Giorgio Cini

The 54-meter “Giorgio Cini” was built for the Cini Foundation in 1970 and it was donated to the Guardia di Finanza in 1984, to be used as a training ship. With a crew of 30 she can take on board up to 60 “Finanzieri di mare” (Marine Customs officers) for a training cruise.

External links: Cini Foundation - Guardia di Finanza (Wikipedia)
See also: V 609 Falco - Summer Hawk - V 2043 - Hawk at Sea

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A Longer Elba Pier

The 85-meter Elba pier is getting longer. Works in progress will add, in stages, 150 meters to the existing structure: in the end it will be even longer than the nearby 168-meter Capitaneria pier.

VDP & LDP in Florence #2

Second Florentine meeting between Versailles Daily Photo and Livorno Daily Photo...

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Duckspeak

“There is a word in Newspeak,” said Syme, “I don't know whether you know it: duckspeak, to quack like a duck. It is one of those interesting words that have two contradictory meanings. Applied to an opponent, it is abuse, applied to someone you agree with, it is praise.”

(George Orwell, 1984)

Our cheap Livornese version of the Orwellian Ministry of Truth has devised that there wasn't any project of a bridge where now lies the Isthmus of Crocetta.

Two nice parapets are now in place where the temporary Jersey barriers once stood and some docile locals or the unaware tourist may even think that this is how the passage across the unnecessary canal was meant to be. We are all still waiting for some gauche Newspeak explanation of why this is better for us.

See also: A New Canal - The Non-Bridge of Crocetta - The Isthmus of Crocetta
External links: Ministry of Truth - Newspeak (Wikipedia)
Search labels: new canal

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Lampo Goes to Gliwice

Lampo, the traveling dog has made another trip, this time up to Gliwice, in Poland. Our friend Beata, who introduced us to his story, wasn't able to find a copy of the original book during her stay in Florence. We were more lucky a few days later, and we sent her the book in the mail. (Photos by Beata)

We are not sure how Lampo arrived in Poland, but we all hope that it was on a train!

See also: Lampo, the traveling dog

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Without Trofeo D'Alesio

The “Trofeo D'Alesio”, the opening race of the Livornese rowing season, did not take place yesterday. It was announced some time ago that the D'Alesio family had withdrawn its support to the competition for undisclosed reasons.
By the way, we will be in Florence for a few days.

See also: Trofeo D'Alesio - Trofeo D'Alesio 2011 - Trofeo D'Alesio 2012 - Trofeo D'Alesio 2013
Search labels: rowing

VDP & LDP in Florence

First Florentine meeting between Versailles Daily Photo and Livorno Daily Photo...

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31st Naval Academy Trophy

Everything is ready for the 31st edition of the “Trofeo Accademia Navale” (Naval Academy Trophy), which begins today. The tents of the “Tuttovela” (All about sailing) village are in place and “Nave Italia” is already here. (Photo taken on April 23)

Search labels: TAN - Tuttovela
External links: 31st TAN (Official site, in Italian)

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The Big Anchovy

A few days ago a “grande acciuga” (big anchovy) has been painted on the roof of the decrepit Fish Market building. It is a work of Libera Capezzone and the words below say: “Lische squame coda amore. Libertà” (Fishbones scales tail love. Freedom).

The project was sponsored by a brand of paint, so it would have been nice to paint also the rest of the roof, which badly need it. This would have been also a better background for the big fish.

See also: Mercato del Pesce

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Azamara Quest

The 181-meter “Azamara Quest” was built in 2000 by the Chantiers de l'Atlantique in St. Nazaire, France. She was the seventh ship in a series of eight identical cruise ships built for Renaissance Cruises and, in an amazing flight of fantasy, she was named “R Seven”. She then became “Delphin Renaissance” and “Blue Moon”, before settling for the actual name.

See also: MS Nautica
External links: Azamara Quest - Chantiers de l'Atlantique (Wikipedia)
Search labels: cruise ship

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Cisternone's Skylight

A detail of the roof of the Cisternone.

