A chessboard promenade on the sea and the city of cacciucco
Livorno is the most unconventional city in Tuscany: a port created by the Medici at the end of the sixteenth century, open to merchants and refugees of every faith, which gave it a free, ironic, cosmopolitan spirit. The Venezia Nuova quarter, crossed by canals and bridges, can be explored by boat, passing beneath palaces and the walls of the Fortezza Vecchia.
On the seafront, the Terrazza Mascagni, named after the composer of Cavalleria Rusticana born here, is a sweeping promenade paved like a chessboard with over 34,000 black and white tiles, with a balustrade of 4,100 small columns. At sunset, the islands of Gorgona and Capraia stand out on the horizon.
Tip: taste the cacciucco, the rich fish soup with toasted garlic bread, and the ponce alla livornese, coffee with rum served in a small glass, in one of the historic bars near the port.
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