I’ve been to Livorno, and I saw

Livorno is situated on the Gulf of Genoa. To get there involved:

waking up

taking a train to Pisa

changing to another train to Livorno.

Now, I won’t say I’m a lazy tourist, but why can’t they sort of cluster all the attractions in one or two blocks, very near the train station. If I was in charge of city planning, that’s how I’d do it. I walked, trudged, shuffled for 45 minutes before I found the centre of the city. And, I just knew I’d lose my way on the return trip. And, I did.

Anyhow, Livorno has a canal running from the Gulf through part of the city. It disappeared under a big piazza, I didn’t find out where it emerges again. I’d like to have the boat parking franchise here.

There’s a huge Central market building on one side of the canal. I’ll bet it’s busy during opening hours.

Jane, another indistinct stemma for you!

Livorno is such a copy cat. It has its own Arsenale, just like Venice. It doesn’t look quite as ancient though.

The copy-cat Arsenale

Being a seaside town, it’s not surprising there were signs that folks do some fishing here.

So, then I headed for home, via the shopping district. The porticoes seem relatively modern, including pavement that needs repairs.

One of the best things I saw was the Cisternino … Little Cistern.

Here, you can read all about it yourself.

No Italian city is complete without some sort of bow to Garibaldi, and Livorno is no exception.

I saw other stuff too, but I was in a bad mood by then with all the walking and dodging of traffic that was needed.

The walk back to the station seemed to take forever, and it’s no doubt because I went in a zig-zag manner, instead of straight. Then, I discovered the hard way what “Lato ovest” means. They have skilfully hidden little extra tracks for some of the trains, and the one back to Pisa was in this category. So, I missed the first train, and finally found the next one behind the toilets and some shrubs.

Ah, Italy, you always provide humbling learning experiences!