Livorno, 01 June 2024 – On Friday 31 May 2024, the Valorization Agreement for the Old Fortress was signed between the Regional Secretary of the Ministry of Culture for Tuscany, Dr. Giorgia Muratorithe Director of the State Property Agency – Tuscany and Umbria Directorate, Dr Raffaella Narnithe Director of the Cultural Activities, Tourism, Museums and Foundations Sector of the Municipality of Livorno, Dr. Giovanni Ceriniand the Superintendent for the provinces of Pisa and Livorno, arch. Valerio Tesi.
The signing of the Agreement represents the most important stage of the cultural federalism procedure which will end with the transfer of the property from the State to the Municipality, thanks also to the fundamental economic contribution of the Tuscany Region in favor of the Municipality of Livorno without which it would not have been possible achieve this important result.
The Old Fortress constitutes the north-western end of the historic center of Livorno, the starting point of Buontalenti’s Pentagon, adjacent to the north to the Medici Port and near the Maritime Station.
Built in the first half of the 16th century based on a design by Antonio da Sangallo the Elder, the Old Fortress became the fifth bastion of the new pentagonal wall with the role of defensive bulwark of the city on the seaside side.
It is a triangular military structure composed of three bastions of different shapes connected by a high curtain wall, created as an island detached from the mainland, both to improve the defensive function and to accentuate the character of a citadel separated from the rest of the city. From the mid-18th century the Fortress began to lose its island character, with the construction of the Piazzale dei Marmi in the area adjacent to the “la Capitana” bastion, and to find itself incorporated into the port.
The valorization program presented by the Municipality of Livorno starts from the recovery of the aquatic nature, to restore to the building the character of an isolated fortified structure and the grandeur that was lost with the abutment of the port squares.
The idea behind the project proposal is to recover and redevelop the areas adjacent to the northern side of the Fortezza Vecchia, restoring the separation from the rest of the city area and, at the same time, improving connections between the Fortezza Vecchia, the port and the Venice district .
Located in a strategic position between the historic center and the port area, the Old Fortress naturally fulfills the function of a hinge between the port and the city, a characteristic that the municipal administration intends to enhance.
The extension and conformation of the architectural complex is such that it is possible to hypothesize the co-presence of various functions, defined so that they can be correlated and complementary to each other. The first and main function to be enhanced is linked to the museum visit itineraries of the Fortress understood as a monumental artefact.
The importance of the structure, the particularity of its genesis, closely connected with that of the city, are thus emphasized and promoted with the integral recovery of each environment, open or closed, which can be visited in all its parts.
A second function of fundamental importance is that linked to the flow of cruise passengers disembarking nearby: tourists, getting off the ships, would be conveyed inside the structure where they could find a series of services, where they could find indications of the main cultural and non-cultural attractions of the city, buy tickets to go to other cities in Tuscany.
A large part of the rooms of the Old Fortress, the galleries and bastions, as well as the main squares, could be used for temporary exhibitions or cultural events, themed festivals, trade fairs, promotion and distribution of editorial products linked to the territory and Tuscan culture.
Outdoor shows of various kinds will continue to be organised: concerts, drama performances, ballets, cinema, meetings and book presentations, conferences and debates, with a larger capacity than has been authorized to date.
With the new access system, combined with the use of spaces within the Fortress as “safe places”, it will be possible to organize events capable of hosting a greater number of people. Finally, the Church of San Francesco which has maintained its function as a place of worship over the centuries is included in the museum itinerary, but would continue to host religious functions, to be organized with the Diocese to which the building belongs. Openness to other confessions than Catholic Christianity is also proposed, as a reminder of the traditional multiculturalism of the city of Livorno
