Il Parterre

Livorno


Laid out in 1854 to prettify the wasteland around the city's great water cistern (unveiled in 1842), this lush public park is a peaceful green oasis of towering palm trees, statues of mythological gods and nymphs, fountains and Livornese dog walkers aplenty. A slowly expanding collection of beast-themed open-air art by local artists evokes the exotic animals kept here during the park's late-19th-century heyday (including a dancing bear named Gigi who local singer Bobo Rondelli penned a song about in 1993).


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Livorno attractions

1. Chiesa Olandese-Alemanna

0.48 MILES

This Neo-Gothic Protestant church was built in 1864 for the use of Livorno's Dutch-German community. It's now permanently closed.

2. Fortezza Nuova

0.49 MILES

Built for the Medicis between 1590 and 1604, this hulk of a red-brick fort in Piccola Venezia is a pale shade of its 17th-century magnificent self…

3. Chiesa dei Greci Uniti

0.52 MILES

This Greek Orthodox church was built in 1607, acquired its magnificent baroque facade in the 18th century and became a Catholic church after WWII. The…

4. Chiesa della Madonna

0.53 MILES

This Franciscan church, with notably plain and stark facade, was built in the 17th century by foreign communities of the Catholic faith living in Livorno…

5. Chiesa di San Gregorio degli Armeni

0.54 MILES

All but destroyed in a WWII bombing, the once-graceful baroque-style facade – gated and chained today – is all that remains of the early 18th-century…

6. Piccola Venezia

0.63 MILES

Piccola Venezia is a tangle of small canals built during the 17th century, using Venetian methods of reclaiming land from the sea. At its heart sits the…

7. Sinagoga di Livorno

0.64 MILES

Livorno's huge concrete synagogue, built between 1958 and 1962, occupies the site of a 17th-century predecessor that was badly damaged by Allied bombs in…

8. Chiesa di Santa Caterina

0.65 MILES

This early-18th-century Domenican church with its thick stone walls and prominent dome stands sentry on the western side of Piazza dei Domenicani as it…