The port of Livorno, represents one of the largest ports in Tuscany and at the same time, holds considerable historical and geographical importance in the Mediterranean peninsular landscape. This primacy, is due to both tourist passenger traffic and cargo traffic, which has been estimated at an average of almost 28 million tons per year.

Boasting centuries of history, the port of Livorno can still be considered to have been born in the version we know today, starting in the sixteenth century under the rule of Grand Duke Ferdinand I de’ Medici. Under the great family, the port underwent major renovations.

Urban planning, creation of the dock were some of the revolutions made in the port development of the facility. Thus it was that from a simple point of passage and stopover, the port also became a berthing point for cargo ships and even smaller vessels.

But the port, over the years has undergone multiple processing and renovations. In fact, there were already plans in the 1930s to expand the port with ship workshop facilities and compartments dedicated to maritime-oriented industrial design.

Obviously, considerable economic efforts were an obstacle for years, but thanks to incentives promoted by national law, the works came to life. It was not until the 1960s, however, that the port facility saw the completion of these works, as the bombings of World War II interrupted modernization for nearly fifteen years.

In the 1960s, then, the Livorno port of call was thus the protagonist of new revolutions, including the widening of the seabed, which only in two places barely reached 12 meters. Hence the creation of new docks, berths and the excavation of depths up to 15 meters.

In addition, a dry dock with a structure 350 meters long and 56 meters wide were created. Currently, the port of Livorno has the capacity to handle all kinds of goods. It governs under contract, thousands of containers coming from and going to all over the world.

At its facility, it provides berthing for gas carriers and double-hulled vessels in addition to cruise ships and titanic-sized vessels. The port’s traffic is estimated at nearly 510 cruise ship calls per year for more than 700,000 cruise passengers in transit. This, thanks precisely to its facilities that project the port among the most functional and important in the Mediterranean with 2 km docks and 400,000 square meters of yards.

The latter, the result of the 1995 renovation work. The port of Livorno thus remains, from its foundation that now dates back more than 500 years, to the present day, one of the most important ports facilities in the Mediterranean and the Italian badge of the shipping industry.

The port of Livorno