An outdoor cafè overlooking the canal harbour of the New Venice district with moored boats in summer, Livorno, Tuscany, Italy


At the end of the sixteenth century the Medici decreed the expansion of the then castle of Livorno in order to make it the new port of Tuscany. The projects were entrusted to Bernardo Buontalenti, who designed a city of pentagonal shape surrounded by a moat. Soon the town proved insufficient to contain the population, attracted by a series of benefits and privileges promoted by the Grand Duke Ferdinand I; for this and for the necessity to equip the city of a mercantile quarter placed in direct communication with the port, in the XVII century it was decided to build a new urban nucleus. The Sienese architect Giovanni Battista Santi designed a core of strong commercial value, with a series of warehouses and houses located just behind the port. The presence of numerous canals and the consequent need to build foundations on water, applying techniques imported directly from the Venetian lagoon (Venetian workers were hired), led to identify the district with the name of Venezia Nuova (New Venice).


Size: 4184px × 2825px
Location: Livorno, Tuscany, Italy
Photo credit: © Stella Zeri / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No

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