Livorno

Livorno — Leghorn in English — was purpose-built as an ideal Renaissance port city by the Medici Grand Dukes of Tuscany in the late sixteenth century, its grid-plan streets and Venetian-style canals designed to attract merchants of every nationality and faith. The Laws of Livorno (Leggi Livornine) of 1591 and 1593 offered unprecedented religious freedom, drawing Jewish, Greek, Armenian, and Muslim communities to create one of Europe's most cosmopolitan cities. This heritage is visible today in the Piccola Venezia canal district, where boats still navigate the Fosso Reale (Royal Canal).

For cruise passengers, Livorno is above all the gateway to Florence and Pisa. Florence, the cradle of the Renaissance, lies ninety minutes east by shuttle or train — and within its compact centro storico visitors encounter the Duomo and Brunelleschi's dome, the Uffizi Gallery's unrivalled collection of Botticelli, Leonardo, and Michelangelo, and the Ponte Vecchio spanning the Arno. Pisa, with its legendarily leaning tower in the Piazza dei Miracoli, is barely an hour away. Yet Livorno itself rewards those who linger: it is a genuine working port city with a character all its own.

Livorno's culinary claim to fame is cacciucco — a rich, peppery fish stew of at least five varieties of seafood, ladled over garlic-rubbed toast. Local seafood restaurants in the Terrazza Mascagni area and the old Mercato Centrale serve this alongside triglie alla livornese (red mullet in tomato sauce), polpo in galera (octopus stew), and torta di ceci (a chickpea flatbread similar to Genoa's farinata). The aperitivo of choice is ponce alla livornese — a hot coffee drink spiked with rum and lemon peel, served in a glass.

Beyond Florence and Pisa, the Tuscan hill towns beckon. San Gimignano, with its medieval towers, is two hours inland. Lucca, enclosed within Renaissance walls wide enough to walk or cycle atop, is an hour northeast. The Chianti wine region, with its rolling vineyards and stone farmhouses, lies between Livorno and Florence, offering tastings of Chianti Classico and Super Tuscans.

Livorno is one of the busiest cruise ports in the Mediterranean, welcoming AIDA, Azamara, Carnival Cruise Line, Celebrity Cruises, CroisiEurope, Crystal Cruises, Cunard, Emerald Yacht Cruises, Explora Journeys, Hapag-Lloyd Cruises, Holland America Line, Marella Cruises, MSC Cruises, Norwegian Cruise Line, Oceania Cruises, P&O Cruises, Ponant, Princess Cruises, Regent Seven Seas Cruises, Royal Caribbean, Scenic Ocean Cruises, Silversea, Viking, and Windstar Cruises. April through October is the prime cruising season, with May and September offering the best balance of warm weather and manageable crowds.