Google Maps Camera Car

Last Tuesday an unusual car was parked amid the vehicles of the Polizia Municipale (Municipal Police).

It was a Google Maps Opel Astra with its 15-lens “camera”. Street View arrived in Livorno more than five years ago, as soon as they knew of our blog.

The rig keeps the device at a height of 8.2 feet (2.5 m) and also features GPS units for tracking location, and laser range scanners that capture 3D models of the car’s surroundings.

External links: Google Street View (Wikipedia) - Secrets of a Google Street View car driver (Daily Mail)
See also: Window with a Heart

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The Fountain

A fountain in the inner court of a building in Via Mameli.

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Standfast 50

A Standfast 50 sailboat in the waters of the Terrazza Mascagni.

Th 15-meter yacht is sailing under a conspicuous Dutch flag.

(Pictures taken last June)

Search labels: sailboat

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Guard Dogs

The relaxed and quite friendly guard dogs of the Yacht Club Livorno. (Picture taken last July)

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AIDAblu

The 253-meter “AIDAblu” entered service in 2010 and is the seventh ship of the AIDA fleet. She is the fourth of the new generation, built at the Meyer Werft shipyard, in Germany.

With a crew of 607 she can carry 2050 passengers. “AIDAblu” has 1,096 cabins: 414 inside, 172 outside and 453 with balcony. She also has 18 suites, 34 spa balcony cabins and 5 spa suites.

See also: AIDAmar - Red Lips
External links: AIDAblu - AIDA Cruises - Meyer Werft (Wikipedia) - Deck plan M/S AIDA blu (Seascanner)
Search labels: cruise ship

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Floating Trash

The new canal in the Venice quarter of Livorno is often full of floating trash...

See also: A New Canal
Search labels: new canal

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Via Grande and Largo Duomo

The porticoes of Via Grande, built after the Second World War.

The slightly older porticoes of Largo del Duomo, built before the Second World War. If you wish, you can see a detail of the Palladian flooring here.

See also: Porticoes - Palladian Flooring

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Benches of Livorno

A seminal work on the benches of Livorno is now available online. This well-thought selection shows more than two hundred photos taken in the last five years and has already been enthusiastically reviewed by one of the foremost authorities on the history of benches.

In a time when most people are interested in seats mainly as a metaphor for power, it is strange to find a person who has devised to describe the humus, the urban culture—if not the very heart of a city—by starting from the observation and “portraiture” of a city’s benches, both public and private.
Both the seriality of the multiples and the proposal of the single objects, the benches, in the photographs of this refined artist speak to us of his city, without ever renouncing a linear elegance and a touch of originality.
The many images, always evocative and revealing a rare sensibility, trace a semantically elaborate path, ranging from symbolic references and scientific cataloguing, towards a simplified syntax devoted to succinct fragments of a universal dailyness.
A declaration of love to Livorno which, we are quite certain, the photographer’s fellow citizens will be able to value and appreciate, but also a collection of shared themes that will affect attentive observers all around the globe.

(Stephen S. Hacksaw)

Search labels: Benches of Livorno

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Cactus Flower

The flower of a prickly pear, not far from the Fortezza Vecchia.

See also Prickly Pear - Astoria Flowers - Fortezza Vecchia
External links: Opuntia ficus-indica (Wikipedia)

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Crepuscular Rays

Sometimes the sky is more interesting than the passing ships...

(Picture taken last July)

External links: Crepuscular rays (Wikipedia)

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Corner Terrace

Building at the corner of Viale Carducci with Via dell'Olmo.

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Maersk Kimi

The 300-meter “Maersk Kimi” is a large but not impressive container ship: she was built in 1998 by the Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries Co., in Japan.

The “Maersk Kimi” carries 6,674 TEUs while the latest container ships go for more than 18,000. Her call to Livorno, even with a reduced load, is considered a test of sorts for our port.

The ship arrived last Sunday at noon and was handled by the tugs “Porto di Livorno”, “Fratelli Neri”, and “Alfredo Neri”.

See also: Neverending Ship - Elqui
External links: IHI Corporation - Twenty-foot equivalent unit - Container ship (Wikipedia)
Search labels: port - tug

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Euro

Afternoon of August 15, the banner says: “L'Euro affamerà i tuoi figli” (The Euro will starve your children).

