Effetto Venezia 2015

My affection for “Effetto Venezia” is decisively scarce, but I always go around there to take some photos.
Venezia is a quarter of Livorno: I usually roam its streets before dark, trying to avoid the worst of the crowd.

It is always funny to find some attractions still ‘unattended’...

Luminarium Miracoco - Playing for Change 2015 - Mangiafuoco - Hearts and Tops

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See also: Effetto Venezia
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Seven Years After

The first time I visited the park of Villa Regina was in the summer of 2009 and I wrote my impressions in this post. I didn't feel the urgency of coming back to the place for the best part of seven years, but a few days ago, passing by, I managed to take this shot of the entrance boulevard. Maybe one day I will summon the courage to re-visit the rest...

See also: Villa Regina

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Al Farahidi

The 276-meter container ship “Al Farahidi” of the United Arab Shipping Company, leaving the port of Livorno.
The “Al Farahidi” was built in 1998 by the Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd, in Japan. The last shot, with the tug “Alessandro Neri”, was taken under the rain. (Photos taken last June)

External links: United Arab Shipping Company (Wikipedia)
See also: Alessandro Neri
Search labels: tug

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Barrel Jellyfish

Maurizio is our usual reporter from the sea, but his daughter Veronica keeps stealing the show with this underwater photo of a barrel jellyfish. We have already seen her at work last Sunday with this photo.

See also: The Castle's Jetty - Walk... on Water - Coppa Risi'atori 2015 - Molo Novo
External links: Rhizostoma pulmo (Wikipedia)

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Almost Finished

The new building and the rest of the complex at the “Scoglio della Regina” (Queen's Rock) are almost finished: the piazza has already a few benches, but the mysterious statue is still completely wrapped.
The pattern of the paving is eye-catching and almost hypnotic. On a side there is also a small jetty.

Sadly, the nearby Big Blue Shed is getting bluer and more conspicuous by the day...

See also: A “Horror” Revisited - A New Sculpture - The Big Blue Shed

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The Castle's Jetty

This is the first part of a series of posts about our coast seen from the sea. The authors of the photos are our friend Maurizio and his daughter Veronica.

The jetty on the south side of Castel Sonnino (Sonnino Castle) is quite popular in summer. [Photo by Veronica]

With its 91 meter above sea level the promontory of Castel Sonnino is the highest point of our coast.

[Photo by Maurizio]

See also: Castello del Boccale - Torre di Calafuria - Calignaia - Castel Sonnino - Green Lizard's Bay - Walk... on Water

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Four Moors Roundabout

Livorno has already an inordinate amount of roundabouts, but they are building a new one just next to the Four Moors. It is almost a good thing that they did not build the thing around the monument...

See also: Four Moors - Four Noses - Morgiano & Alì - Culture & Sculpture - Livorno in the Future - Ferdinando's Scroll - The Cage - Out of the Cage - “Talking” Statues
External links: Ferdinando I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany - Order of Saint Stephen (Wikipedia)

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Chico Mendes

O legado “A floresta nos une diante do perigo comum, nos faz mais fraternos. É por isso que meu trabalho em defesa da Amazônia não pode parar”, Chico Mendes. (The legacy: “The forest unites us in front of the common threat, makes us more fraternal. That is why my work in defense of the Amazon can not stop”, Chico Mendes).

This portrait and this quote of Chico Mendes are on a shutter in Via Oberdan. On the next shutter I saw the coat of arms of the Republic of Acre with its motto: “Nec luceo pluribus impar” (I am not shining less than many).

External links: Chico Mendes - Republic of Acre (Wikipedia)

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July 19th

On July 19th 1944 the Allied troops, with the help of local partisans, freed the city of Livorno. Every year a ceremony takes place at the “Bassorilievo al Partigiano” (Bas-relief to the Partisan) commemorating the event and the many Livornesi fallen in the Resistance.

External links: Italian resistance movement (Wikipedia)

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MS Riviera

The 239-meter cruise ship “Riviera” was built by the Fincantieri shipyard in Sestri Ponente and launched in 2011.

She carries 1,250 passengers and has a crew of 800.

See also: Pilots at Work
External links: MS Riviera - Fincantieri (Wikipedia)
- Fincantieri Moves Cruise Ship RIVIERA to Fitting-Out Berth for Finishing Touches (ShipbuildingTribune.com)
Search labels: cruise ship

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Spotted Flycatcher

I saw this tiny bird on a tree between Via Roma and Viale della Libertà. I was able to identify it as a “pigliamosche” (flycatcher) only with the help of my friend Stefano and his friend Gabriele.

External links: Spotted flycatcher (Wikipedia)
Search labels: bird

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More Navicelli

The “Canale dei Navicelli” beyond the “Dogana d'acqua”, seen from the overpass of Via Salvatore Orlando. Not far from here I was once attacked by some squirting cucumbers.

