Saint Gregory the Illuminator

Saint Gregory the Illuminator (or Saint Gregory the Enlightener) is the national saint and patron of Armenia. The Apostles Thaddeus and Bartholomew introduced Christianity into the country in the early 1st century, but Gregory was the first head of the Church.
In 301 AD, Armenia was the first nation to adopt Christianity as its official religion.The church of “San Gregorio Illuminatore” was built in 1716 for the prosperous Armenian community of Livorno by the architect Giovanni Del Fantasia on a project by Ferdinando de' Medici, the Grand Prince of Tuscany.Damaged but not destroyed during the last war, the main body of church was demolished leaving only a small oratory and a portico in front of the facade.

See also: Half a Church

Versione italiana

Закат на море в Ливорно

“Закат на море в Ливорно” (Sunset on the Sea at Livorno)
1862, oil on paper mounted on canvas by Nikolai Ge
Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, Russia

Nikolai Ge (1831-1894), a Russian realist painter, graduated in 1857 from the Imperial Academy of Arts in Saint Petersburg. With the gold medal, he also received a scholarship to study abroad. In 1860 he settled in Italy for a few years, after visiting Germany, Switzerland and France.A 1981 Soviet Union postage stamp commemorating the 150th anniversary of the birth of the painter with a reproduction of the Livornese sunset.

External links: Nikolai Ge (Wikipedia) - Nikolai Ge (WikiPaintings)

Versione italiana

The Vain Gull

This gull knows a thing or two about backgrounds.He found its catwalk on the parapet of the “Fosso Reale”,turning only to check his followers.

See also: Lost - Seagulls & Co - Of Cats and Gulls - Two Gulls
The Kind Gull - Profiles of Gulls - Fortress Seagulls
Harbour Seagulls - City Seagulls

Versione italiana

Persiane

Our typical window shutters are called “persiane”, which is the plural of “persiana”. The word means “from Persia” and probably comes from the similar French persienne, meaning something of common use in the Orient.Made of wood or aluminium they come in many types, shapes and colors, but the most common is the bottle green one.

See also: Serial Windows - Colorful Shutters - Venetian Windows

Versione italiana

Bad Signs

Traffic signs punished for bad behavior.

Versione italiana

Bistango & Reborn

The 62 meter superyacht “Bistango” is one of the latest creations of Benetti Yachts. The luxury boat offers lavish accommodation for twelve guests. For the interior try her page on Burgess Yachts.After her first charter season, the “Bistango” is undergoing some refurbishing in the “Darsena Nuova” along with the “Reborn”.The 70 meter “Reborn” was built in 1999 as “Boadicea” by Dutch shipyard Amels. The boat features a 14 seat cinema with a stage for live entertainment, piano bar and a gym. The yacht once had a real grass lawn on one of her upper decks to cater for the owners’ dogs. The lawn space has now been removed.

See also: I Dynasty - Superyachts - I Dynasty, in Norway - Giorgio Armani's Yacht - Imagination & Illusion - Prince Abdulaziz - Octopus - Bistango

Versione italiana

Drizzle

The “Fortezza Nuova”, closed to the public for the past two years.A leonine knocker on the main door of our Town Hall.“Piazza del Municipio”, now completed, has some new benches.The Disco Bus shuttle is active on Saturdays from 11 PM to 3 AM.One of the eagles around the plinth of the monument to Cavour.

More Walks

Versione italiana

Cappuccini

A building on the right of the “Chiesa della Santissima Trinità”, the church of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin in Livorno.The Franciscan symbol of the “crossed arms” depicts the bare arm of Jesus and the arm of Saint Francis, sleeved by his habit, crossed over the cross. Capuchins are members of the Franciscan Family. The world famous “cappuccino” takes its name from the Capuchin friars, “Cappuccini” in Italian, referring to the color of their habit.

See also: Santissima Trinità

Versione italiana

Nedo Nadi

Nedo Nadi was born in Livorno on 9 July 1894. He was an Italian fencer who won five gold medals in 1920, at the Olympic Games in Antwerp, Belgium. He is the only fencer to win the gold in each of the three weapons at a single Olympiad. He had already won, aged 18, the foil gold medal at the 1912 Stockholm Olympics.It seems that when King Albert I saw the Italian fencer receiving a prize for the third time, asked him if this was some kind of mistake. Nedo Nadi, undeterred and in fluent French, told His Majesty that there was no mistake and that he had the intention to come back two more times, as he did.Aldo Nadi, Nedo's younger brother, won three gold medals at the same Olympics: team foil, team épée and team sabre. He also won a silver medal in individual sabre, second only to his brother.

