Kicking back beachside, under the Tuscan sun

Hanging on to the bobbing buoy, I look down at least a dozen feet of emerald water at the sun-streaked, rippled sand bottom. In front of me are miles of beach, the thick line of pines beyond unbroken by high-rises, and the Alpi Apuane ringing it. This little-explored part of Italy's mountainous backbone looks just as imposing and craggy as the real Alps, but the spots of blazing white near their crests are marble quarries, not glaciers.

Hidden around them are easy day trips: Carrara, where Michelangelo went to get his marble; Pietrasanta, with its sculpting studios; Lucca, with its medieval walls and towers; the Garfagnana with trails that smell of forest coolness; and even Florence are all within an hour or less from Forte.

After heading there at night for their rustic restaurants, which are genuine and cheap, it's back to Forte for a post-midnight tradition I've been doing since I sneaked my way into La Capannina at age 15 under the glare of Otello, the bouncer.

Since its heyday in the 1960s, this restaurant-disco-piano bar on the beach has managed to be the spot where everybody -- from teenagers to 60-somethings -- hangs out, despite recurrent rumors of its demise and a stringent dress code that bars sneakers and, God forbid, flip-flops.

Aug. 28, the feast of Forte's patron saint, Sant'Ermete, is the one night when the beach is open so the bathing establishments can hold viewing parties for the fireworks off the pontile, a long wharf from where fishermen cast round nets.

On all other nights, bagnini (lifeguards, but really caretakers) will look askance at you if you're still there after sunset. After folding the umbrellas and gathering the soberly colored, matching towels that covered the deck chairs and cots, they have to groom the sand with a giant comb so that your private corner of bliss will be untrodden tomorrow.

Which is why I feel guilty when I wake up on that last evening, the tang of sea salt on my lips -- for I must have been dozing off with my mouth open. The sunset on my back, I try to scamper without making too many steps on the just-groomed sand, only to leave golden footprints on the wooden walkway the lifeguard just rinsed.

I shake off the sand, put on shoes and get into a car, aghast at the long, hard work year that began that very moment.

Perhaps I'll travel across continents before returning, and perhaps there'll come a time when I'll be uncomfortably perched on some hot corner of seaside paradise and a friend will ask me with a triumphant smile, "Isn't this better than Forte?"

I'll politely acknowledge the gorgeous water and the exotic fish.

But deep down, my answer will be a resounding "no." Nothing beats the moment of abandon when, in my cocoon-like chair, a blissful smile spreads across my face that proclaims, "Sorry, world, but I'm off."

If you go:

• Tuscany: http://www.turismo.toscana.it/new/index.html
• Getting there: Forte dei Marmi is about 200 miles from airports in Milan and Rome and less than 80 miles from popular destinations like Florence and the Cinque Terre. Railways and freeways connect all points.
• Where to stay: The best accommodation at Forte is renting a villa; numerous real estate agents have summer listings: http://www.versilia.toscana.it/forte/agenzie/. For shorter stays, two hotels, Hotel Augustus & Lido (http://versilia.toscana.it/augustus) and Villa Roma Imperiale (http://www.villaromaimperiale.com) offer suites in villas, starting at about $630 a day in summer.
• Beach access: You need to rent at least an ombrellone at one of about 100 beach establishments, for at least $50 day. Some of the best ones are Bagno Rosina (Via Arenile 1); Bagno America (viale della Repubblica 4); and Bagno Piero (http://www.bagnopiero.com).
• Summer events: Lectures and performances at La Versiliana Festival (http://www.laversilianafestival.it); Puccini operas at the open-air theater in nearby Torre del Lago, where he composed many of them (http://www.puccinifestival.it). In September, La Capannina hosts Premio Internazionale Satira Politica (http://www.museosatira.it), with awards for international political cartoons. Fireworks accompany the feast of Forte's patron saint, Sant'Ermete, on Aug. 28.

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