| Livorno | |
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| — Comune — | |
| Comune di Livorno | |
| View of the Venice district of Livorno | |
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Livorno
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| Coordinates: | |
| Country | Italy |
| Region | Tuscany |
| Province | Livorno (LI) |
| Frazioni | Castellaccio, Gorgona, Limoncino, Quercianella, Valle Benedetta |
| Government | |
| • Mayor | Alessandro Cosimi |
| Area | |
| • Total | 104.8 km2 (40.5 sq mi) |
| Elevation | 3 m (10 ft) |
| Population (21 December 2009) | |
| • Total | 160,931 |
| • Density | 1,535.6/km2 (3,977.2/sq mi) |
| Demonym | Livornesi, also Labronici |
| Time zone | CET (UTC+1) |
| • Summer (DST) | CEST (UTC+2) |
| Postal code | 57100 |
| Dialing code | 0586 |
| Patron saint | Santa Giulia da Corsica |
| Saint day | May 22 |
| Website | Official website |
Livorno (Italian: [liˈvorno] ( listen)), traditionally Leghorn (English: /lɛɡ'hɔrn/,ˈlɛɡ.hɔrn/, /ˈlɛɡɔrn/),[1][2] is a port city on the Tyrrhenian Sea on the western coast of Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Livorno, having a population of approximately 160,000 residents in 2009.
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Livorno was defined as an "ideal town" during the Italian Renaissance. Today, it reveals its history through the structure of its neighbourhoods, crossed by canals and surrounded by fortified town walls, through the tangle of its streets, which embroider the town's Venice district, and through the Medici Port characteristically overlooked by towers and fortresses leading to the town centre. Designed by the architect Bernardo Buontalenti at the end of the 16th century, Livorno underwent a period of great town planning expansion at the end of the 17th century. Near the defensive pile of the Old Fortress, a new fortress, together with the town-walls and the system of navigable canals, was then built.
In the late 1580s, Ferdinando I of Tuscany declared Livorno a porto Franco, which meant that the goods traded here were duty free. The Leggi Livornine were laws in force between 1590 and 1603. These laws helped the trading activities of the merchant, freedom of religion and amnesty for some penance. Thanks to these laws, Livorno became a cosmopolitan city and one of the most important ports of the entire Mediterranean area. Many foreigners moved to Livorno; Frenchmen, Dutch, English, Greeks and Jews were among those who relocated to live and trade. Much later, during the 18th century, some Moriscos (Muslim Spaniards forcibly converted to Catholicism) also moved to Livorno from Spain. On 19 March 1606, the Granduca di Toscana Ferdinando I de' Medici, in the Fortezza Vecchia Chapel of Saint Francis of Assisi elevated Livorno to the rank of city.
During the Napoleonic Wars, trade with Britain was prohibited and the economy of Livorno suffered greatly. Then, in 1868, after Livorno became part of the new Kingdom of Italy, it lost its status of a free port and the city's importance declined.
The Venice district retains much of its original town planning and architectural features such as the bridges, narrow lanes, the noblemen's houses and a dense network of canals which once linked the port to its storehouses. In the 18th and 19th centuries, Livorno, by then grown up and open to the world, had a lively appearance marked by neo-classical buildings, public parks housing important museums and cultural institutions, "Liberty" villas with sea views and the market.
The Museo Mascagnano houses memorabilia, documents and operas by the great composer Pietro Mascagni. Every year some of his operas are traditionally played during the lyric music season, which is organised by the Traditional Theatre of Livorno. Also the “Terrazza Mascagni”, a walkway divided from the sea by a handrail, is named in honor to Pietro Mascagni.
Up in the hills the Sanctuary of Montenero, which is dedicated to Our Lady of Graces, the patron saint of Tuscany, is a fixed destination for pilgrims. It is famous for the adjacent gallery, decorated with ex-voti mainly connected to stories of miraculous sea rescue.
The "Monumento dei quattro mori" ("Monument of the Four Moors"), dedicated to Grand Duke Ferdinando I de' Medici of Tuscany, is one of the most important monuments of Livorno. An important square, the Piazza della Repubblica, contains two important monuments of Italian politicians. The square is also a bridge, under which there lies a large canal.
