The Port of Livorno is one of the largest Italian seaports and one of the largest seaports in the Mediterranean Sea, with an annual traffic capacity of around 30 million tonnes of cargo and 700,000 TEU's.
The port is also an important employer in the area, with more than 15,000 employees who provide services to more than 7,000 ships every year.
The Port of Livorno is considered a major Italian port along the Tyrrhenian Sea Corridor, capable of handling all kinds of vessels (LoLo, RoRo, liquid bulk, dry bulk, cruise ships, ferryboats). The port mainly serves Tuscany, Emilia-Romagna, Umbria and Marche regions of Italy.
Description The Port of Livorno is situated on the Ligurian Sea,Mar Ligure Marina Militare in the north-western part of Tuscany. The harbour is divided in Porto Vecchio (Old Port) and Porto Nuovo (New Port) and is composed of four main basins.
Avamporto The Avamporto is a vast area outside the harbour bounded to the south by the Diga della Vegliaia, to the west by the Diga Curvilinea and to the east by the outer side of Molo Mediceo. This area include the Nuovo Bacino di Carenaggio (New dry dock) and Morosini Port used by Benetti shipyard.
Porto Vecchio Porto Vecchio (Old Port) occupies the southern part of the harbour and comprises: Porto Mediceo (Medicean Port), Vecchia Darsena (Old Dock), Nuova Darsena (New Dock), Bacino Cappellini (Cappellini Dock) and Bacino Firenze (Firenze Dock).
Bacino Santo Stefano Bacino Santo Stefano (St. Stephen basin) is bordered to the north by the Diga del Marzocco (Marzocco breakwater), to the west by the Diga della Meloria (Meloria breakwater) built in 1900, which is the straight extension of 550 meters of the Diga Curvilinea, the Alto Fondale dock, the Darsena Petroli (Oils Dock), the Darsena dei Calafati (Caulker Dock) and the first part of the waterway that bring to the Porto Industriale.
Porto Nuovo Porto Nuovo (New Port) is situated in the northern sector of the harbour and correspond to the Porto Industriale which enclose: the Darsena Toscana (Tuscany dock), the Darsena Inghirami (Inghirami dock), the Darsena Ugione (Ugione dock), the Canale Industriale (Industrial canal) and the Canale dei Navicelli.Porto di Livorno Avvisatore Marittimo
Porto Vecchio
Vecchia Darsena Vecchia Darsena (Old Dock) was a small basin besides to Vecchia Fortezza with the entrance toward south-west repaired on the west side by Andana degli Anelli. From here 12 galleys departed on June 8, 1571 to take part in the Battle of Lepanto.La Livornina The Vecchia Darsena is still operating and used as harbour from fishing boats and patrol vessels.
Porto Mediceo
Porto Mediceo is a fortified quadrangular perimeter once open towards north and is the oldest part of Port of Livorno. It was ordered by Cosimo I who called Bartolomeo Ammannati in 1572Dario Matteoni, Le città nella storia d’Italia Livorno, p.12, Edizioni Laterza e Belforte Editore Livorno for the project, but the construction was realized after his grand duchy. In the following years Claudio Cogorano, Antonio Cantagallina and Robert Dudley contributed to the project. The project involved the construction of wharfs with defensive walls to connect Fortezza Vecchia (Old Fortress) with the Fanale dei Pisani (Light of the Pisans).Scientific Itineraries in Tuscany
The first wharf has a whole length of 348 meters and was built under Ferdinando I, it is called Molo Ferdinando or Andana degli Anelli. The word Andana had at that time the meaning of vessels moored parallel to a wharf. Molo Ferdinando start from the inlet opening to the Vecchia Darsena (Old Dock), near the Fortezza Vecchia, until the second wharf perpendicular to it. This wharf is called Molo Cosimo or Andana delle Ancore for the reason that was built under Cosimo II. It has a length of 240 meters and finish before to reach the Fanale dei Pisani for the reason that the Sassaia reef blocked the construction. In this place was built a block-house called Fortino della Sassaia (Sassaia Fortress).
The third wharf is the perpendicular extension of the Molo Cosimo built from the Sassaia reef towards north-west, parallel to the coast line, in order to give a repair to the harbour, it is called Molo Mediceo (Medicean wharf) or Molo del Forte (Fortress wharf). It has a length of 470 meters and a width of 250 meters and has at its extremity a fortress, called Fortezza del Molo (Wharf Fortress), once equipped with 27 guns and 200 soldiers travelitalia in order to defend the port entrance and to maintain the harbour neutrality. It is evident that Porto Mediceo has had at that time an important military and strategic considerations in addition to those of commercial nature as it could accommodate 140 vessels.
Porto Mediceo remained with the plan unchanged until 1853 when was built the Diga Rettilinea.Livorno Port Authority, The historical development of the port of Livorno (Italy) and its new Port Plan 2010 in advance stage of elaboration p.9 This breakwater, that was not connected to the coastline, had the intent to protect the Medicean Port from the waves coming from north. At the end of the 19th century the Diga Rettilinea was connected to the land and a new dock, called Darsena del Mandraccio was built near Fortezza Vecchia. A new port plan was approved in 1906 and regarded the construction of two breakwaters: the Diga della Meloria and the Diga del Marzocco.Livorno Port Authority, The historical development of the port of Livorno (Italy) and its new Port Plan 2010 in advance stage of elaboration p.11
Nuova Darsena
The Cantiere navale fratelli Orlando was built by the Orlando family in 1866 on an area that until 1852 was occupied by Lazzeretto San Rocco next to Fosso Reale (Royal ditch). The canal in that place was enlarged and a dock, called San Rocco, was formed. The dock changed later name in Nuova Darsena (New Dock) and was connected to Porto Mediceo in order to allow to the ships to reach the shipyard and vice versa. A new slipway, called Scalo Umbria, was built on the south side of the basin and a dry dock was built on the north side. Nowadays this part of the shipbuilding is no longer in use and the warehouses and sheds have been dismantled and the area is undergoing a transformation to turn it into a residential area called Porta a Mare.
