Livorno

Historical Notes

Livorno is located along the coast of the Ligurian Sea and is one of the most important Italian ports, both as a commercial port and as a tourist hub, an industrial center of national importance.

Among all the Tuscan cities it is usually considered the most modern, although in its territory there are several historical, artistic and architectural testimonies that survived the massive bombing of World War II and the subsequent reconstruction.

The city, which developed considerably from the second half of the sixteenth century by the will of the Medici and later of the Lorena, was an important free port frequented by numerous foreign merchants, home to consulates and shipping companies. This contributed to asserting, since the end of the sixteenth century, the characteristics of a multiethnic and multicultural city par excellence, of which important vestiges survive, such as churches and national cemeteries, palaces, villas and public utility works inextricably linked to the names of the important foreign communities that they attended the free port until the second half of the nineteenth century.

Between the nineteenth century and the early twentieth century, parallel to the start of the industrialization process, Livorno was also a tourist destination of international importance due to the presence of renowned bathing and thermal establishments, which gave the city the nickname of Montecatini al mare.

The city is famous for hosting the Sanctuary of Montenero, named after the Madonna delle Grazie patron saint of Tuscany, as well as for having given birth to prestigious personalities such as Amedeo Modigliani, Pietro Mascagni, Giovanni Fattori, Carlo Azeglio Ciampi and many others.