Port Visit: Livorno

The "new" fort at Livorono that is now a park inside

Early in the morning we arrived in Livorno, which is the main port for Tuscany. The town may only have a population of 180,000, but it’s Italy’s third-largest seaport. Livorno developed as a port under the control of the Republics of Pisa and Florence, the Duchies of the Medici and Lorensi, and since 1860 under a united Italy.

The piazza has a fountain with the town crest

In the 16^th and 17^th centuries, the Medici built many buildings, but many of them were destroyed in Allied bombing, and by the Germans who retreated northward in 1944.

We only spent a few hours in Livorno, as there wasn’t much to see – on Sunday practically the entire town seems to shut down. One of our first stops was Fortezza Nuova or “New Fort” to distinguish itself from the older fort near the water.

It isn’t well maintained, but walking around the area we soon realized it has been transformed into a park with grass patches and lots of trees – many people bring their dogs here for exercise, others come here to have chats with friends.

Near the fort by one of the canals, a local stopped us to show us large amounts of fish were swimming in the dirty water by the boats tied up. He made gestures to explain that he would never eat the fish because the water was filled with waste.

The beautiful exterior of the cathedral on Via Grande

On Via Grande we visited a cathedral that was constructed from 1581 until 1606. The ceiling was completely destroyed in the war, but was replaced with a decent copy of the murals on the ceiling. It’s a very beautiful church.

We saw a sign pointing to the Mercato Centrale100 metres away but when we got there it was obvious it was shut down today – it was like a ghost town. However, we noticed an interesting looking building nearby and discovered it was a synagogue.

It turns out at the end of the 15^th century a large Jewish community of traders began living in Livorno. The synagogue is modern looking, a sharp contrast to the church.

Inside the ceiling was rebuilt after World War II

In the Piazza Grande there’s a fountain – many piazzas have fountains – and people use them too. We saw a man take out his plastic bottle and fill it up with water from the fountain.

Unfortunately we missed Terrazza Mascagni, a walkway by the water that features black and white tiles like a chessboard. The area used to be the Fort of Cavalleggeri, but it was dismantled in 1872 and in 1925 made into a public space for strolling and concerts. After World War II it had to be rebuilt.

Also our shuttle bus passed by the Monumento dei Quatro Mori, or the monument of the four Moors. At the top is a statue of Ferdinand I of Tuscany, who built the fortress to protect Livorno from the invasion of pirates, Moors and Saracen.

The modern-looking synagogue

The statue is hardly politically correct these days, because below Ferdinand I’s feet are four Moors who are chained and crouching below him.  

Tuscan Trails: Leaning on Pisa

Despite the leaning, the bell tower is a gorgeous sight

We made a short but fun visit to Pisa and the Leaning Tower is still tilted but looks much cleaner than it used to be. It was such a gleaming shade of white we had to wear shades.

The Baptistry standing under blue skies

The bell tower was built in 1152 and it is believed it was designed by Bonnano Pisano, and the story goes that he realized the first few tiers of the tower were leaning due to the swampy area it was built on so he skipped town out of embarrassment.

However, recent studies suggest Diotisalvi was the original architect as the style looks similar to the bell tower of San Nicola and the Baptistry, both in Pisa; however he usually signed his buildings and there is no signature on the bell tower.

Nevertheless, the tower was built over a period of 199 years and several attempts were made to straighten it out, while at one point a war prevented work on it for almost a century.

The story that Galileo dropped two cannon balls of different masses from the tower to demonstrate speed was independent of mass, but apparently this was not true, as the only source is Galileo's secretary.

Inside the baptistry there are clean, simple lines

In any event, in 1990 efforts were made to stop the tower from tilting further -- but also to retain the tilt for tourism reasons. This was accomplished by removing the soft soil and replacing it with dry soil to mesh with the environment like glue and this was finally completed in 2008.

These days people have to pay 15 euros to climb the tower, and only 25 people can go up at a time in 20-minute intervals.

Given the short time we had here, we just took pictures with the tower -- trying to push it back up -- and marvelled at how clean it was, as it didn't look like that the last time we saw it over 20 years ago.

Before getting to the Leaning Tower though, there are two other magnificent buildings to check out -- the Baptistry and Duomo, or cathedral. There's also the Campo Santo or cemetary, but we visited the first two.

Looking over at the Dumo, or cathedral

The Baptistry was built because in Catholicism, it was believed that if you weren't baptized you were not allowed into the church. And so the baptistry was for people -- mostly babies -- to be baptized and then they could enter the church. Smaller churches would have a tiny corner near the entrance of the church for baptisms.

This particular one in Pisa called Battistero di San Giovanni, or the Baptistry of St John, is very grand. Construction began in 1152 and completed in 1363. The architectural style is a blend of Romanesque and Gothic as well as Byzantine with the black and white marble.

Inside is is relatively simple with the though the decoration is ornate, and visitors can go up to the second floor (walking up 69 1/2 steps) to the upper gallery. It's a magnificent sight looking down. Apparently the accoustics in here are brilliant, but we didn't stay around long enough to hear people singing in this space.

The colourful mosaic of Jesus in the dome

What's interesting about the roof is that half of it is covered in terracotta tile, but then they ran out of money and the other half was covered in slate.

Meanwhile the cathedral is dedicated to Santa Maria Assunta, or St Mary of the Assumption. The gorgeous facade is gray marble and white stone with discs of coloured marble as decoration.

The interior is very ornate complete with detailed ceilings, chandeliers, marble columns and arches, and a massive mosaic of Jesus on the inside of the dome. One of the highlights is the massive pulpit designed by Giovanni Pisano, who spent eight years carving it. Many allegorical scenes are carved around the pulpit, which is supported by several lions.

It's just a pity that there are blue plastic chairs set out to add more seats to the wooden pews -- they threaten to take away from the grandeur of the place. Luckily most people are too busy looking up in awe of the place to notice them...

Giovanni Pisano's ornately carved pulpit