Watch Cat

Via del Molo Mediceo: I have never seen a cat looking so evil-minded...

See also: The Grumpy Cat - Killer Gaze
Search labels: cat

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Pandora

This year I didn't see much of the TAN (Naval Academy Trophy) because of our holiday in Rome, but considering these last days, it seems that I didn't miss much. The village and the sail boats have moved out of the Porto Mediceo to a faraway and unwelcoming pier: the tents hosting the shops are a sauna and you can hardly see the boats, moored along a straight stretch of barren quay, often blocked by a huge crane.

This boat was built in 1994 as “Anna” in Karelia, Russia, as a faithful replica of a 18th-century postal vessel sailing the Baltic. A few years ago she was found abandoned and almost sunken near the port of Genoa.

She was salvaged and completely restored by her actual owner: renamed as “Pandora” the barquentine managed to win two Tall Ship Races in 2007 and 2010. She is now a training ship of sorts for students.

Search labels: TAN - Tuttovela
External links: Barquentine (Wikipedia)

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From the Swing Bridge

The swing bridge, festooned with the colors of our quarters, is the perfect place to watch the start and the finish line of the “Trofeo Gaetano D'Alesio”.

A view over the Darsena Nuova, with the crew of the Borgo Cappuccini still rowing to his second place.

See also: Trofeo D'Alesio - Trofeo D'Alesio 2011 - Trofeo D'Alesio 2012 - Trofeo D'Alesio 2013

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Via Salvino Salvini

Apartment building in Via Salvino Salvini.

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Trofeo D'Alesio 2013

The “Trofeo Gaetano D'Alesio” is the first competition of our rowing season, a series of races between the “gozzi” (rowboats) of the quarters of Livorno.

The trophy has been won, as always in the last years, by the rowers of Venezia.

The Venezia's crew at the rounding of the mark.

See also: Trofeo D'Alesio - Trofeo D'Alesio 2011 - Trofeo D'Alesio 2012

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The Trunk

A mysterious and well locked trunk, on the banks of the “Canale dei Navicelli”...

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Giraglia

The ferry “Giraglia” undergoing some maintenance inside the small dry dock. She is the sister ship of the “Bastia” and her name comes from an island at the northern tip of Corsica.

After a few days in Rome, we are coming back home today...

See also: Strange Ships
External links: Giraglia
Search labels: Moby - ferry

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Shallow Water

Shallows in front of the “Terrazza Mascagni”, in background the Livornese Hills and the Antignano coast.

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Cranes in the Wind

New buildings at the construction site of the Porta a Mare (Gate to the Sea), seen from the swing bridge: the three cranes are pointing to East.

The same place two days after: the cranes are looking to West now...

See also: Porta a Mare - Swing Bridge - The Two Towers - Via Edda Fagni - Luigi Orlando

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Mascagni's Birthplace

The original building, in Piazza Cavallotti, where the composer Pietro Mascagni was born in 1863. This photo, of unknown author, was probably shot in the early 1960s. Above the entrance is visible the plaque commemorating the birthplace of the author of “Cavalleria Rusticana”.

Today the old building is gone, but the plaque is still there...

See also: Mascagni vs Puccini

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St. Catherine's Bell Tower

It is not easy to spot the bell tower of Santa Caterina: it is usually hidden by the ungraceful dome or by the buildings in the narrow streets around the church.

See also: Santa Caterina - Inside Santa Caterina - The Window of Santa Caterina

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Fuck the Police

The linguistic proficiency of the typical Livornese is almost non-existent: one of the most funny scenes you may enjoy in town is a “conversation” between a local and a group of tourists.

But when it comes to insult police officers, even the most ignorant tagger becomes a polyglot: as you can see from the links below, these guys can suddenly write in English, French and even modern Greek.

See also: 1312 - Kiss the Police - All Cops Are Bastards

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New Year's Cat

It was too cold even only to open his eyes... (Picture taken last January)

Our friend Catharina is the author of Florensic, a beautiful blog about Florence and surrounding areas. She visited Livorno last week and has just posted a few photos of her trip: Eight out of a thousand.

Ricerca etichette: gatto

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Bet 1128

The “Bet 1128” is a Class 40 sailboat built by Bert Mauri for the young but already seasoned Sardinian skipper Gaetano Mura. The boat is named after her sponsored, a betting site.

Mura's ambitious “Gironelmondo” project consists in taking part in several boat races around the world.
Our objective is more modest: we are in Rome for a few days...

See also: TAG Heuer VelaFestival - Wianno Senior - Dagadà Spirito di Maremma - Ojalà II
External links: Class 40 (Wikipedia) - Gaetano Mura (Official website, in Italian)
Search labels: sailboat

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Hat-racked Tree

A heavily pruned plane tree in the park of “Villa Maria”. Hat-racking is the severe act of pruning a tree by reducing the length of branches, lowering the tree height, stubbing or removing foliage so that the tree resembles a hat or coat rack. It seems that this should not be an acceptable pruning practice.

External links: Why Topping Hurts Trees (Trees Are Good)

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Viale Marconi

Viale Marconi is a beautiful tree-lined street and had been my address for a quarter of a century. My mom still lives here and, luckily, neither of us drive a car.