See also: New and Old - Glass Panes - PIUSS - Scali Cerere Footbridge - Customs on the Water - Dogana d'acqua - Canale dei Navicelli - Leopoldine Walls - Squirting Cucumber
External links: Canale dei Navicelli (Wikipedia)

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Piazza dei Mille

Piazza dei Mille and Via de Larderel, seen from Piazza della Repubblica.

Almost the same view in a 1910 postcard.

(Postcard digitized from the collection of Antonio Cantelli)

See also: Via De-Lardarelli - Piazza della Repubblica
Search labels: postcard

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Two Churches

In Piazza del Luogo Pio the deconsecrated church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary and of St. Joseph is now being transformed in a museum, and faces the still active and historical church of San Ferdinando.

See also: Luogo Pio - San Ferdinando - Inside San Ferdinando - Deconsecrated Church - From Church to Church

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Baggage Handling

Handling baggage under the sail ship “Palinuro”, leaving in two days for a training cruise in the Mediterranean.
Rows of neatly arranged bags, ready to be loaded on board. Two cadets of the Ukrainian Navy.

External links: Palinuro (A 5311) - Italian Naval Academy - (Wikipedia)
See also: Palinuro - Faventibus Ventis - Palinuro and Vespucci - Tall Ships Walk - Palinuro (A 5311)
Search labels: sailship

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Via III Novembre

The corner of Via Grande and Via III Novembre, on a rainy day. Thanks for the porticoes... (Photo taken last June)

Search labels: corner

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Palinuro (A 5311)

With the “Amerigo Vespucci” still in the Navy yard of La Spezia for extraordinary maintenance, it will be the school ship “Palinuro” to carry the first-year cadets of the Naval Academy in their summer training cruise.
Palinurus, a figure from the Roman mythology, was the helmsman of one of the ships of Aeneas.

External links: Amerigo Vespucci - Palinuro (A 5311) - Italian Naval Academy - Palinurus (Wikipedia)
See also: Palinuro - Faventibus Ventis - Palinuro and Vespucci - Tall Ships Walk
Search labels: Amerigo Vespucci

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Magnolias

Magnolia flowers under the spring rain. (Photo taken last June)

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The Big Blue Shed

There was a lot of noise about what I called a horror in plain view, well before my post and even after I recanted my opinion of it. The same had already happened about the new parking at the site of the Cinema Odeon, which I still do not like.

The construction of this new huge structure on our seafront, not far from the one mentioned above, has been met by a deafening silence.

See also: A “Horror” Revisited - A Horror in Plain View - Cinema Odeon

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La Pinetina

“La pinetina”, literally the small pine grove, lies between Viale della Libertà and Viale Boccaccio.
One side is closed by an oleander hedge, a bike lane lines the other side. Last Sunday a sax player was playing in the shadow near the hedge.

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Water Ambulance

The water ambulance of the “Società Volontaria di Soccorso” (Voluntary Aid Society) inside the Porto Mediceo.

By the way, yesterday's artwork was made with hard disk magnets and their holders.

External links: Water ambulance (Wikipedia) - Bagnante cade sugli scogli e si ferisce (Il Tirreno, in Italian)
See also: Veterinary Ambulance

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Assemblage Magnétique

We see around many things called sculptures, some good, others funny, but many of them have nothing to do with Bernini o Rodin. In the spirit that (almost) everybody can do it, I am publishing a photo of my first ‘sculpture’. This work is obviously titled in French: “Assemblage Magnétique” (Magnetic Assemblage).

There is a special ‘bravo’ for who is going to identify the kind of recycled stuff used for this ‘artwork’. (It was made with hard disk magnets and their holders)

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Weeds and Phones

Piazza dell'Arsenale: a couple of phone booths riddled with weeds. (Photo taken last June)

See also: Phone Booth - Weeds - Weeds 2
Ricerca etichette: degrado

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Bruno Gregoretti

The “Bruno Gregoretti” (CP 312) has been a Coast Guard cutter for almost thirty years. Dismissed in 2008, the boat was recently restored and it is now moored at the Andana degli Anelli, inside the Porto Mediceo, as a museum ship.

She was originally built in Germany as a 23-meter ‘Seenotrettungskreuzer’ (rescue boat), and the refurbished cruiser bears her original and quite unusual livery.

External links: Seenotrettungskreuzer (Wikipedia, in German)
- Gregoretti, il mito torna a splendere (Il Tirreno, in Italian)

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Italian Wall Lizard

I was waiting for a container ship to pass, when I saw this lizard darting from a rock to a wall...

External links: Italian wall lizard (Wikipedia)

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Boring Venezia

The boat of the “Venezia” comes back in tow after a training session.
Yesterday they won the most important race of the rowing season, the “Palio Marinaro”.

See also: Palio Marinaro - Palio Marinaro 2011 - Palio Marinaro 2012 - Palio Marinaro 2014
Search labels: rowing

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Piazza del Cisternone

The church of Sant'Andrea (Saint Andrew) in a photo taken last June.

The same church in a 1907 postcard.

(Postcard digitized from the collection of Antonio Cantelli)

See also: Sant'Andrea - Sant'Andrea's Bell Tower - Cisternone
Search labels: postcard

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