Beach in Fall

A small beach at the wall of the Accademia Navale (Naval Academy).
Una spiaggetta al muro dell'Accademia Navale.

Castiglione della Pescaia

We are still in Tuscany, in the province of Grosseto, slightly more than 100 km south of Livorno. Castiglione della Pescaia is a small but very old sea town and its only link with our city is that in the 19th century it was called for a while la piccola Livorno (the Little Livorno).

Now it is very well known for the beauty of its beaches: from just below the old town castle up to Punta Ala, a few km up north and still part of Castiglione's municipality. On a more personal level, it seems that my family comes from here...
One of the two “lighthouses” at the entrance of the marina. Not far, the monument to the fallen seamen.

External links: Castiglione della Pescaia - Punta Ala (Wikipedia)

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Beach in Winter

The beach of the “Rotonda” of Ardenza in early January.

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Egagropili

These balls of fibrous material are called egagropili and are formed by the remains of Posidonia oceanica, a species of sea grass that is common to the Mediterranean Sea. They wash up to our coasts in various shapes and sizes.

External links: Egagropili - Posidonia oceanica (Wikipedia)
See also: Borderland

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Theme Day: Umbrellas

Beach umbrellas, Baia del Rogiolo (Green Lizard's Bay), Quercianella, Livorno. (Picture taken in August)

Click here to view thumbnails for all participants

See also: Baia del Rogiolo - Green Lizard's Bay

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Lifeguard Chair

An empty lifeguard chair at the Tre Ponti (Three Bridges) beach, the home of our windsurfers.

See also: Windsurfers - Going with the Wind - Three Bridges - Libeccio

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The End of Summer

Checking parasols before storage. (Picture taken on September 20th)

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Borderland

The “Scolmatore” is hardly the Litani or the Yalu river, but even if you usually cross this bridge without a thought, you will soon be surrounded by people who speak a different Tuscan dialect, which is a subtle difference lost even on most Italians ears but quickly caught by locals.Livorno has mostly a rocky coast, while the stretch from here to the mouth of the river Arno is sandy. In the first part is full of former “colonie” (sort of summer camps), then of nice beach resorts. I am not sure if this is the Pisan idea of the seat for a life guard, but I won't be surprised.Another thing I don't know (I am not so knowledgeable of Pisan things) is what are these perfectly round balls on the beach. There are thousands of them in various sizes.This heron is obviously on the Pisan side of the canal only because heavy machinery is at work on our side.Not many boats here and not in very good shape.

More Walks

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The Tamarisk Rock

“Scoglio della tamerice” (Tamarisk Rock) is a quiet and beautiful place on the Antignano coastline, which alternates small pebble beaches to rocky outcrops. The namesake lone tamarisk is still there on the top, telling us that no great toponymic effort was needed for this rock.Enlarging this second photo you can easily spot, in the middle of the horizon line, the “Fanale dei Pisani”, marking the port of Livorno. On the same level, between two lamp posts on the right, is the pinkish top of our “grattacielo”, that appeared in yesterday's post.

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Far from the Madding Crowd

Still last Saturday at “La Rotonda”, the place of the windsurfers post by Trillian. On good weather weekends this is a quite busy promenade, more than usual this time because of the boys and the girls dressed up in funny costumes for the start of the carnival season. Below in the photo, the and the kid seem a world away from the above crowd, looking carefully at some kind of interesting flotsam in the sand.

See also: Windsurfers

January Sunbathing

After two days of cold rain we still remember last Saturday, with a thought to these brave folks sunbathing on the last day of January in Antignano, Livorno.