A reinforced-concrete colony built around 1930 by one industrialist as a children’s seaside colony, home to a sea-turtle hospital for twelve years, and sold to a private buyer in 2026.
At a glance
In the Fontanelle district of Riccione, set back from the sea, the Colonia Bertazzoni carries the same naval dream as its neighbours along the coast. It was built around 1930 by the industrialist Francesco Suzzara Bertazzoni as a children’s seaside colony, in the Rationalist manner of the decade: a long reinforced-concrete block, three floors and more than 5,000 square metres, pierced with the round “porthole” windows that the architecture of the 1930s borrowed from ships. For twelve years it kept an unexpected purpose — a rescue hospital for sea turtles — but the building was declared unfit for use in the early 2020s, the turtle centre moved to a smaller building in the same grounds, and in 2026 the Comune di Riccione sold the colony to a private buyer.
Key facts
- Built: around 1930
- Commissioned by: Francesco Suzzara Bertazzoni, industrialist
- Style: Rationalist, ship-inspired; circular “porthole” windows
- Structure: reinforced concrete and masonry, three floors; site of about 5,223 m² (1,721 m² built)
- Later: donated to the Comune di Riccione, which kept the Bertazzoni name
- 2008–early 2020s: home of the Fondazione Cetacea sea-turtle rescue centre, until the building was declared unfit for use
- Today: empty and privately owned — sold by the Comune di Riccione to New Eden Srl in 2026 for €3.15 million, with a further €1 million deferred and a safeguard clause for Fondazione Cetacea, which now occupies a separate building inside the same grounds
- Coordinates: 43.994554, 12.674007 — Google Maps
History
Most colonies on this coast were built by provinces, party federations or charities. The Bertazzoni was different: a private gift. The industrialist Francesco Suzzara Bertazzoni paid for it around 1930 as a seaside colony for children, and his name went on the building — a condition that survived when the colony later passed to the town of Riccione.
Its language is the Rationalism of the 1930s, the same machine-age vocabulary that produced the ship-shaped Novarese a few kilometres north. The round porthole windows, the long horizontal mass and the bare concrete all belong to a decade that wanted its buildings to look like the liners and seaplanes of the age.
After its years as a children’s colony the building found a second life in conservation. From 2008 it housed the Fondazione Cetacea, a centre that rescues and rehabilitates sea turtles and works to protect the marine environment of the Adriatic.
That chapter closed in the early 2020s, when the previous town administration declared the colony unfit for use. The foundation stayed on the site but moved into a smaller building within the colony grounds — by its own account the colony’s old quarantine block — and the empty colony was entered among the assets the Comune di Riccione could sell. Several auctions went unanswered. In 2026 the town agreed the sale to New Eden Srl for €3.15 million, with a further €1 million deferred against future planning decisions and a clause safeguarding the turtle centre; on 29 July 2026 the regional administrative court rejected a rival bidder’s challenge and the transfer went ahead.
What you see
The Bertazzoni is a long, plain concrete block, its scale closer to a small institution than a villa. The detail to look for is the porthole: the circular windows set into the service walls, a small but deliberate nod to the ship imagery that ran through colony architecture of the period.
The colony itself now stands empty, like most of its neighbours along this coast. The turtle hospital that gave it a second life is still on the site, in a separate building nearby, and its tanks are no longer inside the old dormitory volumes.
Practical information
- The colony is closed and in private hands: there is no access, and its future depends on planning decisions still to come.
- The Fondazione Cetacea turtle rescue centre is still on the site, in its own building at via Torino 7/a; check the foundation’s visiting arrangements before going.
- The exterior, with its porthole windows, is visible from the street in the Fontanelle district.
- Combine with the other Rationalist colonie of Riccione for a themed walk.
Getting there
Riccione is on the Bologna–Ancona railway, minutes south of Rimini. The colony stands in the Fontanelle district at the southern end of town, a short bus ride or walk from Riccione station towards the sea.
Nearby
- Romagna Colonie Marine Coast Route — the curated driving itinerary with map and GPX
- Colonie Marine, 1912–1939: Nine Seaside Colonies of the Romagna Coast — by Stefano Vigolo
- Ex Colonia Reggiana and Colonia Dalmine — the other Rationalist colonie of Riccione
- Villa Mussolini and Villa Antolini — the Liberty villas of Viale Milano
- Colonia Novarese, Miramare — the great ship-shaped colony up the coast
Sources
- Comune di Rimini — le colonie marine come motore di sviluppo urbano e turistico
- Comune di Riccione — ownership and the Bertazzoni name
- Fondazione Cetacea ETS — sea-turtle rescue centre on the colony site; the foundation’s director confirmed the move and the closure to us in August 2026
- Comune di Riccione — “Ex colonia Bertazzoni, dal TAR respinta la sospensiva”, 29 July 2026: sale to New Eden Srl, price and safeguard clause
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