See also: Half-Dome Fad - Cisternone

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Easter Eve

Easter Eve is usually the peak of a week-long rush to buy food and groceries for the Easter dinner. A shower of rain has probably kept away the rare fishermen, so I am not surprised to have the port all to myself.

The tower of the Avvisatore Marittimo (Maritime Warnings service) looks even more strange against a dark and cloudy sky.

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Lampo, the traveling dog

During our chat in Florence, our friend Beata told us of a book that is very popular with kids in Poland: the story of Lampo, the traveling dog. I didn't know the story, but when later I asked my son he said that he was well aware of it. He also remember that my father told him about having met the dog himself.

In the early 1950s a dog jumped off a freight train at the station of Campiglia Marittima and was practically adopted by the assistant stationmaster Elvio Barlettani, who called him Lampo (Lightning). Before making Campiglia his home, Lampo had stayed for a while in the station of Livorno, but when a less benevolent stationmaster called the dogcatcher, a railway worker flung him into a freight car heading south.
From Campiglia, a busy railway junction, Lampo was able to catch a train to anywhere. He rode only passenger trains, hiding under a seat when he heard the conductor coming. They say that Lampo visited almost every station within 300 kilometers of Campiglia, becoming a well-known presence.

Lampo slept in the station, but in the morning he would jump on the local train to Piombino to walk Mirna Barlettani to school, only to take the train back to Campiglia. In the afternoon, Lampo rode the train back to Piombino and saw Mirna home from school. Then he returned to Campiglia.
One day the dog got caught in a door and the train had to be stopped to release him. This event was witnessed by an inspector and it was ordered that the dog must go: they decided to put Lampo on a freight train to the far south, with instructions to let him go in open country, far from any station. After five months, ill and beaten, Lampo was back. He became famous and ended up on national and international newspapers. He was also filmed by a few TV crews.

[Photo by LepoRello, Wikipedia]

A train passenger, who claimed to recognize the dog, said that Lampo had been accidentally stranded in the port of Livorno from an American ship. It seems that the dog was really fascinated by the sea.
Lampo, quite old, was eventually killed by a train in 1961, but a statue still remembers him at the station of Campiglia Marittima, where he spent so many years.

Elvio Barlettani wrote a book about his story: “Lampo, il cane viaggiatore” and it was also published in English as “Lampo, the Traveling Dog”.

External links: Dog on a train - La Dolce Vita di Lampo (The Nature of the Beast)
- Lampo, the travelling dog (Cover, Look and Learn)

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The Window of the Fortress

A flowery window of the Fortezza Vecchia on the right of the Molo del Soccorso.

See also: Fortezza Vecchia - Molo del Soccorso

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Clet's Crossing

Via de Larderel, Livorno

See also: Clet Abraham - Clet's Studio
External links: Thirty smile an hour zone: Cheeky artist changes road signs with stickers... (Daily Mail)
- The language of the street signs by Clet Abraham (Abitare)
Search labels: Clet Abraham

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Bacchus

A head of Bacchus in the small garden of a building in Via Ferrigni.

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Minerva Class

This weekend three Minerva-class corvettes of the Italian Navy are berthed at the Capitaneria pier. Here are the “Chimera” (F 556) and the “Sfinge” (F 554).

The three units, built at the end of the 1980s, are identical, but the “Sfinge”, which means sphinx, has now a radome where the other two still have an Albatros missile launcher. Any ship of our Navy still has a Latin motto: Tacita atque resoluta (Silent and resolute) for the “Sfinge” and In arduis intrepida (Fearless in arduous things) for the “Chimera”.

Further along the pier we can see the “Fenice” (F 557), which would be phoenix, with the predictable motto of Resurgit (She rises).

See also: A Sphinx and Many Stars - Urania, Chimera and Sirio
External links: Minerva-class corvette (Wikipedia)
Search labels: Navy

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Via Delle Sedie

A building on the corner of Via Enrico Delle Sedie and Via Carolina Internari is almost identical to this one in Via Emilio Zola.

