Bagno Balena, Historic beach establishment entrance in Viareggio, Italy

Bagno Balena is a beach establishment on Viale Regina Margherita 42 in Viareggio, built in masonry in 1928 to a design by architect Alfredo Belluomini. The two-storey building is arranged in a U plan: a main block facing the street with shops on the ground floor and flats above, and two rear wings toward the sand housing a restaurant. The central monumental entrance arch has a denticulated ring and opens into a barrel-vaulted gallery.

Bagno Balena began at the end of the 19th century as a large all-wood bathing establishment marked by a great arch over its main entrance. In the early 1920s the coastal land passed from the Demanio Marittimo to the Comune, which set up a special commission to reorganise the beach zone, where some wooden buildings had survived the 1917 fire. Under the new rules requiring demolition of unsuitable structures, masonry work on the new entrance began in 1928 to a design by architect Alfredo Belluomini, himself a commission member. In the 1930s the Matteoni family bought the structure, and Tommaso Matteoni made the Bagno Balena name known; the establishment was sold in the mid-1990s while the building remains family property.

The name "Balena" (whale) is tied to the Matteoni family, who bought the structure in the 1930s; Tommaso Matteoni made the name known before the bathing establishment was sold in the mid-1990s, while the building stayed in the family. The painter and decorator Galileo Chini worked with architect Alfredo Belluomini on the monumental mass, and Chini's geometric decorations alternate on the central band of the main facade.

The monumental entrance stands at Viale Regina Margherita 42, in the beach conservation zone of Viareggio. The building is arranged in a U shape: shops occupy the ground floor of the main front, apartments the upper floor, and a restaurant the rear wing toward the sand. Look up at the entrance gallery's barrel vault, whose plaster decorations are in an advanced state of decay.

The building was bought in the 1930s by the Matteoni family, and Tommaso Matteoni made the name "Bagno Balena" well known before the establishment was sold in the mid-1990s; the building itself still belongs to the family. The rear service wings added shortly after 1928 now house a restaurant.