The Livorno Open Port project is an umbrella initiative that brings together different projects of the Port Network Authority of the North Tyrrhenian Sea (Ports of Livorno, Piombino, Capraia, Portoferraio, Rio Marina and Cavo) that target the dialogue and integration between the port and the city. Every year, over a period of 8 months, local students, through a series of completely free events (port visits, local TV emissions, exhibitions, etc.) are invited to come inside the port, beyond its customs gates, to get to know the realities of the main economic driving-force of the territory. The project started in 2000 in the port of Livorno and it is now expanding to the other ports belonging to the network.
The different projects under the Livorno Open Port include:
- The Livorno Port Center, opened on November 2015, dedicated to get people, most of all youngsters, become closer to the port and to promote awareness of the port through direct activities (such as visits) and indirect ones (such as the permanent and temporary exhibitions). Livorno Port Center is the physical container of “Open Port” events based on several actions, which are both entertaining and educational meant, to foster the relationship with the city. One of its benefits is its position, right inside the Old Fortress and the passenger terminal area, which makes of it a crucial point- material and immaterial- of exchanges.
- The contemporary use and disclosure of port heritage is another important key to involve citizens and to let people reach a general knowledge about city history as the port gave birth to the city. It is a project related to the renovation of historical monuments, inside and around the port area:
– the Old Fortress, managed since 2013 by the Port Network Authority on behalf of State Property. The Fortress is inside the passenger terminal, nearby the center of the town, in the district named “Venezia”, whose canals – used in the past for maritime purposes and nowadays for the navigation of local little boats- depend on Port Authority Administration;
– the old warehouse of the railways company, inside passenger terminal, to show the renovation of some old vessels;
– the Marzocco Fortress and Tower;
– the Bocca Fortress. - The so called “Sea Gate” operation (the “Livorno waterfront renovation”) which regards the areas where the ancient shipyard once run its activities. Since 2000, an industrial reorganisation combining the production of luxury yachts, marine services, marinas, shopping centers, residences for tourists and citizens, offers opportunities to discover a part of the port, which is becoming a new part of the city.