The Martini Shop is a commercial building located in viale Regina Margherita 27 in Viareggio, next to the Gran Caffè Margherita.
History
The chalet of Samuele Martini, a well-known merchant from Lucca, was designed and built by Modesto Orzali, owner of the construction company of the same name based in Lucca.
Built entirely of wood, it was inaugurated in 1899 as evidenced by the advertising articles in the local newspapers and the photographs of the time, among the many other wooden bathing establishments facing the Promenade.
The shop has undergone some changes over time, such as the closure of the original loggia that surrounded the entrance on the street, to make room for the display windows that overlook Viale Margherita.
In 1920, the building underwent a small expansion in the rear part, to create a warehouse; the new volume is in masonry and rectangular in shape.
Currently the chalet houses the Samuele Martini Clothing chain.
Architecture
The building stands in one of the most interesting areas of the Viareggio Promenade, from a historical, architectural and environmental point of view.
Located on the corner of the block along the Promenade, it is divided frontally into five bays, the largest of which highlights the central entrance window, while four of the original seven bays remain on the sides, infilled in masonry and plastered in the traditional way. Particularly significant are the small wooden pillars that rest on a masonry base covered in marble.
Inside, where the portico used to be (as shown in the various period photographs), there are numerous showcases displaying high-quality clothing, which has always distinguished the style of the Martini store.
In the end part of the chalet there are numerous worked wooden frames, surmounted by a band under the eaves made with a fretwork according to the design. On the main facade, along Viale Margherita, above the central shop window, a tympanum with an articulated and suggestive design frames the sign holder located at the end of the building.
Inside the shop there is some furniture made by the Spicciani firm of Lucca, whose designs are oriented towards the linear stylizations of Art Deco, while the decorations on the wooden ceiling are the work of Tito Chini.
Critical Luck
M. A. Giusti, in one of his articles on Viareggio in the early twentieth century (Viareggio: image between hypothesis and reality, “Parametro”, n.142, 1985) describes it as follows: “The Martini chalet, a wooden building, with a pagoda roof, from the carvings with “silhouette” effects, a cottage “interpreted by local craftsmanship and contextualized in the public sphere between the beach and the promenade, is the only testimony of the first promenade after a fire in 1917 destroyed all the wooden bathing establishments, eliminating an emblematic period in the history of the “new Viareggio”, in which the promenade, marked by bizarre architectures “without architects”, still evokes literary nostalgia and symbolic images”.
