Known more commonly as the Voltone (the great vault), it is the biggest bridge piazza in Europe. Built by the engineer, Luigi Bettarini, it was an elegant and original solution to connect the old and new town following the demolition of the old Medicean bastions.
The New Fortress, the Pontino quarter, Via Grande - the main axis of Buontalenti’s pentagon – and Via de Larderel can all be admired from the square. It contains two statues of the last two Grand-Dukes of Tuscany, Ferdinando III and Leopoldo II: the former, by the sculptor Francesco Pozzi, shows the Grand-Duke pointing with his right hand to the new aqueducts which thanks to him brought water from Colognole to Livorno.
On the pedestal are two bas-reliefs, one by Temistocle Guerrazzi showing the Grand-Duke directing the great aqueduct works, and another by Ulisse Cambi showing Ferdinando as patron of the arts, industry and trade.
The statue of Ferdinando III, called Canapone because of his grey-blond hair, the colour of hemp (canapa), is actually a copy of the original work by the sculptor Paolo Emilio Demi, as on 6 May 1849, a few days before the Austrian invasion of Livorno, a group of citizens damaged it. It was removed from the square and only in 1958 was placed in Piazza XX Settembre. The copy is the work of sculptor Emilio Santarelli. Two bas-reliefs can be seen on the plinth; one by Demi shows the Grand-Duke comforting the Maremma, and the other by Giovanni Puntoni shows Leopoldo at the laying of the first stone of the New Quay.
There also used to be two tablets praising Leopoldo II’s works. In 1865, the City Council had these tablets removed and substituted in 1868 by the Tuscan Assembly’s anti-granducal declaration and the result of the plebiscite which decided the annexation of Tuscany to the Vittorio Emanuele II’s Kingdom of Savoy. The square is embellished with grilles, bronze columns, marble benches and cast-iron lamp-posts.
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