Tours A Livorno @en

Tuscany Little Venice

Description

We will guide you through an enchanting tour of the most characteristic quarter of Livorno, Venezia Nuova (New Venice), famous for its canals, arching bridges, and ornate merchant palaces. A unique place, rich in history and fascinating anecdotes, built upon the water by Venetian engineers carrying out a Medicean dream.

Constructed over the waters north of Livorno between 1629 an 1700, the quarter was full of rich merchant houses of every foreign nation in cosmopolitan Livorno. These were the same merchants who petitioned the Grand duke to grant them space to construct palaces and warehouses in order to furnish the port, which was already becoming one of the most important in the Mediterranean, with all its provisions.

Protected from the west and east by its two Medicean fortresses, we will visit the sector of the city which became the coffer of the riches of all the world which arrived in Tuscany. It is a unique neighborhood, and was much admired by intelligentsia and aristocrats on their Grand Tours. Today it retains the atmosphere of that era, with its canals, shops and cellars on the water, and an architectural system tailor-made for commerce. Gliding along the canals, we will explore the ancient artisanal traditions of the boatmen, sailors, barrel-makers, and porters who lived, worked, and traded secrets in Little Venice. You’ll become acquainted with its lively and charismatic inhabitants, among whom were smugglers and pirates in the pay of the Grand dukes who rubbed shoulders with the rich merchants and noblemen whose grand palaces often hosted members of the European aristocracy. 

We will admire the unusual architecture of an exemplary 18th century merchant palace under the shadow of the majestic octagonal dome of the church of Saint Catherine of Siena, which for three centuries has graced the Livornese skyline. We will conclude our tour at the entrance of the New Fortress of Livorno, an island completely surrounded by the city’s principal moat and canal, the Fosso Reale, and last remnant of the five original bulwarks of this fortified city, the famous pentagon of Bernardo Buontalenti.

Prices

Length: approximately 1 hour*

Cost : 120 €

* Indicates the duration of a standard tour, which can be shortened or lengthened according to your wishes and compatibility with the type of excursion.

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23 March 2015 in Senza categoria @en, Tours A Livorno @en

Avenue of the Nations

Description

Thanks to the Livornine Laws, Livorno in the 17th century became famous as the “City of the Nations.” One street in particular remains to this day, with its unusual churches, a living testimony of the cosmopolitan city born of the visionary courage of the Medici family.

Via della Madonna, in which just a few meters apart lie three 18th century church, is a symbol in spirit and in stone of the conviviality between Livorno’s minority communities protected by the Grand duke’s extension of religious tolerance in the port city. The Armenian community’s church was dedicated to Saint Gregory the “Illuminatore” in 1716 and features a striking marble baroque façade, and which recalls the wealthy, powerful merchants, sumptuously dressed and turbaned, who together with the Jewish Community connected Tuscany to the commerce of the East. The next is the 17th century church of the Madonna, maintained by the Minor Franciscans, who (which?) in essence constituted a direct link between Tuscany and the Holy Land.

Inside one may admire the marble altars erected by the foreign Catholic communities of Livorno, including the French, Portuguese, Corsican and Dutch-German. The altars feature magnificent paintings of the communities’ respective patron saints, produced by some of the most important artists of the time, including Giovanni Bilivert, Matteo Rosselli, and Francesco Curradi. In addition to various members of the foreign nations, the famous Flemish sculptor François Duquesnoy is buried in the church.

The final stop on the tour is the Greek Uniate (Eastern Catholic or Byzantine) church, whose community populated Livorno from the early 1500s. The interior features splendid examples of Greek icons, including a remarkable 17th century piece, of the Eastern Church tradition. The tour consists of a voyage somewhere between art and history which explores the lives and traditions of these communities which were so important to realizing the commercial ventures of the Medici family.

Prices

Length: 1 hour 15 minutes, approximately*

Cost: 120 €

The churches are ordinarily open mornings until noon. Contact us should you have other time restraints.

* Indicates the duration of a standard tour, which can be shortened or lengthened according to your wishes and compatibility with the type of excursion.

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12 March 2015 in Senza categoria @en, Tours A Livorno @en

Fattori Museum

Description

A visit of discovery of the works of Giovanni Fattori and other founders of the Macchiaioli art movement, currently house in the ornate Villa Mimbelli, one of the fabulous suburban residences of a rich 19th century Livornese merchant erected beyond the confines of the Medicean canal city.

