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About Livorno
Choose Livorno for a Spring Break and get a New Slant on Tuscany
Calling all Lovers of Italy
With Easter over and done with by the end of March this year, April and May look set to be ideal months for a spring holiday, a short break to somewhere unexplored, somewhere like Livorno.
Livorno offers a new slant on Tuscany
.medium.JPG "B&B Villa Panicucci, Montenero, Livorno")
B&B Villa Panicucci, Montenero, LivornoLivorno is only a 20 minute drive from Pisa airport which is connected to many local airports throughout Europe. Many will fly into Pisa and head for the famous Tuscan cities like Florence and Lucca, but why not take a new slant on Tuscany and come to Livorno? Fly into Pisa and pick up a hire car, and you could stay at one of the B&Bs or agriturismi that lie in the surrounding area - just a few miles from the city centre – thereby enjoying a peaceful setting without having to give up the facilities available in the city of Livorno with its restaurants, shops and theatres.
Even if you have been to Italy, or even Tuscany, several times before, you will be pleasantly surprised by Livorno, a sometimes scruffy but likeable place, an unpretentious and unjustly ignored port town which has a lot to offer the visitor seeking a different perspective on Tuscany.
What to Expect from Livorno
Think of Tuscany, and Livorno might not be the first place that comes to mind. Even its English name, Leghorn, doesn’t ring a bell to many. And yet Livorno is Tuscany’s third largest city after Florence and Prato, with a lively population of around 156,000 and an extremely favourable position on the Tuscan coast. It is a busy port and the city lies on a series of wide canals giving it an atmosphere that is unique in Tuscany. It has a great food market and some excellent fish restaurants and, despite extensive war damage, still retains many fascinating points of interest which together recount the town’s four-hundred years of history.
A beautiful weekend in Livorno.
Some Practical Information for Your Stay in Livorno
Tourist Information Kiosk in Piazza del Comune: Drop-off and pick-up point for the cruise shuttle buses.Getting from your Cruise Ship to the Centre of Livorno:
If your cruise ship docks at one of Livorno's industrial wharfs, there will be a cruise shuttle bus service into town which drops off and picks up opposite Livorno town hall, just behind Piazza Grande. There is a Tourist Information Kiosk here where you can get maps and other information about Livorno. Some of the smaller cruise ships dock in the old Medici Port (Porto Mediceo) which is within easy walking distance from the town centre of Livorno.
Visiting Livorno, A Surprisingly Un-Tuscan City.
The Tuscan Countryside near LivornoSo much to see in Tuscany
Visitors to Tuscany are spoilt for choice. So much to see, so little time! Renaissance Florence, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, Lucca with its splendid walls and medieval churches, Siena’s Gothic Cathedral and the Palio...the list is all too familiar, and it goes on and on. It can be hard to decide where to start and faced with all that choice, not many visitors think of spending some time in Livorno.
What People Have Said About Livorno
The following is a selection of quotes about Livorno from various people - from Charles Dickens to Australian travel writer Peter Moore - through the ages up until recent times. I have chosen them because in some way or another they ring true to me, even if they were written perhaps decades or even centuries ago. They all capture a certain aspect of Livorno, together summing up the essence of this Medici city by the sea. They are in chronological order, starting with the most recent:
What Time is Mass? A Guide to Church Services in Livorno
The question of Mass is a complicated one because times vary depending on the day of the week, the church and the season. This is a guide to winter church services 2007-08 in some of Livorno's churches.
Weekdays
8.30am: S. Agostino, Sant'Andrea Apostolo, San Jacopo in Acquaviva
9.00am: Sanctuary of Montenero, Santa Maria del Soccorso, SS. Pietro e Paolo
4.00pm: Sanctuary of Montenero
6.00pm: Duomo (Cathedral), Sant'Agostino, Sant'Andrea Apostolo, Santa Caterina (except Fridays when mass is at 10.30am), Santa Elisabetta Anna Seton, S. Jacopo in Acquaviva, Santa Maria del Soccorso, San Matteo
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