Rain in June

Under a bench, watching the rain, Piazza Attias. (Already posted on Instagram)
Sotto una panchina, guardando la pioggia, piazza Attias. (Già pubblicato su Instagram)

Studying Sealife

Studying sealife, Terrazza Mascagni.
Studiando la vita marina, Terrazza Mascagni.

Beach in Fall

A small beach at the wall of the Accademia Navale (Naval Academy).
Una spiaggetta al muro dell'Accademia Navale.

Guard Dog

One of two dogs guarding a gate in Via dell'Ambrogiana. (Already posted on Instagram)
Uno di due cani di guardia ad un cancello in via dell'Ambrogiana. (Già pubblicato su Instagram)

Santa and the Poodle

A curious composition in Viale Petrarca.
Una composizione curiosa in Viale Petrarca.

Curious Dogs

Not sure about what they were watching on Christmas Day, in Piazza Attias.

See also: Piazza Attias - The Big Red A - The New Attias - A Like Attias

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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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Guard Dogs

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

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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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Dogs on the Roof

We have already seen a couple of strange statues on a roof, but these are the ones I like best. The building is on Scali delle Cantine and faces the Fortezza Nuova.

See also: Busti on the Roof - Scali delle Cantine - Fortezza Nuova

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Behind Bars

This portrait of a very composed dog is our out-of-jurisdiction photo for this week. It was shot in Lucca, in Piazza San Martino, in March 2012.

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The Dog and I

A front door in Via Giovannetti, with an English Cocker Spaniel and a tiny reflection of myself...

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Theme Day: Silhouette

A shop window in “Via Grande”.

Click here to view thumbnails for all participants

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Friendly Guys

Somewhere in Livorno: “Beware of the dog, of the master and of the whole family”.

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Theme Day: Fences

The fence of the off-leash dog area in “Piazza della Vittoria”.

Click here to view thumbnails for all participants

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43 Dogs, 109 Cats

“43 dogs, 109 cats thank you for a little or big help. Thank you”
(Effetto Venezia 2011)

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Fides

On the weather vane on top of the Town Hall of Livorno we can see the Latin word “Fides” (trust). In 1496 Maximilian I, the Holy Roman Emperor, was at war with the Florentine Republic, so an imperial army laid siege to Livorno to cut Florence access to the sea, while a fleet blockaded the port. Hundreds of peasants from the boroughs aronnd the town, tired of past destruction, volunteered to join the defense.A legend says that a “villano” (peasant), Guerrino of Montenero, distinguished himself leading his men in the defence of the old fort. It seems that he even shot with a falconet the Emperor himself, barely missing and tearing one of his brocade sleeves. After three weeks of siege some unespected help came with a “libecciata” (gale force wind) that destroyed part of the imperial fleet and ravaged the camp of the assailants, leading the Emperor to end his siege.The grateful Florence gave the Livornesi the right to fly a standard with “Fides” written on it, a word that now shows up on every coat of arms of Livorno. A first monument “al villano” (to the peasant) was then erected at the bastion successfully defended by Guerrino and his men: the work represented a man with a dog, as a symbol of trust. The statue we see today is the third incarnation of the monument: it is a work of Vitaliano De Angelis and Giulio Guiggi and was erected in “Largo Fratelli Rosselli” in 1956 to replace a more ancient artifact lost in the last war.

See also: Town Hall
External links: Maximilian I - Holy Roman Emperor - Republic of Florence - Falconet (Wikipedia)

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Encounter

Late afternoon of a sunny day, on the Scali d'Azeglio.