External links: L’euro affamerà i tuoi figli (Trucco Finanza, in Italian)

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Colonne di Marmo

We have already seen the exterior of the “Palazzo delle Colonne di marmo” (Palace of the Marble Columns), built in 1703 for the merchant Ottavio Gamberini, probably by the architect Giovanni Battista Foggini.

An open front door allowed us a quick glimpse at the interior of the building.

After a narrow hallway we found a small colonnaded yard.

See also: Palazzo delle Colonne di marmo
External links: Giovanni Battista Foggini (Wikipedia)

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Celebrating a Prank

In 1909 Amedeo Modigliani was briefly back in Livorno from Paris to try himself as a sculptor: an old local legend says that his first tentative works were so disparaged by his artist friends that, in a bout of rage, he threw a cartload of sculpted stones in the nearby Fosso Reale.

Thirty years ago the usual brilliant minds decided to check if the legend was true dredging the part of the canal nearer to Modigliani's studio, with the hope of recovering some of his “lost” works.

After a few uneventful days, they found not one, but three “heads” and the story went around the world. Art historians and critics flocked to validate the artifacts which were also put on display in an exhibition.

We all know now, and many already knew then, that the “heads” were all fakes: one made by three young students and the others by an artist-dockworker. The world laughed, but the brilliant minds kept denying the evidence for a long time.

In the 30th anniversary of the events a new generation of brilliant minds decided to waste a few tens of thousands of Euro in an exhibition about the prank, one of the many misguided ways to attract the interest of the tourists. By the way, I liked the displays and it was one of the very few occasions to get inside the Fortezza Vecchia without a reservation.

See also: Modigliani's Heads - Modì's Heads - Fortezza Vecchia
Search labels: Modigliani - Fortezza Vecchia
External links: Three Students and a Dockworker Put Their Heads Together and Confound the Art World (People)

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Screen on Board

A big screen on the top deck of the “Regal Princess” cruise ship... (Picture taken last June)

See also: Big Screen

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Four Sphinxes

The most famous sphinx in Livorno is still this one, which has a twin sister just in front of her.

You can see two more on this front door in Via Coccoluto Ferrigni,

with another couple just next door.

See also: The Sphinx of Livorno - Topless Sphinx
External links: Sphinx (Wikipedia)

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Scali delle Ancore at Night

Scali delle Ancore seen from the Ponte della Venezia, at night. I messed up badly with the white balance here, but for once I like the effect...

See also: Scali delle Ancore - Ponte della Venezia

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Seven Seas Voyager

The 206-meter “Seven Seas Voyager” was built in 2003 at the T. Mariotti shipyard in Genoa, specialized in luxury boats. She carries 700 passengers with a crew of 447 and is a near twin to “Seven Seas Mariner” the world’s first all-suite, all-balcony ship.

See also: Seven Seas Mariner
External links: Seven Seas Voyager (Wikipedia) - T. Mariotti (Official site)
Search labels: cruise ship

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Bus Terminal

The new and impressive terminal for out-of-town buses in Via della Cinta Esterna has been completed.

See also: Non-Clet

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Cappella degli Spedali Riuniti

The chapel of San Giuseppe is part of the hospital complex of the Spedali Riuniti (United Hospitals), built in the 1930s on a project of the architect Ghino Venturi.

The stained glass windows of the chapel are a work of Athos Rogero Natali, the elder brother of the well-known Livornese painter Renato Natali.

See also: Spedali Riuniti

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More Playing for Change

A few more pictures of the Playing for Change concert in Piazza del Luogo Pio.

Roberto Luti with the vocalist Titi Tsira from South Africa and Peter Brunetta from Los Angeles.

Tal Ben-Ari (aka Tula) from Tel Aviv, Israel.

Mermans Mosengo from Kinshasa, Orbe Ortiz from Santiago de Cuba and Jason Tamba from Matadi, Congo.

Keiko Komaki from Japan.

External links: Playing for Change (Official Website) - Playing for Change (Wikipedia)
See also: See also: Gimme Shelter - Playing for Change

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