The Trellis

We have already seen this place a while ago, it is just on the left of the Slice of Cake.

See also: Slice of Cake

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Lari Vasco's Bakery

Via Palestro, Lari Vasco's bakery: pizze, focacce, biscotti (pizzas, focaccias, cookies).

External links: Focaccia (Wikipedia)

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Flying Away...

I like gulls when they are flying away...

Search labels: gull

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Thomson Dream

Beyond the brick walls of the “Fortezza Vecchia”, the round tower called “Mastio di Matilde” (Matilda's Keep) is visible next to the chimney of the cruise ship “Thomson Dream”.

Search labels: Fortezza Vecchia - cruise ship

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A Study of Rust

Steel rust and brass oxidation against a background of rusted iron.

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Clet in Venice

It is obviously not the real Venice, not many traffic signs for Clet Abraham there, but our Venezia quarter. The Breton artist was present at an exhibition in his honor and left all around some of his new creations.

An alien invasion in Via Borra

A crushed arrow in Via della Venezia

A sculptor at work on a no-entry sign in Via della Madonna.

Search labels: Clet Abraham
External links: Clet Abraham (Wikipedia, in French) - The language of the street signs by Clet Abraham (Abitare)

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Terme del Corallo

Being quite tired to show you old black and white postcards or the sad reality of today's ruins, I am going to show you the “Terme del Corallo” as they really were.

Franco Gizdulich, a Florence-based architect specialized in architectural models, kindly allowed me to use these images of his model of the “Terme del Corallo”.

The original model was made for Livorno's water utility and it is probably still at its headquarters.

[Images by Franco Gizdulich]

Search labels: spa
External links: Terme “Il Corallo” – Livorno (Franco Gizdulich, Architectural models)
See also: The Waters of Health - The Beauty of Decay - Parco delle Terme - The Waters of Health: Hallway - Spa Terrace - Hall of the Five Waters - Acquarium - Salubritatem aegris corporibus - Curator acquarum

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Black and Orange

A simple and elegant black bicycle with basket and orange background.

Search labels: bicycle art
External links: Bicycle Art (Inspiration Green)

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Taking Pictures

A few more shots by Trillian on Ferragosto.

I will never understand how people can be fond of a picture taken like that. Photographically speaking.

I never saw this one coming: your truly was caught shooting something in a desert part of the port.

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Benci Panorama

I am getting a taste for panoramic views: this one was stitched together from three overlapping photos.

See also: Antonio Benci School

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More Ferragosto

Trillian still knows how to take pictures, even if she does it rarely. Here are her Ferragosto's photos.

This almost looked like a chase scene between the two speeding boats...

...but it ended up with one of the chasers striking a pose!

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A/C Units

It is hot this summer, but not that hot...

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Gorgona's Wine

Flights landing to Pisa usually approach the airport from the sea and the first sign of the coast is this view of the island of Gorgona, our island prison and now a quality vineyard. Check the following piece of news and, if you like, follow the link below for the whole article.

“High on a hillside overlooking the azure sea on a small Mediterranean island, two brawny men toil under the sun in a vineyard that has just released a 50-euro ($66) wine destined for the tables of top restaurants. This is not an exclusive wine estate or secluded retreat for the rich, despite the tranquil beauty. It is, rather, the residence of men serving long sentences for some of Italy's most notorious and brutal crimes, on an island named after monstrous sisters in Greek mythology with snakes for hair.
Gorgona, the smallest of the Tuscan archipelago that also includes Elba, where Napoleon was incarcerated, is home to a project to rehabilitate hardened criminals through agriculture.”

(Gorgona Island Prison Hosts High-End Vineyard in Italy, The Huffington Post)

See also: Island Prison - Gorgona
External links: Gorgona - Tuscan Archipelago (Wikipedia)
Search labels: Gorgona

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Ferragosto 2013

We had an excellent Ferragosto with a light breeze mitigating the heat, the perfect weather for a walk.

Some tourists at the beginning of their tour of Livorno canals on a boat. No parasols needed today.

A lonely kayaker bravely fighting the waves of the many passing boats.

The north entrance of the port is used only by small boats and never by ships. The faraway silhouette of the Northern Tuscany mountains is visible in background.

External links: Ferragosto (Wikipedia)

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Flying Carabinieri

Carabinieri flying over Livorno on an AB-412 HP helicopter.

External links: Carabinieri - Bell 412 - AgustaWestland (Wikipedia)

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Wanted

On a wall, a strange stencil about a legendary drug lord who has been dead for at least twenty years.

Se busca Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria solicitado por la justicia $ 2.700.000.000.00 dos mil setecientos millones de Pesos

(Wanted Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria sought by the law $ 2.700.000.000.00 two thousand seven hundred million Pesos)

External links: Pablo Escobar (Wikipedia)

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Summer Day at Sea

The photo was taken last Sunday, but you get a pretty good idea of the boats traffic on a hot summer day.

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The Old Gym

The entrance of the “Cassa di Risparmi” gym in Via Bosi: weeds, tags and empty beer bottles...

See also: Tug of War

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Red and Gold

Once there was the “Cinema Moderno” here, now we have one more parking structure with a garish gold and red facade.

