Tuscan Igloo

The sign outside this shop says “Idee per la casa” and means ideas for the house. This winter the Tuscan sun is not so warm, but we are not going to live in igloos for a while yet...

Happy New Year to everyone!

Forlorn Grand Duke

This is a monument to Leopold II, Grand Duke of Tuscany, by the Livornese sculptor Paolo Emilio Demi (1798-1863). The statue was damaged in the riots of 1849, kept in storage for about a century and then placed in “Piazza XX Settembre” in the years after the Second World War. Today it is sadly seen among the decrepit stalls of the “Mercatino Americano” (American Market), soon to be trasferred inside the area of the port.

Versione italiana

Silent Night

I took this photo few days ago from a bridge on the “Fosso Reale”, I liked the shot, but it has been somewhat left behind.
It was just before the holidays and everything was eerily calm in a not so quiet part of a not so quiet city. I liked that moment though it lasted only until the next scooter speeding down the street.

Attack of the Climbing Santas

A platoon of climbing Santas is storming this apartment in the city center. They are terribly late...
If you click and enlarge the photo you can count up to 19 Santas of different sizes, but probably more are hiding behind the parapet!

Toilet of Pisa

A trio of fancy portable toilets in “Via San Giovanni”. We can see the “Clock Tower of Westminster” for London on the left and the “Mona Lisa” for Paris on the right, with the middle toilet still showing the unmistakable remains of a “Leaning Tower of Pisa”. One could wonder at the wisdom of putting any Pisan iconography on a toilet in Livorno, due to the long-standing rivalry between the cities.

Versione italiana

Cavallotti Square

“Piazza Cavallotti” is our main open air market for fruits and vegetables, where vendors holler here and there offering their produce for the best price in town.
Here, in a building now replaced by more recent one, the composer Pietro Mascagni was born in 1863.

See also: Mascagni vs Puccini

Teddy Bear Wears a Bra

You can see this funny window display in a shop in “Via Grande”, which is literally Broad Street, the main street of Livorno.