The charm of the Riviera Romagnola The toyland that never slept

To speak of the Riviera Romagnola is to evoke an aesthetic imagination that has its roots in 1959 when Italy was riding the wave of the economic boom. The grand stage of dreamy resorts owes much to the fishermen of Cesenatico and a dolphin that got caught in nets: it was rescued and brought to the Vena Mazzarini canal, becoming a children's attraction. The story of Lalla - this is the name of the dolphin - reached as far as the United States, opening the door to the golden age of mass tourism on the Riviera.

The first to initiate the transformation was Gianni Fabbri's Paradiso club, Mecca, and Altro mondo, which were soon followed by the Embassy and Lady Godiva. The other sector of the recreation industry that underwent profound transformations in the 1980s and 1990s was that of theme parks: in 1987 Acquafan was opened in Riccione (which later became Oltremare), in 1992 Mirabilandia in Ravenna, and finally in 1997 Le Navi in Cattolica. Pier Paolo Tondelli spoke of a «boiling swamp of souls who go on vacation only to crash», trying to outline the rhythms of a place where no one ever seemed to go to sleep. In the 1990s, indeed, the Riviera resembled a kind of 24-hour Toyland. However, after a brief phase of initial dismay, the Riviera ended up reconfirming itself as a place of experimentation with new forms of entertainment, related to fitness, the enhancement of the hinterland, and the rediscovery of gastronomic traditions, which still exerts a strong attraction on Italians and non-Italians alike.