The Macchiaiolo was one of the most important movements 19th century art history, founded in 1856 at Caffè Michelangelo in Florence by a group of young artists who, in conflict with contemporary academic tastes, sought to depict real life in their works. Macchiaioli technique, which stressed painting subjects outdoors in natural light, paved the way for successive revolutions in painting both in Italy and abroad. Many of the group’s members spent time in Paris, where they came into contact with some of the greatest figures in French painting who in short time would witness the birth of Impressionism.

Besides the large canvas format paintings of Fattori, which feature heroes of military battles and the cowboys of the Maremma, the museum also features important works by such masters of the movement as Silvestro Lega, Telemaco Signorini, Vincenzo Cabianca, and Serafino De Tivoli, among others. One floor of the villa is dedicated to Postmacchiaioli artists, who were often the pupils of Macciaioli maters, but who distinguished themselves from their advisors by following post-impressionist paths, from symbolism to divisionism (Chromoluminarism). Among their number was a young Livornese man who would attain great fame only after his death: Amedeo Modigliani. An example of his younger period work is also preserved in the Fattori Museum collection.

The villa itself renders the visit yet more fascinating. Constructed by Francesco Mimbelli, a rich merchant of Dalmatian origins, the villa is a jewel of eclectic style, and features a Turisk salon, a splendid hall of mirrors, and multiple frescoed, stuccoed halls rich with elegantly carved cabinets and furniture. Our tour will explore these rooms of a bygone gilded age, narrating the history of the Macchiaioli movement and exploring the lives of the artists and various characters jealously guarded the techniques and secrets of their trade. Each work of art becomes a window unto the past, revealing scenes of life from a world now long disapppeared, but still vibrantly alive in the art of the Masters of the Macchia.

Prices

Length: 1 hour 40 minutes, approximately*

Cost: 120 € not including the Museum entrance ticket

Museum tickets:

Standard: 4 euros

Reduced: 2.50 € (school groups of a minimum of 15 people. Reservation required).

Children under the age of 6 and disable persons: free.

Hours:

From Tuesday to Sunday, 10:00-13:00, 16:00-19:00.

Closed: Monday, New Year’s Day, Easter, May 1, August holidays, Christmas.

* Indicates the duration of a standard tour, which can be shortened or lengthened according to your wishes and compatibility with the type of excursion.

 

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12 March 2015 in Senza categoria @en, Tours A Livorno @en

In the footsteps of St. Elizabeth Seton

Description

During a cold winter day in 1803, Elizabeth Ann Seton, a young protestant American, arrived in the port of Livorno. In this Tuscan city she embarked upon a path of religous conversion which would lead her to become the first American saint in history and to form the first female religious community founded in the United States.

After a long ocean crossing, the Seton family members Elizabeth and William with their daughter Annina arrived in Livorno with the hope that the Mediterranean climate would help cure William of a respiratory affliction. They were brought to Livorno by virtue of the international connections of commercial which had always linked this city of the Nations to the rest of the world. William however died shortly after arrival, and Elizabeth, left alone with her daughter, was welcomed into the home of the Filicchi brothers, Filippo Filicchi being the United States consul in Livorno.

We will journey through the events and places that shaped the life of the young American, reconstructed from her diaries, letters, and memorials conversed in the city of Livorno. We’ll depart from Livorno’s seaside, where a stone marker lies a few meters from the sea attached to the wall of the church of Saint James “in Acquaviva,” which recounts the time the Seton family spent in quarantine in the Lazzaretto. We will visit the famous Venezia Nuova quarter where we will visit the 18th century palace in which Elizabeth and her daughter were hosted by the Filicchi.

From there we will retrace the same path which still connects the Filicchi home to the church of Saint Catherine of Siena where the young Elizabeth, despite being of the Anglican faith, daily sought refuge. Under the great frescoed dome of the church built in 1720 by the Dominican order, we will visit same baroque alter where Elizabeth, deep in prayer, felt her first calling to convert to the Roman Catholic faith. Our tour concludes with a visit to the hilltop Sanctuary of the Madonna of Montenero, Patron of Livorno and of Tuscany, and a place where religious revelation helped transform Seton into the first American saint in history.

Prices

Length: approximately 3 hours* including the bus trip** between the first and last stops of the tour

Cost: 120 €

We recommend, if you are interested, concluding the tour with a visit to the church dedicated to Saint Elizabeth Seton, where just recently the remains of her husband William Seton were transferred from the old English cemetery and dedicated with a religious ceremony.

* Indicates the duration of a standard tour, which can be shortened or lengthened according to your wishes and compatibility with the type of excursion.

**The price does not include the cost of the bus ticket or other methods of transportation.

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12 March 2015 in Senza categoria @en, Tours A Livorno @en