Welcome to Montenero (lit. Black Mount), a village on the hills overlooking Livorno and one of its most fascinating suburbs. Montenero is a well known religious centre because of the Sanctuary of “Santa Maria delle Grazie”, patron Saint of Tuscany. The tiny square has a panoramic terrace with a wonderful view of the town and of the coastline: on a clear day you can see the islands of the Tuscan Archipelago.
From Montenero Basso (Lower Montenero) there is a funicular service reaching the upper village at an elevation of around 280 meters. You can use a car, but for an easy drive you have to take a quite long detour around the hill. So it's probably hard to believe that these roads were part of a racing circuit, the Montenero Circuit, very popular in the 30's. It hosted many international races and the annual “Coppa Ciano”, which the legendary Tazio Nuvolari won five times. In 1937 the Italian Grand Prix itself took place on the circuit and was won by Rudolf Caracciola on a Mercedes-Benz.See also: Sanctuary of Montenero - Villa Azzurra - Funicolare - Sagrato - Famedio - Piazza del Santuario
External links: Sanctuary of Montenero - Montenero Circuit - Coppa Ciano - Tazio Nuvolari - Italian Grand Prix - Rudolf Caracciola (Wikipedia)
10 comments:
C'è poco da fare ormai. Si respira aria di primavera!
Vedo a sinistra l'insegna di un'osteria (che preferisco ai ristoranti). Com'è?
Che bella vista! Mi rocorda le vacanze. Non vedo l'ora...
Buona settimana :)
Sounds like a very nice Sunday trip! The first photo reminds me... not of Tuscany but Granada... ;-)
Inizio a conoscere un'po Livorno. Conosco e riconosco ormai il faro ed il grattacielo! C'è altro? ciao!
No Rob, più alto di 50 metri c'è solo il silos del porto, ma non è molto bello, e la torre del Marzocco che vedremo in seguito.
Per l'osteria non saprei, ci siamo limitati ad un caffè e un gelato...
Goodnight! What an incredible place to live. That's just amazing.
Wow, that is indeed a great view, wonderfull to see.
I thought you might know the perlino since your Italian, but I figure it is not a known brand, you were the only comment.. :)
Excellent photos giving a good overall view of the city. Aren't funiculars great? We lived in Switzerland for 1 1/2 years 20 years ago, and loved going on trains, aerial trams, and funiculars. There was one in Lausanne and one going up Rigi mtn by Luzerne, and one going up Pilatus... I would love to take the one to Montenero (Alto?) someday.
I've enjoyed reading the comments - and trying to figure out the Italian.
I love the first photo of that curve driveway to the back of the building.
The second photo is simply amazing.
I'm trying to imagine having these curved, steep roads in our climate. After an average snowfall, I'd stand ready to catch all the action... ;)
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