See also: Via Emilio Zola
External links: Enrico Delle Sedie (Wikipedia)

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Inside Santa Giulia

The interior of the church of Saint Julia was restored after the devastation of the Second World War, when the wooden ceiling was completely lost along with the religious furniture.

The main altar has a 13th-century altarpiece depicting Saint Julia, the patron saint of Livorno.

See also: Church of Saint Julia - Saint Julia

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Sala degli Archi

The “Sala degli Archi” (Hall of Arches) is the only part of the Fortezza Nuova that has been accessible in these years.

It is used for exhibitions like this one, dedicated to the Livornese sculptor Renato Spagnoli.

The artist (no relation) is the author of the big red A in Piazza Attias.

See also: Fortezza Nuova (2009) - Fortress from the Sky (2012) - Welcome to the Fortress - The Grass of the Fortress - Along the Walls - The Hill on the Fortress
Search labels: Fortezza Nuova

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Flag Pole Holder

An old flag pole holder in Via Ernesto Rossi.

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Warning

Bicycle locked to a temporary general warning sign, Via Roma

Search labels: bicycle art
External links: Bicycle Art

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A New Piazza Grande?

Half of Piazza Grande has been fenced off for works, but don't hold your breath for the outcome...

See also: Duomo di Livorno - 270 Years After - After the Snow - Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II

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Sponsons

The next time we will see these sponsons (watertight steel boxes) they will be fastened on the starboard side of the “Costa Concordia” to refloat the wreck.

See also: Ril - Costa Concordia
External links: Costa Concordia disaster - Isola del Giglio (Wikipedia)

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Towers

The bell tower of Nostra Signora del Rosario with the high-rise of Piazza Matteotti in background.

See also: Nostra Signora del Rosario - Puffs of Cloud - Piazza Matteotti - Theme Day: Heights

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The Cats of the Fortress

Since the recent reopening of the Fortezza Nuova, I have been asking myself where are the cats I saw the last time I visited the already closed fortress, in September 2009.

The answer is that they are probably still there, but their presence is more discrete.

Now they have to share the fortress with humans... and even dogs.

See also: More Cats of the Fortress - Fortezza Nuova (2009) - Fortress from the Sky (2012) - Welcome to the Fortress - The Grass of the Fortress - Along the Walls - The Hill on the Fortress
Search labels: cat - Fortezza Nuova

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A Good Start

I am not an optimist by nature, but it seems that something good is going to happen quite soon for our Dutch church.

Yesterday, in an informal press conference inside the Mercato Centrale, a detailed plan to secure and partly restore the facade was announced, with works starting in the early summer.

Funds are limited, but they probably would be enough at least to stop the decay of the building.

External links: Press release (Livorno delle Nazioni)
See also: Dutch church - Mercato Centrale
Search labels: Dutch church

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Darsena Toscana

The Silos Ardenza and the container cranes of the Darsena Toscana.

See also: Silos Ardenza

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Weeds

If you walk a lot around town it is easy to see through the frantic pre-electoral sprucing up.

Scali Cialdini: Via Grande and the Four Moors are just around the corner.

See also: Canale dei Francesi - Scali Cialdini - Four Moors

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At the Office

It is spring and everybody is posting flowers, but there aren't many around Livorno, at least within my reach. Then I realized that the desks of my colleagues have plenty of them...

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Sider Warrior

The “Piero Neri” tug pushes the bulk carrier “Sider Warrior” to her berth.

See also: Piero Neri
Search labels: tug

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Theme Day: Triangles

The back of the synagogue is decorated with five sets of 32 small triangular windows. Their effect is visible in the pictures taken inside the temple, while their number may also have some kabbalistic meaning.

Click here to view thumbnails for all participants

See also: Synagogue of Livorno - Inside the Synagogue - Rejoicing of the Law - The Old Synagogue - Around the Tebah - The Doors of the Synagogue
External links: Kabbalah and the 32 Types of Consciousness (The Huffington Post)
Search labels: synagogue

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