The elementary school Micheli, in piazza XI Maggio, is named after the military engineer Giuseppe Micheli. The original building was inaugurated in the summer of 1889, just in time for the first day of class.
The original building was a two-story structure, which quite soon proved to be inadequate to the growing school population of the times.
In the early 1920s the problem was solved adding another story to the building.
The Lion of Saint Mark on “San Marco” Gate, in Livorno. We are in Venice, the real one, for a few days.
A fallen angel on a battered warning sign, an almost lost work of Clet Abraham.
Our friend Matteo should be quite worried looking at this map: the Old English Cemetery has become a “Cimitero Valdese” (Waldensian Cemetery). The former Anglican church of Saint George is here a Waldensian church (it is Catholic), while the actual Waldensian temple is marked simply as a church.
It gets even better in “Via della Madonna” where they got all the churches wrong. From left to right we should have the former Armenian church of “San Gregorio Illuminatore” and the Madonna church. The recently restored church of the “Santissima Annunziata” is in the right position, but with a wrong name.
Watching the sea from the “Rotonda”: on the left the cargo ship “Sakala”, on the right the island of Gorgona, 37 km (23 miles) off the coast, but still part of Livorno.
We usually see ships in port, but this time I am showing you a couple of them on the roadstead, in the waters in front of Antignano. The 159-meter “Anne-Sofie” is classifieed as a heavy lift ship. She was built in 2008 and sails under the flag of Antigua.
The 137-meter “Sakala” is a heavy load carrier. She was built in 1995 and sails under the British flag.
Last Sunday at noon the thermometer was reading 90°C (203°F) in “Piazza Cavour”...
Most of us can't remember these statues in place, on the facade of the “Chiesa della Santissima Annunziata” (Church of the Most Holy Annunciation) in “Via della Madonna”. The church was almost destroyed by the by the Alled bombings of the Second World War and the damaged statues were stored elsewhere for safekeeping.
Last week, after a long and thorough cleaning of the facade which took a few months, copies of the original statues have been placed where they once stood. The allegorical sculptures represent Innocence and Mansuetude, but don't ask me which one is what...
The actual flag of Mexico took its distinctive, if slightly different, form as the flag of the First Mexican Empire and was designed in 1821 by the future emperor himself: Agustín de Iturbide.
Spain continued to pressure the Grand Duchy of Tuscany to expel Iturbide, who finally moved to Great Britain, where he was able to publish his memories.
In Montenero he is rememberend by a plaque in Spanish and Italian placed on the wall of the Sanctuary, where he used to pray.
A flock of bicycles on a rack in “Piazza XX Settembre”.
Laundry hanging from a clothesline out of a window in “Via San Luigi” (Saint Louis Street).
The 93-meter “Mayan Queen IV” superyacht was built in 2008 by Blohm + Voss GmbH in Hamburg, Germany.
This is the same shipyard that built the “Eclipse”, the world's largest private yacht, and the “Dubai”, close second at 0.5 meters.
The yacht was designed by Tim Heywood, with interiors by Terence Disdale, for the Mexican billionaire Alberto Baillères.
A blue whale on the “Scali delle Ancore”, painted on the wall of the Fish Market. Its style reminds me of the Trojan Seahorse.
Almost everybody now accepts that Livorno and Pisa will be a single province, but there is no agreement on the provincial capital. Pisans say that their city has more history and is well known in the world. The law clearly says that in this case the most populated center, Livorno, will be the capital.
During the First French Empire, when Tuscany was annexed by France, Livorno and Pisa were part of the same province, the Département de la Méditerranée, whose capital was obviously Livorno.DÉPARTEMENT DE LA MÉDITERRANÉE. Ce département est l'un des trois que forme le grand Duché de Toscane. Il est borné au N. par la principauté de Lucques, à l'Orient par les départemens de l'Arno et de l'Ombrone, au S. par la principauté de Piombino, et à l'Occident par la mer Méditerranée. Sa superficie est de 491,000 hectares; sa population est de 318,725 individus; il est divisé en trois arrondissemens communaux. Ce département, qui fait partie de la quatrième série, et a trois députés à élire au Corps législatif, est compris dans la vingt-neuvième division militaire, la seizième cohorte de la légion-l'honneur, la vingt - neuvième conservation des forêts, les diocèses de Pise, de Livourne, Pescia, San Miniato, Volterra et Colle; la sénatorerie de ........... et ressortit à la Cour d'appel de Florence. PRÉFECTURE. Arrondissement de Livourne. M. Capelle, Préfet à Livourne. M. Tonduti-Lescarene, Secrétaire général. Conseil de Préfecture composé de quatre Membres : Messieurs, Mugnai, Palloni, Faleni, ......... . Chefs-lieux des Justices de paix, Castel-Fiorentino, Fauglia, Lari, Livourne (trois Justices de paix), Miniato (Saint), Palaja, Peccioli:, Pontedera, Rosignano. M. ..... , Maire, à Livourne. SOUS-PRÉFECTURES. Arrondissement de Pise. M. De Nobili, Sous-Préfet à Pise. Chefs-lieux des Justices de paix. Bains Saint Julien, Barga, Bientina, Borgo-Buggiano, Cascina, Castel Franco di Sotto, Furcecchio, Montecarlo, Montecatini, Pescia, Pietra (Sainte), Pise (deux Justices de paix), Seravezza, Vicopisano. Arrondissement de Volterra. M. Guidi, Sous-Préfet à Volterra. Chefs-lieux des Justices de paix. Campiglia, Colle, Gemignano (Saint), Montajone, Pomarance, Volterra. |
| (L'almanach impérial pour l'année 1810, Chapitre X: Organisation administrative) |
Giampaolo Cardosi was born on 7 September 1943, the eve of the Armistice between Italy and the Allied forces, but, as he often said, he never knew a moment of peace.
“Cercasi ragazza per il fine settimana” would be “Looking for a girl for the weekend”. It may seem a strange sign, but this is a shop and they are clearly looking for a sales girl, a “commessa” in Italian.
The ferry “Corsica Marina Seconda” inside the floating dry dock for maintenance. (March 30th)
The same ferry on regular service to Corsica. (August 4th)
A detail of the Mexican flag with the Coat of arms of Mexico. (Picture taken during the Foreign Navies ceremony on April 27th)
The ramp of the new parking built where once was the “Cinema Odeon”.
The trees in background are those of the Old English Cemetery.
A 1910 postcard celebrating the launch of the Greek cruiser “Georgios Averof” at the Orlando Shipyards. There was a time when in Livorno we built a class of battleships called “Pisa”, fitted with an extraordinary combination of Italian engines, French boilers, British artillery and German generators.
Already at that time Italy had budget problems, so the third and last ship of the lot was sold to the Hellenic Navy. Not that Greece was much better off than us, but those were times when philantropists paid also for battleships, so the cruiser was named after George Averoff, who had footed part of the bill.
After a troubled first cruise to Britain to load ammunitions, the “Georgios Averof” finally sailed into Phaleron Bay, near Athens, in September 1911. At the time she was the flagship of her Navy and the most modern and powerful battleship in the Eastern Mediterranean.
The cruiser was decommissioned in 1952, but in 1984 the Navy decided to restore the historical vessel. She is now anchored in Faliron Bay as a floating museum of the maritime history and traditions of the Greek Navy.
