Erta dei Risi’atori

The “cantina” (rowing club) of the Venezia quarter, Erta dei Risi’atori. (Already posted on Instagram)
La cantina del quartiere Venezia, erta dei Risi’atori. (Già pubblicato su Instagram)

Under the Bridge

The “cantina” (rowing club) of the Venezia quarter, under the Santa Trinita bridge. (Already posted on Instagram)
La cantina del quartiere Venezia, sotto il ponte di Santa Trinita. (Già pubblicato su Instagram)

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

Versione italiana

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

Versione italiana

The Isthmus of Crocetta

About a year and half ago I wrote about the non-bridge of Crocetta, the strange result of the works for the new canal in our historical Venice quarter. After four years since the dig started and a couple of years since it was completed, there is still a pile of dirt where a new bridge should have been. The reddish girder across the canal in foreground should have been one of the two projected footbridges, the other one is a grayish line just below the yellow building in background.

The soil has now been secured with barriers and concrete, so the non-bridge has become an real isthmus.

This will be another welcoming sign for the tourists coming in town from the new bus terminal, planned just outside the walls, across the isthmus.

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

Versione italiana

The Window of Santa Caterina

The front window, above the entrance, of the church of Santa Caterina.

See also: Santa Caterina - Inside Santa Caterina

Versione italiana

Canale della Giudecca

As our friend Jack would say, we are out of jurisdiction posting pictures of cruise ships slowly sailing along the Canale della Giudecca, after leaving the port of Venice at sunset.

But Wind Surf and Celebrity Solstice are, so to speak, old friends: we have already seen both of them in Livorno last year. (Pictures taken in Venice last September)

Search labels: cruise ship
See also: Wind Surf - Celebrity Solstice

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The Ugly Bridge

The drab “Ponte della Venezia” (Venice's Bridge), seen from the “Scali del Ponte di Marmo”. It was probably slightly better just after its construction, but the bridge now looks like a greyish sad hulk amid the freshly repainted buildings around it. This is probably the thing that could be made more interesting by some colorful and well planned mural.

The other bridges of New Venice: Ponte di Marmo - Ponte dei Domenicani - Ponte di San Giovanni - Ponte dell'Angiolo - Ponte del Luogo Pio - The Non-Bridge of Crocetta - Ponte della Fortezza Nuova

Versione italiana

The Non-Bridge of Crocetta

The long excavation of the new canal in “Viale Caprera”, in the heart of the Venice quarter, is almost over after three years of works.A problem remains: there is no money now for the bridge (and the two footbridges) on the new canal, so the street still runs on a walled pile of dirt lined with dumpsters, with some exotic Jersey barriers as parapets. The real Venice will surely envy us for this technological and artistic achievement...

Search labels: new canal
The new canal: An Useless Dig - Canale dei Navicelli - Viale Caprera - Micropoles - New Venice - A New Canal - Crash - The Dig - Building the Canal - Venice's Canal - The Old “Cantina” - Along the New Canal - Under Construction - The Bomb - The Buried Bomb - The Wall - Modulblock
The bridges of New Venice: Ponte di Marmo - Ponte dei Domenicani - Ponte della Venezia - Ponte di San Giovanni - Ponte dell'Angiolo - Ponte del Luogo Pio

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Bicycles and Boats

Bicycles and boats on the “Scali Rosciano”, at the corner with “Via delle Acciughe” (Anchovies Street).

Search labels: bicycle art
External links: Bicycle Art

Versione italiana

Deconsecrated Church

The “Luogo Pio” (Pious Place) deconsecrated church seen from “Viale Caprera”. It was once known as “Chiesa dell'Assunzione della Vergine e di San Giuseppe” (Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary and of St. Joseph).

See also: Luogo Pio

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Urban Farm

I found this “fattoria urbana” (urban farm) on the “Scali del Refugio”, in the Venezia quarter.These stone-paved slopes from street level to water level are quite common along the canals of Livorno, but farming on them was unheard of until now.

