Monday, November 11, 2013

The Lighthouse

Fanale dei Pisani, lighthouse of port of Livorno
In 1305 Livorno was only a tiny hamlet, but we were able to trick the Pisans into building this 52 meter tall lighthouse for our harbor. Genoa helped, defeating Pisa in the Battle of Meloria (1284) and destroying the lighthouse once placed on the islet, just in front of Livorno. Gratefully, or mockingly so, we called it “Fanale dei Pisani”, which is literally Pisans' Beacon, but it was intended as Pisans' Lighthouse.
Fanale dei Pisani, lighthouse of the port of Livorno
The original tower lasted more than six centuries: it was blown up in 1944 by German sappers. After the war the lighthouse was faithfully rebuilt, mostly using stones from the wreckage, and went back in service in 1956. Its look has recently changed, but we will see this another day...

External links: Fanale dei Pisani (Museo Galileo)

9 comments:

Jack said...

The amount of money that was required to restore the war damage must have been mind-blowing.

Randy said...

That's wonderful. I can only imagine the views from there.

Taken For Granted said...

Wonderful looking historic light house. Glad it got rebuilt after the war. Light houses are now mostly historic as their function has been replaced by electronics.

Luis Gomez said...

Glad it was rebuilt VP.

Dina said...

Its height, its history, its name--all are amazing.

Stefan Jansson said...

Nice history lesson once again.

cieldequimper said...

Love the story. Have you many Pisan readers? ;-)

Birdman said...

Hopefully this beacon doesn't beckon ships its way. Do your job, oh lighthouse.

Traveling Hawk said...

I think I already wrote here, somewhere, that my daughter loves lighthouses so much that she would like to live in one!