Our 3-day sojourn to Naples came to an end and we did the return trip to Civitavecchia, near Rome, with far less irritation than the first.
There were just two small incidents. When we arrived at Rome Central Station, we discovered that the train to Civitavecchia departed from the most remote position which was approximately 20 platforms distant. The second instance was on arrival at Civitavecchia. As we were walking down the platform to the station exit, I noticed that Trevor was not wearing his cap. He realised that he had left it on his seat on the train which was now locked. Fortunately, a cleaning crew arrived and opened the coach, so he was able to run down and collect it. If it had been left it would have been cap no. 4 left on a vehicle. He had left one on each of a plane, a bus and the back seat of a taxi.
On arrival in Civitavecchia, we took a taxi to the cruise port to board the ship, Sirena, which was also an Oceania Cruise Lines ship. In comparison with the processes followed in Istanbul, boarding the Sirena was a breeze. They were well organised and there was no long distance to walk. What was a bit of a nasty surprise was the size of the cabin, or State Room, as the cabins are called these days. Sounds so much posher than the word cabin. It was tiny. We had requested 2 single beds and were told that it would be attended to, but we found a double and were told that it was not possible to fit in 2 singles. Why didn’t they say that in the first place?
We sailed out at 19:00 moving north up the coast of Italy to the town of Livorno to arrive at 08:00. The excursions for the day were to Pisa, Florence and Bologna, places we had visited on previous occasions. We had not been to nor seen Livorno so decided to use the day to discover the town.
Before describing what we saw while on our walkabout, a little bit of history and geography. Livorno is a coastal town and the port in Tuscany region of northwestern Italy in the Ligurian sea, an arm of the Mediterranean. Livorno is criss-crossed by canals from the Arno River to the sea. It is a town which changed hands several times. Starting as a small fishing village, it first came to fame when Countess Matilda gave it to the Pisan Church in 1103 who fortified it and then sold it to the Visconti family in 1399. Eight years later they sold it to the Genoese and then another 14 years later it was sold to the Florentines. One can only sympathise with the citizens of Livorno who must have often wondered exactly who they were and to whom they owed allegiance.
As we left the ship and walked towards the entrance to the town we saw a fort on our left. On enquiry we were told that it is commonly known as the Old Fortress as there is a newer one. The Old Fortress’ correct name is Fortezza Vecchia whereas the New Fortress is the Fortezza Nuovo. The first fortress was built in the 16th century on the site of a medieval fort and that one was on the foundation of an 11th century keep built by Countess Matilda in the. It was originally built to guard the entrance to the harbour. Today, it is still of great importance as it houses much of Livorno’s historical items and records.
On the far side of the harbour was a lighthouse in front of which were 3 very tall masts so getting a reasonable photo at any angle was very difficult. There was no possibility of photographing it from the rear so, eventually, we just accepted that the masts would have to be prominent in the photo. As we walked around the harbour area, we crossed a bridge over one of the canals along one side there were a few fishermen while opposite was the police station which was not in the best state of repair from what we could see.
We then continued into town, passing a small, attractive church which had no visible sign and I have been unable to learn anything about it. Going across another bridge over another canal we came upon a statue of a gentleman with, what we believed to be slaves, chained at his feet. There was a detailed sign beside the statue which told us that the gentleman was Ferdinand I de’Medici. The statue, which was built in 2 sections, was also known as the “Quattro Mori” for the Four Moors or slaves.
As we continued on our walk, we stopped at the morning Fish Market which was near the Old Fortress and the fishermen were not too pleased that we didn’t want to purchase any fish.
In the town itself were some beautiful buildings but otherwise there was little else to see but it was still an interesting and educational morning.
We returned to the ship for a late lunch and a good book.
