Improvised pit stop in “Via delle Sorgenti” (Springs Street) for this resourceful “Ape” driver: he pushed the car up on a side and stuck a piece of wood there, to keep it up. Not so safe, but workable...
No more time to sit in the shadow of a palm tree, the grass is drenched and there is no more sun to worry about.
The stern of a boat of the “Vigili del Fuoco” (Fire Brigade) coming back to the old harbor, coasting the “Fortezza Vecchia”. It's not every day you see the bow of a ship coming straight toward you, even if she was only maneuvering and I was safe on a robust pier.
Yesterday was a day of torrential rain, the first after months of dry weather. Summer is slowly going away taking with her the cruise ships, while the big yachts are coming home after a season of chartering around the Mediterranean.
Fortresses have secrets and the “Fortezza Nuova” is no exception. Guarded by hundreds of cats, here are safely stored in a cellar the almost sacred “gozzi” for the “Palio Marinaro”.
Every quarter has its own boat for year-round training purposes, usually kept in the “cantine” facing the canals. But, for the “Palio” and the other major rowing competitions, the crews must use the original “gozzi” stored here.
I have never seen before this curved tunnel leading to the water, with its stashed boats and neatly arranged oars, but I really think that somebody ought to fix this place up and open it to the public.
One of the few things I like of “Effetto Venezia” is that you can see the inside of churches which are always closed outside the Mass schedule. At night not much light is filtering inside so, with lamps and candles only, the photos are quite dark.
Inside the church of “San Ferdinando” the most interesting work is a statue, placed just behind the main altar, called “Gli schiavi liberati” (The liberated slaves) by the sculptor Giovanni Baratta.
The statue describing an angel freeing two slaves symbolizes the work of the Trinitarian Fathers, whose full denomination was: Order of the Holy Trinity for the Ransom of Captives.
From the bastion above the main entrance we can see the polygonal dome of “Santa Caterina”, the pinkish building in the middle is another part of the Courthouse we saw a couple of days ago. Behind one of those windows, on the yellow building on the left, has his office our benefactor, my friend Stefano.
The view on the oversized bridge called “Piazza della Repubblica” with its Grand Dukes talking long distance, is almost perfect from above the fortress.
We can see “Porta San Marco” (Saint Mark Gate) through the whole length of “Via Solferino”. In 1849 this gate was the designed target of the old gun shown yesterday.
“San Marco-Pontino” is a quarter which takes its name from the old gate seen above and this inconspicuous bridge. In Italian “pontino” literally means small bridge.
Another bridge and some interesting buildings: the second on the right is “Palazzo Stub”, already seen some time ago.
My friend Stefano did another of his tricks and we are going to see something of the “Fortezza Nuova” from the inside. The fortress is closed to the public since last January, but the reasons behind this are more complicated than what was said at the time.
The fortress has an active and healthy feline population, clearly thriving in absence of humans. Kitties are fed daily by voluntary caretakers and their number seems to be well over one hundred.
The inside of the fortress is on different levels, following the ancient ramparts with embankments and hollows. Two months without rain took their toll on the grass of the lawns.
An old gun on the northeastern rampart is pointed toward “Porta San Marco” (Saint Mark Gate) as a memento of the popular defence against the Austrian troops in May 1849.
The skeleton of a giant tepee rises near a playground on the side toward “Piazza della Repubblica”. It was usually covered to offer some shade to the parents attending the kids.
Nice window, it isn't? Better not be looking the world from there, because this is the “Corte d'Assise”, the relatively more recent part of the “Palazzo di Giustizia” (Courthouse) of Livorno.
The year of construction, written on the facade in Latin form, is 1880. The building has been recently restored.
