Nearby Viareggio Darsena 4 km · Marina di Vecchiano 11 km · Fiumaretta 27 km · Calambrone 33 km · straight-line distance
When it fills in
Frontal, not thermal. Libeccio arrives with a weather system and can be up at any hour, build through the day or die inside two, so the session is planned off the forecast and the sea state together. No local onset pattern has been recorded.
The wind
locals call it Libeccio
Direction
Character
synoptic
fills in: Frontal, not thermal. Libeccio arrives with a weather system and can be up at any hour, build through the day or die inside two, so the session is planned off the forecast and the sea state together. No local onset pattern has been recorded.
Typical strength
No wind measurement is published for this launch. What sets the floor is the use case rather than a statistic: riders come here on Libeccio and frontal wind, and specifically when Calambrone is over-powered, so the days that get used here are the strong ones.
Direction to shore
side-onshore to onshore from the right on the Viareggio west-facing beach; exact angle unconfirmed
Forecast
Month by month
- Jan
- Feb
- Mar
- Apr
- May
- Jun
- Jul
- Aug
- Sep
- Oct
- Nov
- Dec
riding season from the spot record · no wind series here is trusted enough to name a season
- Jan, riders' month5
- Feb, riders' month4
- Mar, riders' month8
- Apr, riders' month3
- May, riders' month2
- Jun0
- Jul2
- Aug2
- Sep3
- Oct, riders' month11
- Nov, riders' month13
- Dec, riders' month3
windy days per month (3 h+ at 12 kn+)
Ringed months are the ones riders and schools name: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Oct, Nov, Dec.
The model is wrong here
The model reads 13% of days at its best month, which does not sit with the season this record states. The figures are kept and drawn as hatching so no wind colour can be read off them, and the ringed months are the ones riders name.
| Month | Windy days | Force 4+ | 12 kn or more | Knots | From | Peaks at | Air | Water | Readings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 5% | 10% | 6% | 6.1 kt | ESE | 12:00 | 8.2°C | 13.8°C | 62 |
| Feb | 4% | 9% | 5% | 6.1 kt | W | 15:00 | 9°C | 12.7°C | 57 |
| Mar | 8% | 16% | 13% | 7.9 kt | W | 15:00 | 10.6°C | 14°C | 62 |
| Apr | 3% | 7% | 3% | 7.6 kt | W | 15:00 | 12.9°C | 16.4°C | 60 |
| May | 2% | 3% | 2% | 7.4 kt | W | 15:00 | 17.6°C | 19.9°C | 62 |
| Jun | 0% | 0% | 0% | 7.4 kt | WNW | 16:00 | 21.9°C | 23.9°C | 60 |
| Jul | 2% | 3% | 3% | 7.8 kt | W | 15:00 | 25.4°C | 27.2°C | 62 |
| Aug | 2% | 5% | 3% | 7.8 kt | W | 16:00 | 25.2°C | 28.1°C | 62 |
| Sep | 3% | 3% | 3% | 7.4 kt | WNW | 16:00 | 20.5°C | 24.7°C | 60 |
| Oct | 11% | 15% | 15% | 7.5 kt | ESE | 14:00 | 18.1°C | 21.7°C | 62 |
| Nov | 13% | 20% | 18% | 7.9 kt | ESE | 13:00 | 12.5°C | 17.9°C | 60 |
| Dec | 3% | 6% | 6% | 5.5 kt | ESE | 11:00 | 9.3°C | 15°C | 62 |
riders' months
Riders and schools name these months. The model reads lower here, and both are shown rather than averaged.
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
Open Tyrrhenian sand over sandbars, so depth steps in and out along the bars instead of shelving evenly, and no wading depth has been measured here. On the storm days this launch is actually used for, there is no standing area worth planning around.
Tides
Kite conditions at Viareggio are not tide-dependent; unconfirmed for the Principe di Piemonte launch itself.
Temperature
25.8°C summer · 13°C winter
Wetsuit
Shorty or light neoprene can be enough in high summer, but this specific launch is documented as a winter/off-season spot; a full winter wetsuit is needed for the main kite season.
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
2 schools name this spot
On your own
Room to launch: medium outside bathing season; crowded/occupied by bathing establishments in summer
Somewhere else
Viareggio Darsena, 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 in front of the Hotel/Bagno Principe di Piemonte at the end of the Viareggio promenade toward Lido di Camaiore.
Space
medium outside bathing season; crowded/occupied by bathing establishments in summer
Rules & access
Access rules drift faster than anything else we hold — check locally, and propose an edit if this has changed.
Rider tips
- Read the Libeccio forecast and the sea state together: the hazard climbs with wave size faster than with wind.
- Stay off it during the bathing season unless a local operator confirms a legal launch arrangement.
- When Calambrone is over-powered, drive up here instead.
- Agree your self-rescue plan before a winter session, because no kite rescue service is confirmed.
- The in-season ban runs 08:30 to 19:30 and applies to the water in front of the concessions; the free-beach stretches on this coast are governed instead by the 60 m no-bather rule, so ask before assuming either.
- Nobody is watching the water in winter. Bring a second person and a phone that can reach 1530.
Getting there
Airport
Pisa International Airport (PSA)
Route
Viareggio is reached by road or rail from Pisa; the launch is on the seafront promenade by the Grand Hotel Principe di Piemonte, toward Lido di Camaiore.
Transfer
25 min
Cost level
medium to high in summer; lower outside the main resort season
Staying
Viareggio and Lido di Camaiore have many hotels and seaside accommodation; the launch is directly by the Grand Hotel Principe di Piemonte and nearby beach establishments.
No-wind days
Viareggio promenade and beach · Lucca · Pisa · Apuan Alps · Forte dei Marmi
Photos
FAQ
When is the best time to kite at Viareggio Principe di Piemonte?
The spot is used from October to May and works best with Libeccio (SW) wind; it is closed to kiting during the summer bathing season.
Is Viareggio Principe di Piemonte suitable for beginners?
No. Local guides treat it as an off-season intermediate-to-advanced spot, warning that big-sea days can be very demanding.
What is the wind like at this spot?
Wind is synoptic, driven mainly by the Libeccio (SW) and other perturbation systems, with no reliable summer thermal pattern.
Are there rules or restrictions?
The 2026 Viareggio bathing-safety ordinance reserves the nearshore zone for bathers in summer, and local guides state kitesurfing is not possible here during that season.
What hazards should riders know about?
Rough-sea days bring demanding chop and waves over sandbars, and no kite-specific rescue service was confirmed for the off-season launch.
Last updated: August 2026