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Modulblock

This kind of huge concrete module is called Modulblock, but they look like oversized Lego bricks. They are normally used to control landslides and to strenghten embankments.These blocks were used to build the blast containment wall for the defusing of the WWII unexploded bomb found in Venezia and now they are being removed.Each block is 160 cm (5' 3") long and has a weight of two tons.Before continuing the excavation of the canal, the whole area will be scanned again to avoid other buried surprises.

Search labels: new canal
External links: Modulblock (Prefabbricati LP)
See also: Bombs on the Cover - An Useless Dig - Canale dei Navicelli - Viale Caprera - Micropoles - New Venice - A New Canal - Crash - The Dig - Building the Canal - Venice's Canal - The Old “Cantina” - Along the New Canal - Under Construction - The Bomb - The Buried Bomb - The Wall

Versione italiana

The Buried Bomb

The bomb won't go away easily: they will have to defuse it on site, near to apartment buildings and to a major bridge.It has been covered by a huge pile of sand and a five-meter tall blast containment wall is under construction around the site.Six thousand people will be evacuated before the actual defusing, for an approximate radius of 400-500 meters.
Of all days, on the next September 11...

Search labels: new canal
External links: How did the bomb get here? (Video) - Evacuation Zone (Il Tirreno)
See also: Bombs on the Cover - An Useless Dig - Canale dei Navicelli - Viale Caprera - Micropoles - New Venice - A New Canal - Crash - The Dig - Building the Canal - Venice's Canal - The Old “Cantina” - Along the New Canal - Under Construction - The Bomb - The Wall - Modulblock

Versione italiana

Theme Day: Under Construction

Still at work for the final tract of the new canal.This last bend will connect the new dig to the old canal.

Search labels: new canal
See also: An Useless Dig - Canale dei Navicelli - Viale Caprera - Micropoles - New Venice - A New Canal - Crash - The Dig - Building the Canal - Venice's Canal - The Old “Cantina” - Along the New Canal - The Bomb - The Buried Bomb - The Wall - Modulblock

Versione italiana

Twenty Windows

A street light on the “Scali delle Ancore”, in background a building on the other side of the canal, on the “Scali delle Barchette”.

See also: Scali delle Ancore - Scali delle Barchette

Versione italiana

Along the New Canal

The works at the new canal are almost completed on this side and you can walk freely along the mint new parapets.There is only a skeleton of the future footbridge and no trace of the road bridge to be build where now there is only an embankment. Lack of funds, it seems...

Search labels: new canal
See also: An Useless Dig - Canale dei Navicelli - Viale Caprera - Micropoles - New Venice - A New Canal - Crash - The Dig - Building the Canal - Venice's Canal - The Old “Cantina” - Under Construction - The Bomb - The Buried Bomb - The Wall - Modulblock

Versione italiana

Scali delle Ancore

In the side window of a hardware store in “Borgo dei Cappuccini” it is quite common to see on display works of local painters.I recently tried to capture in a photo almost the same view of the painting, a few decades old, of the “Scali delle Ancore” .

See also: Painted View - Portrait of a Ship - Ponte della Venezia - Scali delle Barchette

Versione italiana

Building the Canal

A more recent look at the works for the new canal where, after the digging, new shoulders in reinforced concrete are being built.The workers are tying rebars and coupling them to the palisade of micropoles, clearly visible on the left of the picture.From left to right, the different stages of the work are visible: the rebarred shoulder, the molds in place and the reinforced concrete wall awaiting to be plastered.

Search labels: new canal
See also: An Useless Dig - Canale dei Navicelli - Viale Caprera - Micropoles - New Venice - A New Canal - Crash - The Dig - Venice's Canal - The Old “Cantina” - Along the New Canal - Under Construction - The Bomb - The Buried Bomb - The Wall - Modulblock

Versione italiana

Fire

After detecting some smoke from the windows of this apartment, the Fire Brigade was promptly called by some passers-by. We are in the quarter of New Venice, you can see near the front of the fire engine the facade of the Palace of the Marble Columns.The firemen wear their self contained breathing apparatus.They begin to climb the ladder to go up in the bucket.From the window they flush what seems to be the main fire.Ready to go inside to check if someone is still in the apartment.It seems that nobody was there, so the worst part is now over.

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