The history of Bagni Fiume

Bagni Fiume is included in the Italian register of historic businesses managed by Uniocamere.

The origins of Bagni Fiume date back to a small structure built by Costante Neri between the late 1800s and early 1900s. It was then his son, Tito Neri, Cavaliere del Lavoro, who around 1918 decided to expand and enhance this bathing establishment. He began building, with his own shipping company, a complex of wooden structures on stilts, as shown in period photographs, to utilize the newly acquired waters for bathing purposes.

Initially, the establishment was structured on a wooden pier, at the end of which was a body of water, surrounded by a sandy shore and just over thirty cabins.

From its inception, Bagni Fiume had a family feel; The owners and a small circle of relatives and friends gathered here to enjoy the benefits of the sea, organizing games, sports activities, and dance parties punctuated by the rhythm of a simple gramophone that accompanied the summer evenings.

The sporting tradition of the baths began around the 1930s when, by fencing off what is now the "gabbione" area with old fishing nets, a tennis and basketball court was created. The Fiumes were frequented by well-known sports figures, both local and Italian, and international, such as racing drivers who competed in the "Coppa Montenero" and the famous Livorno rowers, the "Scarronzoni," who won awards at the 1932 Los Angeles and 1936 Berlin Olympics.

The expansion of Bagni Fiume continued after World War II, when the baths, almost completely destroyed by bombing, were rebuilt in brick and expanded, adding more modern facilities and new facilities.

During these years, under the direction of Piero Neri, son of Cavaliere Tito Neri, the current complex was built, again with the Neri Maritime Company, consisting of imposing natural rock breakwaters designed to create the space necessary for the construction of the current facilities, such as the large promenade, the piers with brick cabins, the restaurant, the beaches, and the two large natural pools, created in the deepest bodies of water inside the breakwaters, with their unmistakable diving boards, which remain the symbol of the beach resort to this day.

Also in the 1950s, to continue the beach resort's sporting tradition, the first "gabbione" (or "gabbione"), as it was known in Livorno's slang, was inaugurated thanks to a structured fencing and roofing project on the area of ​​the square used for both basketball and soccer. In the 1960s, Armando Picchi, nephew of Cavaliere Tito Neri, the esteemed captain of the great Inter Milan team, played here alongside his friends—the famous Burnich, Facchetti, Mazzola, Lessi, and many others—in unforgettable matches.

Thanks to these modernization projects, the beach resort took on a new and welcoming appearance, welcoming all Livorno beachgoers. In recent decades, the establishment has acquired a more modern image, equipping itself with efficient and functional facilities and services in step with modern needs, while maintaining the original bathing structure that has always characterized the bathing establishment: the two pillars marking the entrance and the ancient stone and marble staircase, a perfect blend of history and modernity, also reflected in the continuity of company management by the Neri family since the business was founded over 100 years ago.