but because each has stayed distinct while remaining reachable from the others.
Read on
Camaiore in our articles
The 6 best towns with a serious restaurant in the province of Lucca6 towns, Camaiore among them.
The best beach towns within 90 minutes of Pisa6 towns, Camaiore among them.
The best coastal towns within 90 minutes of Florence6 towns, Camaiore among them.
The best towns with a serious restaurant that sit on a walking route within 90 minutes of Pisa6 towns, Camaiore among them.
How to get there
From Florence / Pisa (PSA), about 54 minutes by car.
Genoa (GOA) is about 2 hours away.
By car from the centre of Pisa 44 minutes or Florence 1h 29m.
There is a railway station in the comune, so you can arrive without a car.
Coming from Pisa, Florence or Genoa?
Coming by train into Livorno Centrale? Camaiore is about 46 minutes away by road.
What to see
Collegiata di Santa Maria Assunta
Thirteenth-century parish church with a fourteenth-century bell tower, the central religious building of the inland town.
Badia di San Pietro
The church stands alone now, a single Romanesque nave where a monastery once stood, its stone unadorned in the way that marks the Lombard-era Benedictine houses of the region.
Lido di Camaiore
Fine sand six kilometers from the town center, with the Apuan Alps rising directly behind it, mountain and shoreline visible in the same view.
Centro storico
Medieval grid along Via Vittorio Emanuele, walking distance from the original Roman castrum perimeter.
Via Francigena
Stage 26 from Massa enters at the abbey; Stage 27 leaves for Lucca through the eastern olive groves.
Grotta all'Onda
Prehistoric cave on the Casoli hill above the town, with Mesolithic and Neolithic finds in the Pisa archaeological museum.
The slow-trip planner
Building a trip? Find where Camaiore fits in a slow Italy circuit.
Answer five questions. We will shape a geographically coherent slow trip from the 1,000 Italian towns most travelers skip. Yours to save and share.
We’ve tried
What we got up to
Restaurants, walks, swims — the things we actually did in and around Camaiore, each with the piece we wrote about it.
The mountain hamlet that scratched its dead into the walls: Casoli.
The tordello, the meat-stuffed pasta that is Versilia telling you it isn't Lucca.
Erbe, the bitter boiled greens that make a kilo of rare beef sit like a virtue.
We recommend
Where to eat and stay
Not our picks, but places the guides put their name to: a Michelin star, a Gambero Rosso fork, a Slow Food snail, a Michelin Key for the hotels. Worth a table, a counter, or a night when you pass through.
Il MerloRistorante
Il Merlo has two Gambero Rosso forks (82/100) and a spot in the Michelin Guide.
La DoganaRistorante
La Dogana has a Gambero Rosso listing to its name.
NanniTrattoria
Nanni carries one Gambero Rosso prawn.
Quinto QuartoRistorante
A Slow Food snail, at Quinto Quarto.
Locanda al ColleHotel
Locanda al Colle carries one Michelin Key.
Relais Corte RodeschiHotel
Relais Corte Rodeschi carries a place in the Michelin hotel guide.
The Sunday letter
Camaiore got its letter. One town every Sunday, free. The photo, the food, the festa.
Living here
- Population 31,842
- A local hubi
- Pharmacy in town
- High school within a 30-minute drive
- Train station in the comune
- Nearest airport Florence / Pisa, 54 min drive
- Regional capital Firenze, 1 h 29 min drive
Common questions
- What is Camaiore known for?
- Camaiore is the Versilia commune that runs from the mountains to the sea, a Roman Campus Maior on the Via Francigena with a beach at its western end.
- Where is Camaiore?
- Camaiore is a comune in the province of Lucca, in Tuscany, at 34 meters above sea level.
- What is the nearest airport to Camaiore?
- Florence / Pisa (PSA), about 54 minutes by car.
- Can you get to Camaiore without a car?
- Yes. There is a railway station in the comune, so you can arrive by train.
- How long is the drive from Pisa to Camaiore?
- About 44 minutes by car.
- When is the best time to visit Camaiore?
- Best in May–Sep. August is the warmest month, averaging 30 degrees, and December the wettest, with about 17 rain days.
- Is there a sagra or a festival in Camaiore?
- The town keeps its patron saint's day: Santissimo Nome di Gesù, 1 June.
- Which other towns are like Camaiore?
- Viareggio, Torre Annunziata and Piombino.
- How many people live in Camaiore?
- 31,842 at the 2023 count.
Tags & datadesignations · numbers · sources
Recognised as
The numbers
- Elevation: 34 m
- Population: 31,842
- Surface area: 85.43 km²
These figures were compiled from public directories: ISTAT, OpenStreetMap and Wikidata, and from the official listings of the guides named on this page. Town details change; verify with official sources before you travel.
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