Hermitage

The 68-meter “Hermitage”, a new luxury yacht from Lürssen Yachts.
The exterior was designed by (Espen Øino) Espen Oeino, the interior by Andrew Winch. (Pictures taken on July 30th)

Search labels: yacht
External links: Hermitage (Superyachts)

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Mascagni's Tomb

The red granite sarcophagus of Pietro Mascagni in the “Cimitero della Misericordia” (Mercy Cemetery).

The monumental tomb of the world-famous composer was built on a design by the engineer Vilfrido Vanni.

External links: Pietro Mascagni (Wikipedia)

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Moby Wonder and a Birthday

Daffy Duck, Taz and Wile E. Coyote watch a patrol boat from the side of the “Moby Wonder”.

See also: Moby Wonder
Search labels: Moby - ferry

Happy Birthday, Trillian!

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Around the Tebah

Should we take it as a compliment if our top daily paper by circulation publishes a picture lifted from our blog? Sadly neither due credits nor acknowledgements are in sight, at least on the webpage. I have sent several pictures to this paper in the past and they almost always ended up with the proper author quoted alongside.
The problem arises from the fact that this photo was posted only on this blog, in February 2011, and it was never sent to anybody. How did it end up in the newspaper slideshow for the 50 years of the new synagogue of Livorno? A simple slip-up? An anonymous sender of someone else's pictures?

Search labels: synagogue
See also: Synagogue of Livorno - Rejoicing of the Law

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Clamshell Buckets

Clamshell buckets resting between loads. (Picture taken last June)

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Mart

I do not know if “Mart” is a person or a group,

but the works under this signature are usually interesting and creative.

See also: Almost Bicycle Art - Art Is a Disease

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Airbus A320-216 EI-DSL

An Air One Airbus A320-216 flying over the port of Livorno on the approach to Pisa airport. Air One (“airone” means heron in Italian) was once the second largest airline in Italy and now is Alitalia low cost carrier based in Milano Malpensa. Pisa, with Venice, is one of its focus cities. After checking the airline scheduled flights, the plane in the picture was probably coming from Athens, Greece. (Picture taken on August 19th)

See also: Livorno Airport

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Acrobats at Work

With its 26 floors and 91 meters it qualifies more as a high-rise, but we still call this building “Il Grattacielo” (The Skyscraper), because it is the tallest and more visible structure in town.

It dominates “Piazza Matteotti” and in the recent days is attracting a few curious onlookers because a maintenance crew is using rope access techniques instead of a traditional scaffolding.

The technicians from the local firm Acrobatic System seem quite comfortable working at this height dangling, with all the safety measures, from a rope.

See also: Piazza Matteotti
External links: Acrobatic System (in Italian) - Rope access (Wikipedia)

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Galleria Metropolitan

We have already seen this building, but now the part I called modern alley is complete with its final color. It somewhat keeps reminding me of the Siq, the main entrance to the ancient city of Petra.

See also: Modern Alley - Cinema Metropolitan
External links: Siq (Wikipedia) - Galleria Metropolitan (Archea Associati)

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Dueling Cranes

Cranes dueling on a construction site...

... and their cabins are empty!

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リヴォルノ - 大村市 (Livorno - Ōmura)

On October 9, a delegation from the Japanese city of Ōmura, headed by its mayor Takashi Matsumoto, has been received in our Town Hall in view of a possible twinning with our city. The rationale behind this choice is that the first Japanese diplomats arrived in Italy in 1585 through the port of Livorno.

Japanese delegation at the Foreign Navies ceremony in 2011

I am very happy about this, but I am quite ashamed to confess that until now my only knowledge of this prospective sister city was through the libretto of Puccini's Madama Butterfly:

Il Commissario Imperiale: È concesso al nominato Benjamin Franklin Pinkerton, Luogotenente nella cannoniera Lincoln, marina degli Stati Uniti, America del Nord: ed alla damigella Butterfly del quartiere d'Omara Nagasaki, d'unirsi in matrimonio, per dritto il primo, della propria volontà, ed ella per consenso dei parenti qui testimonî all'atto. Madama Butterfly, Atto Primo Libretto di Luigi Illica e Giuseppe Giacosa Musica di Giacomo Puccini

The Imperial Commissioner: It is permitted to the herein named Benjamin Franklin Pinkerton, Lieutenant in the warship Lincoln, United States Navy, North America, and to Miss Butterfly of the Omara district of Nagasaki, to be united in matrimony, the first by right of his own wish and she by consent of her relations here witness to the contract. Madama Butterfly, Act One Libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa Music by Giacomo Puccini

Livorno is already twinned with Bat Yam (Israel), Haiphong (Vietnam), Novorossiysk (Russia), Guadalajara (Spain), Adana (Turkey) and Oakland (USA).

External links: Ōmura, Nagasaki - Livorno, sister cities (Wikipedia)

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The Grand Duke

The monument to Ferdinand III, Grand Duke of Tuscany, in “Piazza della Repubblica”.

See also: Two Grand Dukes - Piazza della Repubblica

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Travelers in the World

“Viaggiatori nel Mondo” (Travelers in the World) in “Via dei Fanciulli”

“Bullet Tattoo” in “Via Mentana”

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Corso Amedeo

Half a mile of “Corso Amedeo” and “Via Pio Alberto Del Corona” in a 'compressed' view from “Piazza Attias”. (Picture taken on May 2012)

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MSC Orchestra

The “MSC Orchestra” sails every Sunday evening from Livorno for a seven day cruise in the Mediterranean, but on October 7 the departure was delayed until midnight after four crew members were diagnosed with bacterial meningitis. Doctors distributed antibiotics to passengers; two of the four crew members are still in the Livorno hospital, while one of them died yesterday in intensive care. Last Sunday the ship came back and left as usual.

