Below we present a beautiful article published on the online pages of the Touring Club Italiano last December 12, 2022)
The charm of a Tuscan city less known than others, yet extraordinary for its culture and food traditions
A walk in Livorno, among art, history, and gastronomy
December 12, 2022
Bagni Pancaldi, Livorno - photo by Luca Managlia
December 12, 2022 Bagni Pancaldi, Livorno - photo by Luca Managlia
Livorno is a city often overlooked by tourists visiting Tuscany. Yet it offers many historical and artistic highlights, perhaps less striking than those of other cities in the region but just as interesting. Did you know, for example, that Livorno is the Renaissance city par excellence? Founded in 1590, its streets are straight, wide, and airy, there is always plenty of light, and the scent of salt is always in the air. A year later, in 1591, and again in 1593 with the "Livornine laws," Grand Duke Ferdinando I de’ Medici called people from all over the world to bring the new city to life, a refuge of peace, work, and prosperity: the Jews, who were not confined to a ghetto, worked side by side with Greek sailors, Armenian and Turkish merchants, English and French commanders. Today, his marble effigy still stands there to bear witness, at the entrance to the port, in the sculptural group of the Four Moors by Master Pietro Tacca.
We suggest a walk through the city to discover surprising monuments and unusual views, and then a closer look at its gastronomy, made possible thanks to Vetrina Toscana, the food and wine tourism project of the Tuscany Region that tells the beauty and goodness of this land through traditional products and recipes.
Port of Livorno - photo by Andrea Dani
A WALK TO DISCOVER LIVORNO
The walk can start from the symbol of Livorno, a real must-see: the Terrazza Mascagni.
Since 1925, the year it was built, the 35,000 black and white tiles that make it up have made it like a carpet, with a sinuous profile, an open-air living room between the city and the sea, with its privileged view of the islands of the Tuscan Archipelago.
For the people of Livorno, there is always a good reason to come here for a stroll and enjoy an intimate moment with the sea.
Following the avenue, you come across the elegant Gazebo, an original classical structure; further south, you find the historic bathing establishments, kiosks, buildings, and the imposing Naval Academy until you reach the Rotonda pine forest, a small green oasis with trees bent by the force of the sea winds.
A few steps from the Terrazza is the museum dedicated to Giovanni Fattori, set in the splendid setting of Villa Mimbelli.
Here, the container (the nineteenth-century Villa, commissioned by a wealthy merchant) is no less interesting than the content (the painting of the Macchiaioli): the smoking room on the ground floor, for example, recalls the fairytale architecture of the Alhambra in Granada.
Terrrazza Mascagni, Livorno - photo Andrea Dani
Seafront, Livorno - photo Andrea Dani
Continuing north, you walk along the very long seafront, which embodies the city's identity. In about twenty minutes you reach the Darsena Vecchia, where fishing boats dock and the freshest fish await buyers on marble counters.In front stands the Fortezza Vecchia, an ancient sixteenth-century structure, immersed in the water, surrounded by pleasure boats and fishing boats. Its presence has protected generations of citizens who took refuge here in case of pirate attacks and wars.
Its circular keep and the red color of the bricks are the first welcome for those arriving from the sea. With the arrival of the good season, this imposing fortress hosts concerts, meetings, and events.
There is also another fortress, called the “Nuova”, built a century later to serve the same military and civil purposes; a short distance from the Vecchia, it is located in the heart of the historic Venezia Nuova district.
Today it is a splendid green setting, where events are organized.
In the large underground areas, the famous gozzi are sheltered: the rowing boats of the various city districts that compete in the summer rowing races, an event awaited all year by the people of Livorno and also by tourists who appreciate its cultural and traditional value.
Fortezza Vecchia, Livorno - photo Andrea Dani
About the Venezia Nuova district: this is a part of the city designed like the Venetian lagoon city, crossed by bridges and canals, a place that seems to have been drawn by the inspiration of a painter. The district still reveals its original structure and all its charm intact.
The tall stately buildings had direct access to the canal, just below street level, to facilitate the entry of goods directly into the inner courtyard.
On the docks, tobacco, spices, chocolate, coffee, indigo, Greek mastic, and even diamonds were unloaded. The sea enters between the buildings and streets, forming navigable canals that surround the pentagonal perimeter of the historic city.
Today this district is considered the true historic heart of Livorno, a beating heart of streets and waterways that brush against the historic buildings, which here are called “fossi,” with cellars at water level, now turned into venues and restaurants where you can rediscover traditional dishes.
Fossi di Livorno - photo by Andrea Dani
The walk can end a little further south, at the Mercato Centrale, a true temple of food and wine.
Also known as the Mercato delle Vettovaglie or Mercato Coperto, when it was built by its architect Angelo Badaloni in the last years of the nineteenth century, it was one of the largest in Europe, made with the most cutting-edge materials of the time: iron, cast iron, and glass, composing what the people of Livorno called the "little Louvre."
The building was meant to bring with it a new civic pride, at a time when Livorno needed to recover from the economic crisis and the relocation of the military port to La Spezia: it was built following the model of the old Parisian Halles and marks the artistic transition between Neoclassicism and Art Nouveau.
