Description of the attraction
Via Grande is one of the busiest streets in Livorno. It runs from the old port of the city through Piazza Grande and on to Piazza della Repubblica. It is here that the I Quatro Mori monument is located - the Four Moors - a real symbol of Livorno. This statue stands at the very entrance to the port and is considered one of the main attractions of the city. Behind it you can see the remains of the old city bastions, which are now part of the GramDuca Hotel. On the wall is a plaque commemorating the English naval engineer Sir Robert Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, who played an important role in the development of the port of Livorno.
Just a few steps from Via Grande, there are two 17th century fountains on either side of the road. They were commissioned by the Duke Cosimo II to decorate the statue of the Four Moors, but when Pietro Tacca finished work on the fountains in 1629, Ferdinando II, who replaced Cosimo II, decided to take them to Florence. They still stand there today, in Piazza Santissima Annunziata, and those installed in Livorno are copies.
Piazza Grande, surrounded by marble porticoes by Alessandro Pieroni, was the center of the Medici city and occupied the area right up to the Palazzo Comunale (city hall). But in 1943, during the air raids on Livorno, it was significantly destroyed, and today the only original part of the old square is the portico on the northeast side. There is also the Cathedral of Livorno, designed by Alessandro Pieroni and built by Cantagallina.
Near the cathedral, you can see the small church of Santa Giulia, dedicated to the patroness of the city. The street of the same name begins from it, which goes to Piazza Cavallotti with a huge fruit and vegetable market. In one of the buildings on this square, the composer Pietro Mascagni was born in 1863, and Giovanni Fattori, a famous Macchiaiolist painter, was born in a nearby street. To the north of Piazza Cavallotti lies another city market that sells clothes, shoes and household utensils, and opposite it is the Mercato Centrale, an indoor fruit market.
From Piazza Grande, you can also get to Piazza del Municipio with three interesting buildings. On the left is the Palazzo della Dogana (Chamber of Commerce), built in 1648, in the center is a modern building, and next to it is the Palazzo Comunale, erected in 1720. The latter today houses the City Municipality. Behind Palazzo Comunale lies the Venezia Nuova area.
Finally, if you walk a couple of hundred meters from Piazza Grande, you can go to Via della Madonna, on which there are three churches that belonged to members of different communities of Livorno in the 17-18th centuries - the Armenian church, the Greek church and the Chiesa della Madonna.