Search labels: cruise ship
External links: MSC Orchestra (Wikipedia) - Man fighting for life after meningitis outbreak on liner (ANSA)

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Fire in the Sky

I do not indulge in sunsets ...

... but yesterday it was really worth it!

See also : Sunset - Sunrise

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Odeon Parking, Sardi Street

The only remaining part of our glorious “Cinema Odeon”: the entrance hall, which will be soon recycled as a retail space.The passage on the right leads you to the parking silo and to the “Parco Centro Città” (City Center Park). On the left the trees of the Old English Cemetery.Last but not least: it is probably still unfinished, but the ugliness and inelegance of the parking entrance on “Via Sardi” is simply beyond belief.

See also: Old English Cemetery - Parco Centro Città - Cinema Odeon - Odeon Parking

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European Philatelic Congress

Fortunes made by stamp issues - Governments are making huge fortunes out of a superfluity of special stamp issues, all at the expense of the poor stamp collector, the European Philatelic congress decided when it met in Leghorn, Italy. The congress decided to ask various governments to cut down on commemorative issues, stamps for special flights and the like. Gen. Italo Balbo, Italian air minister, revealed that the total cost of his squadron flight to Brazil in january-$150,000-had been covered by the sale of special air stamps, and a nest egg had been left over for another flight.

Utica Daily Press - Saturday, July 11, 1931
(Postcard digitized by the collection of Antonio Cantelli)

External links: Italo Balbo (Wikipedia)

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The End of Summer

Checking parasols before storage. (Picture taken on September 20th)

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The Dying Bicycle

Rusty bicycle lying on the ground, seen from above.

Search labels: bicycle art
External links: Bicycle Art

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Top Ranking Blog

We are pleased to announce that, for BlogItalia, Livorno Daily Photo is the top ranking blog in the province of Livorno in any category. Thanks to you all for following us!

The pealing bells are from the bell tower of the church of San Sebastiano...

External links: Classifica blog provincia di Livorno (BlogItalia, in Italian)

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Serene

The 134-meter (439’48”) “Serene” is a luxury yacht built by the Fincantieri at its shipyard in Muggiano, La Spezia. She was launched in 2010 and was delivered in August 2011 to her owner, Yuri Scheffler, the CEO of Soyuzplodimport.“Serene”, with her seven decks, is the largest yacht ever built in Italy. Her exterior design is by the world renowned designer Espen Oeino, with an interior by Reymond Langton Design.The vessel has a hangar, two helicopter pads and her own quite large submarine. She has a huge internal sea water pool which can be also used for tender (and submarine) docking.
“Serene” can accommodate up to 24 guests in twelve luxurious staterooms, with a crew on board of 52.

Search labels: yacht
External links: 134m Fincantieri superyacht Serene (Charterworld) - Serene Yacht (Superyachts)

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À la Seurat

Pointillist view through the holes of a gate in “Via Marradi”.

External links: Pointillism

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How Did They Get Up There?

This is how the copies of the allegorical statues of Innocence and Mansuetude have been placed again on the facade of the “Chiesa della Santissima Annunziata” (Church of the Most Holy Annunciation).Putting the finishing touches a few days later...

See also: United Greeks - Inside United Greeks - Chiesa della Santissima Annunziata - Annunciation - Innocence and Mansuetude

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Liquore Galliano

I am not sure how much Liquore Galliano (Galliano liqueur) is still fashionable around the world, but it was conceived in Livorno in 1896 by the distiller Arturo Vaccari. It is a complex herbal liqueur whose main components are anise and vanilla. After many years of local production, the brand is now owned by the Dutch distiller Lucas Bols.

The liqueur was named after major Giuseppe Galliano, an Italian war hero of the disastrous colonial adventure known as the First Italo-Ethiopian War. By the way, also the renowned Livornese tenor Galliano Masini, born in the same period, may own his unusual name to the fame of the brave major.

(Postcards digitized from the collection of Antonio Cantelli)

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Puffs of Cloud

Clouds almost like puffs of smoke and the bell tower of the church of “Nostra Signora del Rosario” (Our Lady of the Rosary).

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La Botte Piccola

“La botte piccola”, scali del Pontino, is named after a proverb which says: “Nella botte piccola c'è il vino buono” (Good wine comes in small barrels), our equivalent of good things come in small packages.

Osteria “Al giro di boa” (Rounding the Mark Inn), scali delle Cantine

Pasticceria “Lo Spuntino” (The Snack pastry shop), piazza XI Maggio

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Greetings from Livorno

Greetings from Livorno! We are back from Venice,

but our train, as far as Florence, was more like this one.

(Postcard digitized from the collection of Antonio Cantelli)

Search labels: postcard

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Up There

Somebody had to lift the admiral's flag on top of the mainmast of the “Amerigo Vespucci”.

A moment of rest on a top...

The top part of the mainmast, just to put things in perspective.

Search labels: Amerigo Vespucci
External links: Naval Academy of Livorno - Amerigo Vespucci (Wikipedia)

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