Nearby Viareggio Principe di Piemonte 4 km · Marina di Vecchiano 7 km · Calambrone 29 km · Fiumaretta 31 km · straight-line distance
When it fills in
No daily thermal cycle to plan around. Libeccio arrives with the weather system, can be in at dawn and can hold through the night. The small afternoon lift visible in reanalysis is not enough to build a session on. Indicative.
The wind
locals call it Libeccio
Direction
Kite sizes
metres · typical quiver highlighted
Character
synoptic
fills in: No daily thermal cycle to plan around. Libeccio arrives with the weather system, can be in at dawn and can hold through the night. The small afternoon lift visible in reanalysis is not enough to build a session on. Indicative.
Typical strength
A Libeccio session runs roughly 15-25 kn and there is little else. Over 2019-2024 a coastal reanalysis point on this shore had only about 3% of hours at or above 12 kn, clustered in October to March and close to zero from June to August; that point sits partly over land and understates wind over the water, so read it as the shape of the year rather than the number. Indicative, no local measurement.
The quiver, in words
For a 75-85 kg rider: 12 m covers an ordinary Libeccio day, 9 m once the front is properly in, 14-15 m only for the tail of a dying breeze. Sessions are rare enough that most locals bring one kite and the forecast. Indicative sizing derived from the wind range, not from local rider reports.
Direction to shore
The Versilia shoreline here runs NNW-SSE and the sea lies off to the WSW. W and WSW are square onshore. Libeccio from the SW comes in cross-onshore from the left, which is the angle the spot is ridden on.The E and NE winds that dominate the daily average blow straight off the land and are no use here. Shore angle derived from the mapped shoreline, not from a local survey.
Forecast
Month by month
- Jan19
- Feb14
- Mar19
- Apr15
- May6
- Jun2
- Jul3
- Aug5
- Sep10
- Oct21
- Nov27
- Dec10
windy days per month (3 h+ at 12 kn+)
- 19%Jan14°
- 14%Feb13°
- 19%Mar14°
- 15%Apr16°
- 6%May20°
- 2%Jun24°
- 3%Jul27°
- 5%Aug28°
- 10%Sep25°
- 21%Oct22°
- 27%Nov18°
- 10%Dec15°
windy days per month (3 h+ at 12 kn+) · water °C below · season highlighted
| Month | Windy days | Force 4+ | 12 kn or more | Knots | From | Peaks at | Air | Water | Readings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 19% | 27% | 26% | 9.2 kt | ESE | 09:00 | 8.9°C | 13.8°C | 62 |
| Feb | 14% | 23% | 21% | 8.1 kt | E | 12:00 | 9.7°C | 12.7°C | 57 |
| Mar | 19% | 29% | 27% | 9.7 kt | W | 14:00 | 11.3°C | 14°C | 62 |
| Apr | 15% | 27% | 18% | 9 kt | W | 15:00 | 13.6°C | 16.4°C | 60 |
| May | 6% | 16% | 13% | 8.7 kt | W | 16:00 | 18.2°C | 19.9°C | 62 |
| Jun | 2% | 15% | 10% | 8.6 kt | WNW | 15:00 | 22.6°C | 23.9°C | 60 |
| Jul | 3% | 13% | 6% | 8.8 kt | WNW | 15:00 | 26°C | 27.2°C | 62 |
| Aug | 5% | 13% | 13% | 9 kt | W | 16:00 | 25.8°C | 28.1°C | 62 |
| Sep | 10% | 22% | 18% | 9.3 kt | WNW | 16:00 | 21.2°C | 24.7°C | 60 |
| Oct | 21% | 31% | 26% | 10.3 kt | E | 13:00 | 18.7°C | 21.7°C | 62 |
| Nov | 27% | 37% | 35% | 11.8 kt | ESE | 12:00 | 13.1°C | 17.9°C | 60 |
| Dec | 10% | 19% | 16% | 8.4 kt | ESE | 09:00 | 9.9°C | 15°C | 62 |
modelled
A weather model's cell over this place, not a station on it. Good for comparing places, weaker for one beach.
Modelled from the operational forecast archive at 1.5–7 km (2023-2024), daylight hours only, not a ground station: it resolves thermal, lake and valley winds far better than coarse reanalysis but still tends to understate a strong local thermal. A windy day has at least three consecutive daylight hours at 12 knots or more. The typical daily max and the direction are columns of the table above, month by month. Highlighted months are the riding season from the spot record.
High-resolution weather model (modelled) · Open-Meteo historical forecast archive — best-match operational model (ICON-D2 / AROME / ICON-EU / GFS by region), not a ground station · 2023-2024
The water
Type
sea
Standing depth
No measured profile has been published for the Darsena free beach. The one depth reference that exists for this coast is regulatory: the safe-water limit for non-swimmers is fixed at 1.60 m, and where a free beach does not mark that line with white floats the Comune must post a multilingual sign saying the 1.60 m limit is unmarked. How far out you can actually stand at Darsena is unrecorded.
Tides
Effectively tideless. Modelled sea level over three months gave a daily range of 0.14-0.38 m, median about 0.25 m, so the tide never sets the session or the launch. Modelled, no local gauge reading.
Temperature
25.8°C summer · 13.1°C winter
Wetsuit
Summer water is warm; winter requires a full wetsuit. Exact local kite wetsuit guidance is unconfirmed.
Your level
The scene
What riders come here for
Launch and rules
three ways on to the water, and what each one asks of you
With a school or a boat
1 school names this spot
On your own
Room to launch: medium
Somewhere else
Viareggio Principe di Piemonte, 4 km
Every spot within 40 km is on the map at the top of this page, with its distance under it.
Rescue
Launch
Launch from the free beach on the south side of Viareggio's Darsena.
Space
medium
Rules & access
Access rules drift faster than anything else we hold — check locally, and propose an edit if this has changed.
Rider tips
- Do not launch while bathers are on the free beach: what you are riding under is a 60 m clearance, not a corridor.
- Read the current Viareggio ordinance before a summer session; use here is tolerated rather than authorized.
- Watch the Libeccio forecast and come expecting beach-break instead of flat water.
- Keep well clear of the harbour mouth when you are drifting downwind.
- Keep well clear of the harbour mouth when you are drifting downwind: bathing and transit are barred within 100 m of the entrance and the port structures.
- Treat anything from the E or NE as offshore and skip it, however good the strength looks.
- Bring 9 and 12 m. Nothing here rewards a big-kite day.
Getting there
Airport
Pisa International Airport (PSA), about 22 km from Viareggio.
Route
The launch is the free beach on the south side of Viareggio's Darsena, about 22 km from Pisa airport.
Staying
Viareggio is a full Versilia resort town with hotels and beach lodging; nothing kite-specific at Darsena.
No-wind days
Viareggio beach, the Darsena and harbour area, and the Versilia towns up the coast.
Photos
FAQ
Is Viareggio Darsena suitable for beginners?
No, it is not an authorized kite spot and no source confirms beginner or teaching conditions there.
What is the wind like?
The spot is used mainly with Libeccio, a south-west wind, producing beach-break surf without a documented typical strength.
Can you kite there in summer?
Summer use is tolerated only for locals when the free beach is not too crowded with bathers, and care is required.
What kind of water does it have?
It is an open sandy beach-break coast with small to medium SW swell rather than flat or lagoon water.
Last updated: August 2026