A recently completed architectural project for a small Italian township’s (a.k.a. comune) new Seaside Promenade recreates the public space of its residents and tourists, focusing on the town’s social interactions and community well-being, primarily through the elimination of vehicular traffic along the pretty route.

Gabicce Mare, often shortened to just Gabicce, is a township with a year-round population of about 5,000 residents. Gabicce is a popular beach destination during the summer months, offering many hotels and restaurants along the Adriatic Sea, a body of water drawing visitors for fishing, beaches for swimming and boating.

© Aldo Amoretti

Gabicce Mare is located in the Italian region of Marche, within the provinces of Pesaro and Urbino. It is a short distance to the larger Italian towns of Ancona and Pesaro.

The new architectural design of the Seaside Promenade is ideal for residents and visitors. It features new benches, landscaped areas and summer market stalls. It also connects the town’s marina to the main beach and is a vibrant place during hot summer days and balmy evenings.

As architects noted, “The new Seaside Promenade extends for approximately 1,900 feet, with a continually modifying texture of paving in an almost tailor-made manner, including the choice of materials like resin, stone, and wood providing the opportunity for walkers, runners and bikers to experience and interact with a now green pathway adjacent to the beach, composed of hundreds of tall trees and shrubs. This allows visitors to discover the charm of the ever-changing vegetation during the days and seasons throughout the year, through the changing vegetation.”

© Aldo Amoretti

New outdoor furnishings, including many seating and shade structures, were designed expressly for pedestrians, generating spaces of calm and relaxation, as well as places for personal meetings and connecting with passing neighbors, families and newly introduced visitors.

The length of the walk concludes at the point overlooking the canal and harbor, with the entrance framed by iconic natural elements, defined by two specimens of pendula Sophora (Japanese pagoda trees) and a small square. The square features a historic staircase supporting a new elevator shaft connecting the upper town, as well as a convenient beach bar.

Learn more about the promenade project here.