Livorno
©Stefano_Valeri/Shutterstock
Overview
Tuscany's third-largest city is a quintessential port town with a colourful history and cosmopolitan heritage. Declared a free port in the 17th century, Livorno (Leghorn in English) attracted traders from across the globe, who brought with them new customs and habits, exotic goods, slaves and foreign forms of worship. The result was a city famed throughout Europe for its multiculturalism. Today its seafood is the best on the Tyrrhenian coast, its shabby historic quarter threaded with Venetian-style canals is full of character, and its elegant belle époque buildings offer evocative reminders of a prosperous past. An easy train trip from Florence, Pisa and Rome, it makes an understated but undeniably worthwhile stop on any Tuscan itinerary.
Attractions
Must-see attractions
Santuario della Madonna di Montenero
Livorno
The story goes like this: in 1345, the Virgin Mary appeared to a shepherd, who led her to monte nero (black mountain), a haven of brigands. Needless to…
Livorno
No trip to Livorno is complete without a stroll along this seafront terrace with its dramatic black-and-white chessboard-style pavement. When it was built…
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Livorno
The highlight of a visit here is the 19th-century building. Known as Villa Mimbelli, it has an ornately decorated interior featuring an extraordinary…
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Livorno
Piccola Venezia is a tangle of small canals built during the 17th century, using Venetian methods of reclaiming land from the sea. At its heart sits the…
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Livorno
Livorno's seafront aquarium swims with black-tip reef and zebra sharks, seahorses, Madagascan spider tortoises, moon jellyfish and impressive green sea…
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Museo di Storia Naturale del Mediterraneo
Livorno
Livorno's Natural History Museum is beloved of school groups and families. The highlight of the permanent collection is a 20m-long whale skeleton called…
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Livorno
Laid out in 1854 to prettify the wasteland around the city's great water cistern (unveiled in 1842), this lush public park is a peaceful green oasis of…
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Livorno
Constructed between 1704 and 1714 but extensively damaged during WWII and subsequently rebuilt, this church was named after the King of Castile. Its…
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