Colonia Bertazzoni
A reinforced-concrete colony shaped like a ship, built around 1930 by one industrialist as a children’s seaside colony, today a hospital for sea turtles.
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. Today it keeps an unexpected purpose — a rescue hospital for sea turtles.
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
- Today: home of the Fondazione Cetacea sea-turtle rescue centre (since 2008)
- 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. Since 2008 it has housed the Fondazione Cetacea, a centre that rescues and rehabilitates sea turtles and works to protect the marine environment of the Adriatic.
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.
Where many of the coast’s colonies stand empty, this one is alive. The tanks and pools of the turtle hospital occupy the old dormitory volumes, and the building works again, for a purpose its builders could never have imagined.
Practical information
- The building houses the Fondazione Cetacea turtle hospital; check the foundation’s current 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
- 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 ONLUS — sea-turtle rescue centre at the colony
Find it on the map
See this place and what’s around it →📷 Diventa un fotografo di Cultural Heritage Online
Condividi le tue foto dei luoghi: restano pubblicate con la tua firma come autore. Più vengono viste, più ti fai conoscere — e presto un concorso premierà le foto più apprezzate.
Accedi o registrati gratis per aggiungere una fotoDo you manage this place?
This page is read by travellers and heritage enthusiasts who find it on Google. Keep it accurate — and make it work for you. Free for non-profit heritage institutions.