Another important monument is an old red-brick fortress "Fortezza Nuova" which, in Medici times, defended the city from attack by pirates. Its three bastions are named “Capitana”, “Ampolletta” and “Canaviglia”. The original fortress was built before the Renaissance. A later one was constructed at the end of the 16th century.
Politically, Livorno is one of the most left-leaning cities of Italy. The Communist Party of Italy was founded in Livorno on 21 January 1921.
The leghorn variety of chicken was named after the city. This in turn gave its name to the cartoon character Foghorn Leghorn. The city also lent its name to a kind of fine plaited straw produced there and, by extension, to the leghorn hats made from the material.
Tuaca liqueur is produced in Livorno as is Galliano. The city also has a substantial petrochemical industry. The port is the focus of a substantial tourism industry in which thousands of cruise-ship passengers are transported by fleets of buses to inland destinations, notably to Florence. However, since the beginning of 20th century Livorno has been more famous for the Orlando Shipyard, where most famously in 1911 the armored cruiser "Georgios Averof", the flagship of the Greek Navy during its victorious battles against Turks in the Balkan Wars and World War I, was built.
The nearest airport is the main airport of Tuscany, Pisa's Galileo Galilei Airport, which is about twenty kilometers away.
The city is served by Livorno Centrale station.
Livorno has a football team in Serie B, A.S. Livorno Calcio.
Livorno inhabitants speak a variant of the Italian Tuscan dialect, known as a vernacolo. The satirical comic-style magazine printed mainly in the Livornese dialect, called Il Vernacoliere, founded in 1982, is now nationally distributed.[3]
The first Greeks who settled in Livorno early in the 16th century were former mercenaries in the fleet of Cosimo de' Medici and their descendants. This community increased and became significant in the 18th and 19th centuries when Livorno became one of the principal hubs of the mediterranean trade.[4] Most of the new Greek immigrants came from Western Greece, Chios, Epirus and Asia Minor. Thanks to the duty-free policy (port franc) and the facilities for long-term storage of levantine goods and grains, until the late 19th century Livorno enjoyed a strong strategic position with respect to Greek entrepreneurial interests in the Black Sea, the Mediterranean, and the North Atlantic. The hostile trade environment created by the Anglo-French confrontation in the Mediterranean (port embargoes, piracy, confiscation of cargoes etc.) turned to an advantage of the Greek merchants who were willing to take the risk. By 1820’s the Greek community of entrepreneurs gradually replaced the British, Dutch, French and other merchants who left the city. The grain market, banking and ship-broking were their main activities. Cargoes of wheat from Black Sea were first received to Livorno, re-shipped to England and ships came back to Livorno full of textiles and other industrial goods, to be shipped again to Alexandria and other destinations in Ottoman Empire. A large part of this trade was in the hands of Chiots. A 1839 report says that in Livorno were no more than ten major commercial houses, all of them foreign, Greek and Jewish.[5]
The Greek community (nazione) had also a distinctive cultural and social identity based on their common religion, language and history. In 1775 they established the Confraternity of Holy Trinity (Confraternita della SS.Trinita) and the Chiesa della Santissima Trinita, the first non-catholic church in Tuscany.[6] A Greek school was also established and scholarships for higher studies were awarded to young Greeks from Peloponnesus, Epirus, Chio or Smyrna. The community helped financially the Greek Revolution of 1821 and various Greek communities in the Ottoman Empire and in Italy. Benefactions were directed to non-Greeks, too. The Rodocanachi family financed the “School of Mutual Education” established in Livorno by the pedagogist Enrico Mayer and the community participated in the establishment of a school for poor catholic children. Distinguished members of the Greek community (e.g. members of the Papoudoff, Maurogordatos, Rodocanachi, Tossizza and other families) were granted titles of nobility by the local governing authorities.
The Greek community declined in late 19th century as from 1/1/1868 the privileges of the Livorno port ceased.[7]
Livorno is twinned with:
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