The lantern of the Capannina di Franceschi in Forte dei Marmi (circa 1930)

It was opened in August 1929, when Achille Franceschi, a local hotelier, set up a shed on the beach, until then used by a carpenter as a tool shed, arranging tables, a counter for serving drinks and a crank gramophone.
Franceschi is said to have founded the venue to play cards with friends investing the latest savings after the huge expenses to build a Grand Hotel and a Casino, which failed after only two months. The origin of the name would be due to the phrase "Nice this place, it looks like a shed" said to Franceschi by a friend of his countess.
The club had a great success from the beginning. At the Capannina there were nobles (Della Gherardesca, Rospigliosi, Rucellai, Sforza, the barons Casana or Count Spartaco Manni, frequent visitor), intellectuals (Montale, Ungaretti, Primo Levi and Leonida Repaci were regular guests for the aperitif before sunset ) and leading exponents of the fascist regime, from Ettore Muti to Italo Balbo. The latter in particular loved to glide with his seaplane directly in front of the club and was among the first to sip the famous Negroni cocktail. In short, La Capannina became one of the most prestigious meeting places in summer Italy.
After a big fire, which occurred in 1939, La Capannina was completely rebuilt on a project by Maurizio Tempestini (1906-60).
In the years of the economic boom, the venue hosted performances by the most popular national and international artists (Édith Piaf, Patty Pravo, Ray Charles, Peppino di Capri, Fred Bongusto, Gloria Gaynor) and had as guests the major industrialists of the moment (Agnelli, Barilla, Marzotto, Moratti).
In 1961, Franceschi signed the new orchestra of Maestro Marcello Cortopassi (son of the illustrious Maestro Domenico) to retrace the splendor of his place.
After the heyday in the sixties-seventies, La Capannina was sold by Franceschi to Gherardo and Carla Guidi, who still manage the restaurant in the wake of tradition, without having made significant changes in the structure which is practically still the post-war one.