See also: Cinema Odeon - La Gran Guardia - Cinema Moderno - Cinema Metropolitan

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Who Stole Clet's Heart

This is the first traffic sign “improved” by Clet Abraham I saw in March 2012. I deleted the two old stickers because I didn't like them: you can see below how the image was posted.

In due time the municipality removed all the Clet's signs, selling some on eBay and keeping the others in storage. Some were used for the recent Clet Abraham's Exhibition and just a few days after that, I saw something strange.

That first sign was still around, with the unmistakable ugly stickers, but without the heart, which is itself a sticker. Someone lifted it and maybe used it on a cleaner sign... Who stole Clet's heart?

Search labels: Clet Abraham
External links: Clet Abraham (Wikipedia, in French) - The language of the street signs by Clet Abraham (Abitare)

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Curator aquarum

The spa management building sits opposite the “Acquarium” and once again the architects of the complex took inspiration from Sextus Julius Frontinus for the Latin inscription on the facade: Curator aquarum.

The sorry condition of the same building last June.

(Postcard digitized from the collection of Antonio Cantelli)

External links: Frontinus (Wikipedia) - de Aquaeductu Urbis Romae by Sestus Iulius Frontinus (in Latin)
Search labels: spa - postcard
See also: The Waters of Health - The Beauty of Decay - Parco delle Terme - The Waters of Health: Hallway - Spa Terrace - Hall of the Five Waters - Acquarium - Salubritatem aegris corporibus

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The Grumpy Cat

Do you remember the wacth cat? As you can see he is still his joyous self...

See also: Watch Cat - Killer Gaze
Search labels: cat

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Guzzi 1934

A Guzzi 1934 motorcycle, still functioning properly, parked near the Pamiglione. In background a less fortunate bicycle uselessly locked to the railings.

Search labels: bicycle art
External links: Moto Guzzi (Wikipedia) - Bicycle Art (Inspiration Green)

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Schools of Dance

The students of the local dance schools in front of the Goldoni Theater, last July for ARTEesistenza.

Search labels: ARTEesistenza
See also: ARTEesistenza - Coro Garibaldi d'Assalto - Laboratorio Brecht Dance

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On the Anchor

Do not bother with the pilot boat, look at the guy standing on the anchor of the “Sea Princess”...

See also: Big Screen
Search labels: cruise ship
External links: Sea Princess (Wikipedia)

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Rigoletto

In Italian “sparare alla Croce Rossa” (shooting on the Red Cross) is usually said when you abuse of an easy target. I won't do that with this “Rigoletto”: the opera closes “Effetto Venezia”, which is a good thing per se.

You are probably aware of the rethorical device of apophasis (or praeteritio), which is often used to call attention to something, while remaining apparently detached from it. So you will not be surprised if I go on saying that listening to an opera in a city square amid barking dogs, shouting children and passing vehicles is pure folly. Badly amplifying the voices and the music won't amend it at all.

If our administration feels necessary to offer an opera to a few hundred of its citizens, it would be more reasonable and absolutely cheaper to bus them to some quality performance outisde Livorno. The Puccini Festival in Torre del Lago comes to mind...

See also: Caballeria Rusticana - Το ελιξίριο της αγάπης
Search labels: Effetto Venezia

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Old Silos

You may have already noticed this decrepit bulding lurking in the background of pictures of ferries and cruise ships. This is one of our most conspicuous cases of decay: a group of old silos inside the Porto Mediceo which is hardly a welcoming sight for any tourist coming from the sea.

Some wanted to tear down the building, others would have liked to transform it in a hotel: it would obviously stay there forever...

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Laboratorio Brecht Dance

Still in occasion of the third day of ARTEesistenza, another event in front of the Goldoni Theater.

We can see in action the Laboratorio Brecht Dance with Maurizio Muzzi.

Search labels: ARTEesistenza
See also: ARTEesistenza - Coro Garibaldi d'Assalto

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Clet Abraham's Exhibition

We deserve your eternal gratitude for venturing through the smelly and sweaty heart of “Effetto Venezia” to explore an exhibition of some of Clet Abraham's “improved” traffic signs.

This was perhaps the only still unreleased (on this blog) sign on display. You can see all the others here.

Search labels: Clet Abraham - Effetto Venezia
External links: Clet Abraham (Wikipedia, in French) - The language of the street signs by Clet Abraham (Abitare)

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FSRU Toscana

[Photo LNG World News]

This huge beast (288m x 48m) is a Floating Storage Re-gasification Unit (FSRU) and is now arrived at her offshore site, 12 miles off Livorno coast. The former LNG carrier, modified in Dubai, will be now connected to the pipes laid at the time by the “Castoro 7”. Other carriers will deliver their liquefied gas to the “FSRU Toscana” which will be able to store it, bringing it back to gas and pumping it to the mainland. Many say this is a very dangerous plant set in a delicate area of our sea, surely it won't ever be a tourist attraction.

See also: Castoro 7
External links: FSRU Toscana Sets Off from Drydocks World, UAE (LNG World News) - Floating production storage and offloading - Liquefied natural gas (Wikipedia)

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Theme Day: Street Lamps

On ornate triple lamp post in Piazza della Vittoria.

Click here to view thumbnails for all participants

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