Livorno

Tuscany’s underappreciated port

Livorno (Leghorn in older English sources) has never been a pretty city in the conventional Tuscan sense — no medieval towers, no hilltop profile, no Medici art hoard. What it has is character: a grid-planned Renaissance new town built from scratch under Cosimo I in the 1570s, a network of canals (the “Venezia Nuova” quarter), a tradition of religious tolerance that made it a refuge for Jews, Greeks, Armenians and English merchants in the 16th-17th centuries, and the best fish stew in Tuscany.

It is not on most tourist itineraries. That omission increasingly seems like a mistake.

Getting there

From Florence: Direct Intercity train from SMN, approximately 1h20-1h40. Tickets €10-15.

From Pisa: 20-25 minutes by regional train. Some visitors combine a morning at the Leaning Tower with an afternoon in Livorno.

By car: From Florence via the A1 to Pisa and then SS1, approximately 1h15.

The Venezia Nuova quarter

Built between the 17th and 18th centuries on reclaimed land, the Venezia Nuova is Livorno’s most distinctive neighbourhood — a network of canals lined with ochre-coloured houses, crossed by bridges, with boats moored along the residential embankments. It’s smaller and less theatrical than Venice (and the comparison is slightly overblown) but genuinely picturesque and almost completely unvisited by international tourists.

The area around Piazza della Repubblica and the Fortezza Vecchia (the old fortification at the harbour mouth, now partly accessible) gives the best sense of old Livorno.

The Jewish quarter and history of tolerance

Livorno was unique in Counter-Reformation Europe: the Medici Livornina decree of 1593 granted complete religious freedom to all who settled in the new city. This attracted Jewish merchants expelled from Spain and Portugal, Greek Orthodox Christians, Armenians and English Protestants. The result was one of the most cosmopolitan cities in early modern Italy.

The historic synagogue (Via del Tempio) and the surrounding Jewish quarter are visible reminders of this history. The community produced important figures in Italian culture: Amedeo Modigliani, the painter, was born in Livorno in 1884 (there is a small Modigliani museum in the city).

Cacciucco

Cacciucco alla livornese is the signature dish — a thick fish stew made with at least five varieties of fish and shellfish, cooked in tomato sauce and served over toasted bread rubbed with garlic. The origin is claimed to be Livornese; it differs from Marseille’s bouillabaisse in the use of tomato and the thickness of the base.

In Livorno, cacciucco is taken seriously. Restaurants vary widely in quality; the best versions involve fresh local fish and require at least 45 minutes to prepare properly.

Recommended restaurants:

• Cantina Nardi (Via Leonardo Cambini 6): Long-established, unpretentious; honest cacciucco.
• Ristorante Oscar (Via delle Cateratte 78): Reliable seafood, local following.
• Il Sottomarino (Via Terrazzini): More tourist-aware but still genuine; good baccalà (salt cod).

The Tuscan Archipelago ferries

Livorno is the main ferry port for the Tuscan Archipelago — the chain of islands (Elba, Giglio, Capraia, Gorgona, Pianosa, Montecristo) that run south along the Tyrrhenian coast. Moby Lines and Corsica Ferries also connect Livorno to Corsica and Sardinia.

Elba (Napoleon’s first exile island) is accessible in 1 hour by fast ferry from Livorno. Capraia is a protected island with outstanding diving. These connections make Livorno a useful practical transit point if you’re combining Tuscany with island time.

Practical notes

Livorno has a fully functional city centre (the grid plan makes it easy to navigate) with markets, restaurants, cafés and shops at genuine local prices. It is not pretty in the way that Lucca or Siena are pretty, but it is real — and the combination of the canal quarter, the seafood and the cultural history makes a half-day visit more rewarding than its absence from most travel guides suggests.