Zim Texas

The 261-meter container ship “Zim Texas” entering the port of Livorno.
She was assisted by the tugs “Francesca Neri” and “Porto di Livorno”.

The “Zim Texas” has a capacity of 4,200 TEU (Twenty-foot equivalent unit), but the ship is loaded mostly with forty-foot containers (2 TEU each). (Photos taken last April)

External links: Twenty-foot equivalent unit (Wikipedia)
Search labels: tug

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September Cat

A quite surprised cat, in Via Accademia Labronica.

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The Japanese Bridge

When I visited the lovely garden of the Studio Bonsai this was my favorite place: an artificial small pond with an unpainted soribashi bridge.
The pond has water lilies, fishes, and even a small artificial fall.

What more one can ask for on a hot summer day in town? (Photos taken last August)

See also: Studio Bonsai Livorno

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Church of San Benedetto

Inside the church of San Benedetto there is still the organ used by the young Pietro Mascagni to practice music.

In this postcard of the first years of the last century we can see that there were much less cars around.

(Postcard digitized from the collection of Antonio Cantelli)

See also: San Benedetto - Budded Crosses - Mascagni's Organ - Four Angels
External links: Pietro Mascagni (Wikipedia)
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Cavour at Night

The statue of Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour at night, in his namesake square.

See also: Cavour - Theme Day: Night - Piazza Cavour
External links: Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour (Wikipedia)

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More Curiosities

“Pedestrians to the left” - “Pedestrians to the right”

A windmill toy made of plastic bottles	“It's my fault” - “It's your fault”

See also: Theme Day: Curiosities - Curiosities - More Curiosities

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Via dei Fanciulli

The corner building between Via dei Fanciulli and Via Sansoni. Via dei Fanciulli (Street of the Young Boys) took its name around 1860 from a nearby Jewish school which attracted a lot of children. Eugenio Sansoni (1828-1906) was the first mayor of Livorno. (Photo taken last July)

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Tavolara (A 5367)

The “Tavolara” (A 5367) is a navigational aid tender of the Italian Navy, launched in 1988.
The vessel of the Ponza Class is equipped with a crane and it is usually employed for the maintenance of the coastal signalling. She is also employed for other logistic activities as supplying water, fuel or other goods to naval ships or small islands. (Photos taken in April and May)

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Sparrows

A couple of female sparrows on the rocks at the entrance of the Porto Mediceo.

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Bells of Most Holy Trinity

“Sanctissimo Jesu Christi Aeterni Regis Cordi” (To the Most Holy Heart of Eternal King Jesus Christ).
Details from the bell tower of the church of the Most Holy Trinity in Borgo dei Cappuccini.

See also: Santissima Trinità - Cappuccini - The Most Holy Trinity - Inside Most Holy Trinity

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Scoglio della Regina

Last July: the buildings of the former sea resort “Scoglio della Regina” undergoing a long process of restauration.

Almost the same view in a postcard of the first years of the last century.

(Postcard digitized from the collection of Antonio Cantelli)

See also: A “Horror” Revisited - Almost Finished
Search labels: postcard

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Hygieia

The statue of Hygieia, now at the entrance of the “Parterre”, was once part of a fountain designed in 1838 by the architect Pasquale Poccianti, and formerly located at the intersection of Via Garibaldi with Via Galilei.

See also: Parterre - Bowl of Hygieia - More Hygieia - The Gate of the Parterre
External links: Hygieia (Wikipedia)

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Bakeries

“La Boutique del Pane” (The Bread Boutique) in Via Roma.
The “Panificio Briciola” (Crumb Bakery) in Corso Mazzini, “Il Forno Saraceno” (The Saracen Bakery) in Piazza XX Settembre.

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Another Dormer

An unusual dormer window on Scali Rosciano, seen from the other side of the canal, from Scali del Monte Pio.

See also: Dormer - On the Roofs of Venice - Chimneys and Antennas
External links: Dormer (Wikipedia)

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The Sailor and the Statue

The ferry “Sardinia Vera” maneuvering inside the Porto Mediceo.

One of her sailor has also a curious face to face with the “Madonna dei Popoli” at the entrance of the port.

(Photo taken last June)

See also: Sardinia Vera - Madonna dei Popoli

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London

A Jet2.com Boeing 737-330 from Manchester is almost ready to land at the airport of Pisa.

(Picture taken in August 2014)

We are leaving for London today: we will be posting from there for a couple of weeks...