Porto Nuovo
Porto Industriale The construction of the new port started in 1910 when the new coastal railway line connecting Pisa with Rome was opened. Due to World War I the works were interrupted until 1922 when a variant to the Port Plan was proposed. It was planned by Coen Cagli regarding an enlargement of the port to the north of Bacino Santo Stefano inside the coastline with a series of canals and docks near the industrial facilities. The port was then rebuilt after the severe damage caused by World War II and a new plan was approved in 1953. It regarded the reconstruction of quays and their equipments, the construction of Darsena Petroli to allow the berthing of the tankers, a new wharf named Santo Stefano and Molo Italia 800 meters long and 150 meters wide. In the following years numerous variants to the plan were approved in order to adequate the port facilities and docks.Livorno Port Authority, The historical development of the port of Livorno (Italy) and its new Port Plan 2010 in advance stage of elaboration, p.11, 12, 13]
Canale dei Navicelli The Navicelli Channel is a channel built between 1563 and 1575 to connect Pisa with the port of Livorno. The name originates from the so-called navicelli, small sized Tuscan boats that transported goods on the channel.
Breakwaters
Diga della Vegliaia
The Diga della Vegliaia was built on the place called Vegliaia where there were cliffs at 460 metres from the coast. The breakwater has the aim to protect the southern entrance of the port by the prevailing winds. It was built from 1888 to 1900, has a rectilinear structure, a length of 490 meters and the direction of 105° - 285°.
Diga Curvilinea The last Grand Duke of Tuscany Leopold II ordered in 1852 the construction of the Diga Curvilinea (Curvilinear), called Molo Novo from the inhabitants, which delimits to the west the Avamporto. It is a massive construction, built on project by Victor Poirel, formed by a substructure made of artificial rocks while the upper part is surmounted by a wall that protects the Avamporto. The Diga Curvilinea was completed in 1863, it is situated at 800 meters from the harbour and 400 meters from the Fanale dei Pisani, has a length of 1,150 meters with a cord of 1,000 meters and an average width of 8.50 meters.travelitalia Avvisatore del Porto
Diga della Meloria The Diga della Meloria, which construction was approved in 1906, is the straight extension, 704 metres long, of the Diga Curvilinea toward north-west with the aim to repair the new Bacino Santo Stefano.
Diga del Marzocco The Diga del Marzocco was built according to Cozza plan of 1908, concerning the construction of the breakwater, parallel to the Diga Rettilinea, from the Torre del Marzocco (Marzocco Tower) toward the Diga della Meloria. In this manner a second harbour opening, 300 meters wide, was created in the northern part forming the Bacino di Santo Stefano (Santo Stefano dock).
Lighthouses
Fanale dei Pisani
Livorno Lighthouse, called Fanale dei Pisani, for the reason that was built by Pisans in 1303 on project attributed to Giovanni Pisano and by the master builders Rocco Entello De Spina and Bonaggiunta Ciabatti whose names were found engraved on a stone.Travelitalia The lighthouse was built on an emerging rock surrounded by the sea at the south entrance of the harbour; it is formed by a polygonal basement of 13 sides over which is placed the tower formed by two cylinders both with an embattled balcony and the lantern on the top. It consists of 11 floors, connected each other by a spiral staircase up to 53 meters, every floor is 3.72 meters high expect the first and the second respectively 5.55 and 4.22 meters.Research Gate The lower part is made of four cylinders of decreasing diameter and the upper part of three which makes thin the tower toward the summit.
The lighthouse was built employing the white Verruca stone coming from San Giuliano cave near Pisa. At first was used oil lamps for the light, then compressed oil, in 1841 was installed the Fresnel lens and was used the acetylene gas lamp; at the end of 1800s the installation was electrified. Il mondo dei fariFerdinando I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany order the construction of warehouses in the basement in 1584 which were transformed in the Lazzaretto di San Rocco and a shipbuilding. In 1911 the lighthouse passed under the jurisdiction of the Italian Navy as is still.
The tower came intact until June 20, 1944 when the German troops, at the approaching of the Allied, blew up it. The Fanale was rebuilt in June 1954 according to the original project with material recovered from the ruins and from the cave; it is made by reinforced concrete 30 centimetres thick covered externally by stone. The new lighthouse was inaugurated on September 16, 1956 by President Giovanni Gronchi on the occasion of the 350th anniversary of the declaration to the status of city.
Diga Curvilinea Lighthouse The lighthouse was built in 1857 and is positioned at the south end of the Diga Curvilinea breakwater at the entrance of the Port of Livorno. It is formed by a cylindrical basement surmounted by an octagonal tower in stone with balcony and lantern placed at 22 metres above sea level. The lighthouse, operated by Marina Militare with the identification number 1911 E.F, is active and fully automated, has a solar power unit and an alternating white and red flashes in a three seconds period visible up to 10 nautical miles.Livorno Diga Curvilinea Marina Militare
Diga Curvilinea estremità Nord Lighthouse