There are many details to note: the Central Hall, for example, is adorned with eight caryatids, two at each entrance, made by the Livornese sculptor Lorenzo Gori (one woman with a bundle of wheat in her arms and another with an apron full of eggs).
The caryatids are actually the Gabbrigiane, peasant women and vendors from Gabbro and nearby villages who carry, in their baskets, the products of their lands: chickens, rabbits, eggs, aromatic herbs. They wear typical clothing: a shawl tied at the chest and their hair up.
The magnificence and floral style of the metal trusses of the Mercato Centrale today provide the backdrop to the chatter of merchants, ready to guarantee the exclusivity of their products.
The sea's first fruits are bought among the marble stalls in the Fish Hall, where you can find the day's catch at a good price, the raw material for preparing Livornese dishes.
Visiting the Livorno market is a sensory experience: colors, scents, and sounds blend together, giving back a unique and original emotion that stimulates the palate to taste the salty roschette of the Jewish tradition, the very white eggs of the "Livornese hen," samples of cacciucco, and the typical Livornese ponce.
Mercato delle Vettovaglie, Livorno - photo Andrea Dani
THE EXCELLENCES OF LIVORNESE GASTRONOMY
And now let's talk about gastronomy: without tastings, a visit to Livorno would certainly not be complete. The symbolic dish of Livorno is cacciucco, undoubtedly an expression of the spirit of this city and its sea.
In the famous fish soup you cannot miss rock octopus, local cuttlefish, fish for cacciucco (scorpionfish, stargazer, tub gurnard, weever), slipper lobsters, dogfish, all to be flavored with Tuscan extra virgin olive oil, garlic, chili pepper, tomato, celery, carrots, and onion.
And, to accompany this special dish, toasted country bread.
Where does this peculiar name come from?
Giuseppe Chionetti, head of the certification project for the true “Cacciucco Livornese Tipico Tradizionale 5 C”, explains: "It should derive from the Turkish word küçük, which means small."
It was brought to Livorno in 1693 by Ahmet, a young man who opened a restaurant in the city, recreating the soup of small fish, often discarded by buyers, that his mother used to cook in Karşıyaka, near Smyrna.
The only variation Ahmet made was to remove the capers and add tomato sauce, a novelty that had just arrived in Livorno from Seville, coming from the New World; he also replicated his mother’s trick, who, when cooking fish that had been left in the pantry for several days, would add half a glass of vinegar to the cooking liquid and be generous with the chili pepper.
To those who tried to sell him large fish, Ahmet would reply: “küçük balik” (small fish), repeating the adjective küçük several times, reinforced by the gesture of his two index fingers indicating the size. For this reason, the fishermen, with typical Livornese mocking irony, nicknamed him “Cacciucco”. The name soon passed to the restaurant and the dish. In 1891, Pellegrino Artusi described for the first time the recipe for cacciucco livornese, which does not differ much from the one Ahmet prepared 150 years earlier, vinegar included."
Cacciucco, Livorno - photo by Luca Managlia
Another iconic dish of Livorno and street food par excellence is the chickpea cake, a sort of crepe made with chickpea flour, water, extra virgin olive oil, and salt, preferably baked in wood-fired ovens, in special large round tin-lined copper pans.
It is also linked to the sea, at least according to the legend that tells of its origins; it is said that during the Battle of Meloria, between Genoa and Pisa in 1284, a ship was caught in a storm and the hold containing food supplies was damaged.
The products, especially chickpeas, mixed with salt water and formed a mush that, dried in the sun, became tasty.
It is especially enjoyed in the 5 e 5, the typical Livornese sandwich (a baguette or focaccia) filled with chickpea cake and, sometimes, with eggplants in pesto ("sotto pesto" in Livorno means garlic, parsley, and chili pepper); the name comes from the custom, starting from the mid-20th century, when the combination of bread and Torta was invented, of asking the “Tortaio” (the Torta seller) for 5 cents of bread and 5 cents of Torta, hence the abbreviation “un 5e5”.
Traditionally, the cake is enjoyed with la spuma bionda, a sweet carbonated drink, flavored in various ways, with a secret recipe.
5 e 5, Livorno - photo Luca Managlia
To end a lavish meal on a high note, you can't miss the ponce, an alcoholic beverage born in Livorno between the 17th and 18th centuries and derived from punch, which was popular in the city thanks to the large British community.
If the original composition of English punch included five ingredients (hence the name, derived from the Hindi word panca or pancha, "fist" or "five"), tea, sugar, cinnamon, lemon, and brandy (or boiling water, lemon juice, Antillean rum, nutmeg spirit, and arak, a rice wine distillate from Indonesia), the Livornese ponce was created by replacing the tea or boiling water with concentrated coffee, while instead of rum, the so-called "rum fantasia" (locally also called rumme) was used, a local invention made of alcohol, sugar, and dark caramel, sometimes flavored with a rum essence (original recipe by Mr. Gastone Biondi of the Vittori company).
The version popular between the 19th and 20th centuries involved pre-boiling ground coffee in a pot full of water; this produced an infusion that was filtered with a wool cloth and poured into the coffee maker. To the coffee coming out of the machine, rumme or "mastice" was then added with a measuring cup, a version of mistrà, a liqueur made from green anise seeds macerated in alcohol.
An excellent conclusion to our Livorno stroll.