The street is full of holes, probably because of the trees roots, and it is now dotted with ‘bumpy road’ signs and a speed limit of ten kilometers (six miles) per hour. Car accidents are common.

Petitions about the dangerous situation has been signed and delivered, but the only result has been this sprouting of garish traffic signs. Hopefully, the street would be resurfaced soon.

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Passing Troops

Mercato Centrale, a view (with passing troops) from Scali degli Olandesi, 1906

Mercato Centrale, a view (with parked cars) from Scali degli Olandesi, April 2013

(Postcard digitized from the collection of Antonio Cantelli)

Search labels: postcard

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Marzocco Power Station

The Marzocco oil-burning power station was fired up the last time during the snow spell of February 2012 to spare natural gas used in other plants, making it available to the heavy demand for domestic heating.

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Hello Kitty

Hello Kitty pink bicycle, via della Madonna / via Grande

Search labels: bicycle art
External links: Bicycle Art

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Mascagni's Steps

Steps leading to the sea from the Viale d'Antignano. A villa once owned by the composer Pietro Mascagni is just across the road. (Picture taken last December)

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Poseidon

The “Poseidon” is an 18-meter oceanographic vessel owned by the ARPAT, the Tuscan regional agency for environmental protection. A couple of years ago the boat was impounded for a while by the “Guardia di Finanza” because they found cheaper agricultural diesel fuel in her tanks, a strange case of a public agency cheating on taxes. (Picture taken on May 2012)

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Fixed Twice

It may happen that something banal becomes interesting in some uexpected way: looking at this window, you can easily spot the recent rough patch, but also a precedent and more faithful fix.

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Vittorio Emanuele II

Vittorio Emanuele II (Victor Emmanuel II) was the first king of a unified Italy. He died in Rome in 1878 and was buried in the Pantheon. Even at the point of death he refused to meet with Pope Pius IX's envoys, who could have reversed his 1860 excommunication. Monuments to the king were soon commissioned in almost every city of the Kingdom.

The monument in Venice, quite incongrously set along the Riva degli Schiavoni, is a work of the sculptor Ettore Ferrari (the same of the Pisan Garibaldi) and was dedicated in 1887.

The equestrian statue in Rome, by the sculptor Enrico Chiaradia, is the heart of the immense “Altare della Patria” (Altar of the Fatherland) dedicated to Vittorio Emanuele II and was ready in 1911.

Our statue, by the sculptor Augusto Rivalta, was placed in 1892 in front of the Cathedral, in the freshly renamed Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II (now Piazza Grande). After the war the monument was moved in Piazza Unità d'Italia, in front of the “Palazzo del Governo”.

Our Pisan cousins weren't late this time: a bronze statue by the sculptor Cesare Zocchi was dedicated in 1892, but the Father of the Fatherland was left on foot.

See also: Viva Verdi - Stone, Bronze and Iron - Horseback Thinking
External links: Victor Emmanuel II of Italy (Wikipedia)

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Livorno Train Station

The facade of the Livorno Centrale railway station

The railway station in the 1910s

(Postcard digitized from the collection of Antonio Cantelli)

Search labels: postcard
See also: Livorno Centrale

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Ovo Sodo at Sunset

The “Ovo Sodo” (Hard boiled egg) crew rowing toward the entrance of the port: they are always training...

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The Walls of the Brigands

“Le mura dei briganti” (The Walls of the Brigands) Osteria - Pizzeria, Via Sant'Anna

A sign for a quite old fashioned photographer in Via Magenta

Mercatino Americano, Stazione Marittima (American Market, Passenger Terminal) ad, in Via Grande

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A Place in the Sun

Cat lying in the sun, on the hood of a car, in Via dei Bagnetti.

Search labels: cat

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Ojalà II

When asked by his friends if he was going to fulfill his dream of owning a sailboat, Charles Holland always answered ‘hopefully’. These friends were Argentinian so that came out as ‘ojalà’. The dream was fulfilled and the actual “Ojalà II” is the second boat bearing this name. She was built in 1973 at the Royal Huisman shipyard in Vollenhove, Netherlands, on a design by Sparkman & Stephens.

See also: TAG Heuer VelaFestival - Wianno Senior - Dagadà Spirito di Maremma
External links: Ojalà II (Sparkman & Stephens)
Search labels: sailboat

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Dinner Is Ready

A lot of gulls now feed on garbage and you can see them in places that are relatively distant from the sea, colonizing roofs while squawking loudly and ceaselessly for our great pleasure.

This guy doesn't like junk food and has been able to catch a sizable prey inside the Porto Mediceo. He is mildly alarmed by my presence, but luckily I am not so keen on chewed raw fish from polluted waters.

Another old-fashioned gull is ready to dine on fish and is probably waiting for a glass of white wine.

Search labels: gull

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Theme Day: Pedestrians Crossing

Zebra crossing in Via Gaetano D'Alesio, leading straight to the sales office of Palazzo Orlando.

Click here to view thumbnails for all participants

See also: Palazzo Orlando

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