This seaside resort is internationally famous. Its name comes from the via Regia, the road on which Lucca built a defence fortress. The climate is mild in summer and in winter as well. Tourism began to develop in the middle of the nineteenth century with the first seamen’s hostels and the building of elegant hotels. The modern town is by streets, avenues the old Burlamacca canal, and is laid out between the west and east pinewoods.

The road to Torre del Lago – the romantic Viale dei Tigli – runs through the east pinewood. The long sea front has a beach of soft sand and gardens with palms, oleanders and tamarisks. The place to walk is the sea front avenue, the town’s passeggiata, where there are beach buildings and shops in the art nouveau style. The only historic building is the Torre Matilde on the Burlamacca canal and it was built by the senate of Lucca in 1544.