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Livorno, city, Toscana (Tuscany) regione, central Italy. It lies on the Ligurian Sea at the western edge of a cultivated coastal plain and is enclosed east and south by a circle of low hills, the Livornesi Hills.
Originally a small fishing village, it first became important when it was given by the countess Matilda of Tuscany to the Pisan church (1103), and it was fortified by the Pisans in the 14th century. It was sold in 1399 to the Visconti family, in 1407 to the Genoese, and in 1421 to the Florentines. Its greatest importance dates from the rule of the Florentine Medici family. Cosimo I initiated the construction of the Medici Harbour in 1571; and Ferdinand I, grand duke of Tuscany from 1587 to 1609, gave asylum to many refugees—Roman Catholics from England, Jews and Moors from Spain and Portugal, and others—and launched the community as a commercial centre. Among the princes of Habsburg-Lorraine who succeeded the Medicis, the last, Leopold II (1747–92), is of particular importance; he enlarged the city, gave privileges to foreign merchants, and had the great curved breakwater built to protect the port from the open sea. Livorno flourished as a free port from 1675 until it became part of the Kingdom of Italy in 1860. Much of the city has been rebuilt according to the original general plan after sustaining severe damage by bombing during World War II.
The city is intersected and bordered by canals connecting with the sea and the Arno River (north). Notable landmarks include the Fortezza Vecchia (1521–34) and the Fortezza Nuova (1590; Old and New Forts); the monument to Ferdinand I, a marble statue of the grand duke (1595); and the famous bronze statues of “The Four Moors” (“I Quattro Mori”; 1623–24) by Pietro Tacca. The cathedral (1595) was entirely reconstructed in 1954–59. Other points of interest are the old Protestant cemetery (burial place of the 18th-century English novelist Tobias Smollett) and the two villas where the poets Percy Bysshe Shelley and Lord Byron stayed in 1819 and 1822, respectively. The Giovanni Fattori Civic Museum possesses works of Fattori and other Tuscan artists as well as modern paintings. In the same building is the fine Francesco Domenico Guerrazzi Communal Library. The scenic coastal avenue (Viale Italia) to the southern suburbs of Ardenza and Antignano is marked by numerous bathing places, the civic aquarium, and the Italian Naval Academy.
The port, one of Italy’s largest, has regular services to points on the Mediterranean and beyond and is well served by rail, road, and air (by Pisa airport). Its extensive commercial activities include imports of crude mineral oils, coal, cereals, phosphates and fertilizers, silica sand, and metal minerals; and exports include mineral and derived oils, marble, plate glass, wine, tomato preserves, olive oil, sodium carbonate and sodium hydrate, and copper and its alloys. Livorno has a large shipbuilding yard and smaller yards for ship repair. Industries include metallurgical plants (aluminum, copper), a petroleum refinery, steelworks, and chemical manufactures. Pop. (2006 est.) mun., 160,534.
This article was most recently revised and updated by Amy Tikkanen.