Tuscany - Province of Livorno (islands excluded)

Given the proximity to where I live I have had occasion to go to the Province of Livorno several times and not always for tourism. Rather than an itinerary I will try to give some impressions of the places which in my view are of greatest interest. The provincial capital is rather peripheral with respect to the province; it was founded by Florence as a military and commercial port. The large rectangular Piazza della Repubblica is practically a bridge built over one of the city's many moats; one of its sides in fact looks onto the wide canal that surrounds the Fortezza Nuova of Renaissance times, whose bastions have been turned into a city park. Walking through the Venezia Nuova district and following the moat one comes to the smaller Fortezza Vecchia, whose bastions are partly washed by the sea.

The fort is close to the Port, one of the most important in Italy both militarily and commercially. The real centre of present-day Livorno, however, lies between Piazza Grande, with its modest cathedral, and Via Cairoli. The old town is practically an island surrounded by moats and washed by the sea, connected to the mainland only by the bridge formed by Piazza della Repubblica. Right on the side facing the Port is the famous monument to the four Moors. The real Livorno seafront, however, lies south of this almost pentagonal island, where the port structures give way to the elegant Terrazza Mascagni and to some bathing establishments very much in vogue in the early 1900s. Here is also the Aquarium, run by the same company that looks after the one in Genoa; it cannot compete with its Ligurian "brother" but it is pleasant to spend an hour there.

Further on, the Naval Academy trains officers of the Navy and is the base of the famous sailing ship Amerigo Vespucci, considered by many the most beautiful ship in the world. On the nearby hills rises the hamlet of Montenero with its Marian Sanctuary. The Madonna of Montenero is much venerated and is the patron of Tuscany, and inside the church there are very many ex-votos donated by those who have received grace. In the village, reachable also by a rack railway from the valley below, there are grottoes open to visitors but without particular concretions. Returning to the coast, the coastal road leaving Livorno continues south skirting the cliff and two small castles before reaching the tourist resort of Castiglioncello, equipped with a small tourist harbour and lush vegetation.

Continuing south, the seaside resort of Marina di Cecina hosts the Acqua Village, which together with the twin water park of Follonica is the largest structure of its kind in Tuscany. Continuing south one reaches San Guido; from here a road lined with famous cypresses leads inland to the characteristic rural village of Bolgheri, entirely surrounded by countryside and grown up around its castle. Bolgheri is linked to the memory of the poet Giosuè Carducci, who lived here and dedicated a beautiful poem to its cypresses. Returning towards the sea, in the area between Donoratico and Marina di Castagneto Carducci, is the largest amusement park in Tuscany, the "Cavallino Matto". Set inside a pinewood, although it cannot compete with the better-known Gardaland it is certainly enjoyable.

If you come this far it is worth taking a stroll along the seafront of Marina di Castagneto Carducci too, since it lies just after the pinewood that hosts the park. A little further south is San Vincenzo, another seaside resort, and inland the towns of Venturina and Suvereto. Almost at the edge of the Maremma, the port of Piombino is the departure point for ferries to the Island of Elba, the largest in the Tuscan Archipelago and the third in Italy (see itinerary Tuscan Archipelago).