Maritime Livorno - Exploring the city of Modigliani and Mascagni

Do you think first impressions are important when deciding whether we like a city or not? I certainly think so. A few years ago we were in Southern Tuscany on a seaside holiday, in Castiglioncello to be precise (alas no, I wouldn't recommend Castiglioncello, too many parked cars for the narrow streets and not enough sandy beach for my liking) and decided to go on a boat trip to explore the coast going north towards Livorno (you may have heard of Leghorn, which was the English name in the past). There were five of us and a lady skipper called Tania was at the helm of our small boat. The approach to Livorno was magnificent, we were really blown away by the size and beauty of the port, and by the sight of the Medici Fortress. Until the 15th century the Medicis used Pisa as their port but then the delta sediments made that harbour impractical and Cosimo de Medici had the fortress built here and Livorno was developed as their new port.

Tania drove the boat inside the canals of Livorno, to an area called Little Venice. Indeed a series of canals with houses built right beside the water make this area look like Venice. Cosimo needed builders with the right set of skills to build the port and nobody on the peninsula were better than the Venetians. So he made an offer that few could refuse and many Venetians came and settled in Livorno.

We were finding the tour of Livorno so fascinating that Tania both literally and figuratively 'pushed the boat out' and drove us further into Livorno and extended the duration of our little boating tour. We were of course delighted and thought ourselves very lucky. She even drove us on a canal under a long tunnel on top of which is ..... a square! How incredible is that?! You can see it in the photo here below.

Piazza della Repubblica, Livorno, Italy

Consequences

We must have spent a couple of hours on the canals in Livorno but when we sailed back to Castiglioncello and we were still at a mile distance from the beach a little complication ensued - we ran out of fuel. We had spent too much time boating around in Livorno! Poor Tania tried her best to restart the engine but there definitely weren't any more drops of fuel in our tank so she had to call for help. Her generosity and willingness to please us had backfired... Anyway, we didn't have long to wait and a couple of tanned men arrived on a jet ski with a tank of fuel. Needless to say they started taking the mick out of poor Tania whilst she kept apologising to everyone. We thought the whole morning had been fantastic and the 'snag' had added to our excitement.

Terrazza Mascagni, Livorno

As well as Little Venice and the canal under Piazza della Repubblica another wonderful landmark of Livorno is the Terrazza Mascagni, which is an elegant square overlooking the sea with a very special black and white checkered floor. Here are benches and a gazebo and you have a spectacular view of the coast and the sea. The Livornesi come here for a stroll or passeggiata in the evening because it is the perfect place to relax and watch a sunset by the sea. The Terrazza is named after the Livornese composer Pietro Mascagni whose most famous opera is Cavalleria Rusticana. Like many artists Mascagni wasn't successful at first and was even excluded from Milan Conservatory for lack of application. He then spent a few years in poverty and obscurity teaching music and conducting an orchestra in a small town in Puglia.

La Signora Martelli a Castiglioncello, Giovanni Fattori, 1867

Livorno was also the birth place of two great Italian painters, Giovanni Fattori and Amedeo Modigliani. Giovanni Fattori belonged to the group of artists from Tuscany known as Macchiaioli. The name comes from the word 'macchia' which means 'spot' and in fact the Macchiaioli used short brush strokes to create a more modern and naturalistic effect. They are considered the precursors of French Impressionists.

Nudo Disteso, Amedeo Modigliani, 1917

Amedeo Modigliani (1884 - 1920)

Modigliani is famous for modernising portraits and creating an unusual and almost surreal style which was perhaps too experimental for the time and didn't make him successful during his lifetime. Modigliani painted his figures with elongated necks and faces and strangely blank eyes. The eyes add an enigmatic look to their faces. Why did he paint them that way? Are those eyes expressing a painful inability to live fully in the present? Or are they revealing the difficult reality of a society before and during WW1? Modigliani belonged to a Sephardic Jewish family and chose to live in Paris as an adult because Paris was the artistic capital of Europe. But perhaps Modigliani, like Marc Chagall, always felt an outsider there ...? He certainly didn't conform to a more traditional style of painting which was chosen by French-born painters and was making them successful. Needless to say, Modigliani lived in poverty and died a pauper at the young age of 35.

Despite Modigliani's poor health and use of drugs (which he took to lessen the pain of his many illnesses) he produced almost 350 works of art. His works are actually very restrained and controlled and scholars are now trying to dismantle the myth of Modigliani being the self destructive, alcoholic and dissolute bohemian artist. On the contrary when he painted our man from Livorno was rigorous and productive.

I will leave you with one of my favourite portraits by Modigliani, the portrait of Christina. I wish I could tell you who Christina was but nobody has been able to identify her. Yet another enigma.

Portrait of Christina, Modigliani, 1916