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Piazza Barriera Garibaldi

The original blocks of public housing around Piazza della Barriera Garibaldi were built in the late Twenties of the last century on a project of the architect Ghino Venturi.
Heavily damaged by the war, these buildings were rebuilt following the same design to speed up the reconstruction effort. Only recently some have been fitted with external lifts.

See also: Barriera Garibaldi - Fiera di Sant'Antonino

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Studio Bonsai Livorno

I don't know much about bonsai trees, but I was quite happy to find this place, a garden in Via Cecconi, open on a very hot Sunday August morning. The mature trees are neatly arranged in display pots, some also have fruits.
In a nursery of sorts the younger plants are kept in temporary pots. Here is Gian Carlo, my guide for this visit.

External links: Bonsai (Wikipedia)

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Darsena Nuova

This image was made stitching two photos together to get the whole “Darsena Nuova” (New Harbor), as it can be seen from the Swing Bridge.

Scali Novi Lena run along the whitish line on the left and the dark square openings below are the “cantine”, like the “cantina” of Maurizio and Luciano. You can easily see the dark yellow building of my Starling Guano post, Palazzo Orlando, and the new shopping center. On the right a glimpse of the Big Blue Shed.

See also: Swing Bridge - Palazzo Orlando - Scali Novi Lena - From the Swing Bridge - Scali Novi Lena at Sunset - A New Shopping Center - Cantina of Maurizio and Luciano - Starling Guano - The Big Blue Shed

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Curiosities

A Spirit Lake Tribe plate from North Dakota on a bicycle in Via del Molo Mediceo.
A cubic world on the sign of an international freight forwarder in Via Paleocapa and a very strange building, which is part of an elementary school in Via Corazzi.

See also: Theme Day: Curiosities
External links: Spirit Lake Tribe (Wikipedia)

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L'infinito

It doesn't happen every day to see a real poem written on a rolling shutter: Trillian and I found this on our way to the supermarket, in Via Bernardina. “L'infinito” (The Infinite) is one of the most famous poems written by one of our greatest poets: Giacomo Leopardi (1798-1837).

L'infinito Sempre caro mi fu quest’ermo colle, e questa siepe, che da tanta parte dell’ultimo orizzonte il guardo esclude. Ma sedendo e mirando, interminati spazi di là da quella, e sovrumani silenzi, e profondissima quiete io nel pensier mi fingo; ove per poco il cor non si spaura. E come il vento odo stormir tra queste piante, io quello infinito silenzio a questa voce vo comparando: e mi sovvien l’eterno, e le morte stagioni, e la presente e viva, e il suon di lei. Così tra questa immensità s’annega il pensier mio: e il naufragar m’è dolce in questo mare. (Giacomo Leopardi, 1819)

The Infinite This lonely hill was always dear to me, and this hedgerow, which cuts off the view of so much of the last horizon. But sitting here and gazing, I can see beyond, in my mind’s eye, unending spaces, and superhuman silences, and depthless calm, till what I feel is almost fear. And when I hear the wind stir in these branches, I begin comparing that endless stillness with this noise: and the eternal comes to mind, and the dead seasons, and the present living one, and how it sounds. So my mind sinks in this immensity: and floundering is sweet in such a sea. (Translated by Jonathan Galassi)

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You will find several more English translations following the Wikipedia link.

External links: L'infinito - Giacomo Leopardi (Wikipedia)

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MSC Diego

The final chapter of this series on the early morning traffic of our port.

At 8:14 AM the tug “Porto Baratti” is leading the “MSC Diego” out of the port.
At 8:16 AM the 260-meter container ship is in full view. At 8:19 AM the tug “Tito Neri” is visible at the stern.

Before Dawn - Atlantide II - Mega Andrea - Norwegian Epic - Oceana - Tugs - Island Princess - The Rower
- The Red Fishing Boat

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See also: Porto Baratti - Tito Neri
Search labels: tug

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Ela

I was taking some pictures of the Big Blue Shed, when I saw Ela in the water...

See also: The Big Blue Shed - Almost Finished

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Inside Most Holy Trinity

The interior of the church of the Most Holy Trinity.
A lunette above the entrance of a side building and a statue of Saint Francis of Assisi, a work by the local sculptor Cesare Tarrini, inaugurated in 1987 for the centenary of the parish.

See also: Santissima Trinità - Cappuccini - The Most Holy Trinity
External links: Francis of Assisi (Wikipedia)

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