See also: Nedo Nadi - Aldo Nadi

Versione italiana

Stencil Graffiti

A couple of stencil graffiti on a wall in “Via Montebello”: this guy is probably trying, without much success, to think outside the box.Not a familiar face, may he be some kind of character from comics or graphic novels?

See also: Graffiti

Versione italiana

Voltone

A view of “Piazza della Repubblica” from the “Scali Bettarini”: in foreground our “sailing gozzo”.The square a century ago, when it was “Piazza Carlo Alberto”.“Il Voltone” (the big vault) was once the popular name of “Piazza della Repubblica”. Beyond the two hundred meter tunnel you can see the “Fortezza Nuova”, on the other side of the square.

See also: Piazza della Repubblica - Fortezza Nuova

Versione italiana

Perspective

A line of street lights and the round window on the eastern side of the Cathedral transept.

See also: Duomo di Livorno - Around the Duomo

Versione italiana

Dodo

“Dodo”, Via Cambini

“The Ancient Egypt of Nefer (Beauty) - The Elegance from Cairo”
Scali delle Cantine

“Strange Concept”, Via Giovannetti

Versione italiana

New English Cemetery

A detail of the closed gate of the New English Cemetery in Livorno. We have already seen the Old English Cemetery, now we will get a glimpse of the relatively newer burial ground, used mostly in the second half of the 19th century.The old cemetery was built just beyond the city walls of the time. The new one was planned just outside the more recent Leopoldine Wall, in “Via Pera”, not far from the San Marco Gate.A picture of the cemetery taken from outside the gate, it is not an easy place to visit.

See also: Old English Cemetery - San Marco - Leopoldine Wall
Burials at the New English Cemetery (Leghorn Merchant Networks)

Versione italiana

I Valentini

I Valentini (The Valentines)

Shop window, via Santa Fortunata

Versione italiana

Rejoicing of the Law

The Feast of the Rejoicing of the Law at the Synagogue in Leghorn (Livorno)
1850, oil on canvas by Solomon Alexander Hart (1806-1881)
The Jewish Museum, New York

Using one of the artist's few observations of a Jewish structure during his Italian tour, the work shows the interior of the magnificent synagogue in Leghorn, originally built in 1591.
This interior is perhaps the foremost example of the lavish redecoration common to Italian synagogues in the eighteenth century. Hart captures a romantic vision of the exotic dress of his Italian coreligionists as they parade the scrolls of the Law on Simhat Torah, the feast of the rejoicing of the Law.
This marks the end of the fall harvest festival, Sukkot, and is the holy day on which the yearly cycle of reading the Pentateuch ends, immediately beginning again with Genesis.

(Masterworks of the Jewish Museum, New York, 2004)

The old synagogue was destroyed in the Second World War, but some of its balusters survive in the tebah of the new one.

See also: Synagogue of Livorno - Inside the Synagogue - Moses Montefiore
External links: The Jewish Museum, New York
Search labels: synagogue

Versione italiana

Welcome Back Pogoria

Once in a while the training ship “Pogoria” comes back to Livorno.The Polish barquentine is based in Genoa and usually sails in the Mediterranean, to take part to some Tall Ship Races in summer.Yesterday afternoon she was berthing at the Capitaneria pier.It is always nice to see her calling back at our port safe and sound after the near disaster of July 2009 in the Baltic sea.

See also: Pogoria - STS Pogoria - Goodbye, Pogoria!
External links: Pogoria (Official website) - Troubled Polish Ship Towed into Hanko Harbour (YLE)

Versione italiana

Civic Center

The new Civic Center in the “Corea” quarter of Livorno opened last year. The roomy and bright building houses several decentralized municipal offices and a media library.A long balcony on the eastern side of the building offers a vantage point over the quickly changing neighborhood.The old council houses of the densely populated neighborhood are being gradually walled up and torn down, to make room for more modern public housings.

Versione italiana

Lantern

Luckily not all of our street lights are rusty or stripped to the bare essentials: here is a simple but quite nice one in “Via Magenta”.

See also: Rust Never Sleep - Temporary Forever - Low-Cost Lamp Post

Versione italiana

Coat of Arms

This is the old version of the city of Livorno coat of arms, hanging just above the main entrance of our town hall. The royal crown has been recently updated to a mural crown.In this 1926 image we can see that during the Fascist period two “fasci” were added to the crest, to be quickly chipped away after the fall of the regime.

See also: Mural Crown - Town Hall - Piazza del Municipio

Versione italiana

Cloudy Day

A bend in the “Fosso Reale” (Royal Canal), opposite where once was the “Bastione San Cosimo”. In fact, the canal was a moat.A garlanded votive image on a facade in “Piazza Grande”.An interesting display in a “Via Maggi” shop window.Paintings at the Sunday market in “Piazza Cavour”.The cheered-up black basket of a grey bicycle.

More Walks

Versione italiana