The staircase of Ardenza

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A former Livornesi, now living in Sweden, told me his memories of the staircase of Ardenza. How he as a teenager used to take girls there for romantic sunsets. I would settle for watching the sea and the clouds 🙂

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A Moment

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The sea. Can you ever get enough watching it?

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Thursday

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I didn’t have to go far for this morning’s date. At a cafe in Piazza Attias I met Silvia who has written a book about the Acque della Salute and we discussed possible components for my Stockholm exhibition.

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Then we took a trip around abandoned villas in Montenero, the mountain overlooking Livorno from the south.

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Villa Maurogordato is the most derelict. The garden is made into a dog park so you can get quite close to the buildings. Humidity hit 95% and I had problems with condensation on the lenses. And on myself too…

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After our sightseeing I was dropped off in Ardenza which has a stunning boardwalk…

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and some stunning houses.

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After lunch I took three walks in different directions close to my house. First through a small giardino pubblico which rather grand entrance doesn’t quite correspond to the rest of the garden…

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… where I met this new friend who finally understood that I am from Sweden, not Switzerland.

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Then along the lovely Via degli Archi which in some parts reminded me of Copenhagen or Gothenburg.

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The grand Piazza della Vittoria  with the war monument which gave the former Piazza Magenta its new name. Which nobody seems to be using. It’s still Magenta.

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A church from the 1960’s who does free courses in Italian for foreign women in Livorno. Might come in handy, who knows?

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And finally a spectacular medieval castle in Via Calzabigi.

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I arrived just a little too late for the sunset at Terrazza Mascagni, forgetting how quickly dusk falls here in the South…

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Wednesday

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Wednesday morning I had an appointment to photograph inside the temporarily closed Fortezza Nuova, the New Fortress which is marginally younger than the Old Fortress, both from the 16th century.  From the ramparts one has great views over the city, I’ll post some of these later.

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I met my friend Alina (who I know from Instagram) and she took me for the most wonderful car trip southward. First we stopped for lunch in Ardenza. Walking the windy piers was gorgeous after the sticky humidity yesterday.

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Fish and seafood are the specialties of Livorno. I managed to reject the suggested mussels (I hate mussels!) and instead we had this grilled fish (what was the name again??) which was very good.  The restaurant was right by the sea and for two blissful hours my trip actually felt totally like a holiday.

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Our southbound journey continued and we made a few stops along the way to get out and admire the landscape. Here is a famous and very old tree in Antignano, immortalized by the 19th century artists of Livorno.

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Calafuria, the 16th century defense tower at the wild rocks of Quercianella where people swim in Summer. Hard to believe a day like this, when the waves are merciless and the streams would easily drag you down into the depths. But such a beautiful spot!

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The white beach of Vada was the next lovely stop. We had the vast stretch of land all to ourselves. Only a few small buildings and half buried items sticking out of the sand reminded of the number of visitors here at other times.

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Just by chance  we stumbled upon this old cemetery in Cecina.  Graveyard glory galore.  Terrific place!

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Final stop for today and the actual goal for our trip: An old sugar factory in Cecina which Alina had fallen in love with, written an art project about but never actually seen. We were so lucky to be able to talk our way inside the fences. ..

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Driving north again at dusk, passing other lovely houses that we save for next time. Here Castello del Boccale, a 19th century Medieval style villa now divided into apartments. Something to think about maybe?

Thank you so much Alina, for this wonderful afternoon!

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