Fosso reale - Piazza della Repubblica
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Fosso reale - Piazza della Repubblica

We will now move on to Piazza della Repubblica, the surprising hollow square suspended on the Fosso Reale in Livorno. This fascinating moat once surrounded the fortress-city as a defence. It was designed by Buontalenti and constructed on the orders of the Medici family in 1500. It is on its banks, in the section between the Mercato delle Vettovaglie and the Dutch church, that another of the most famous episodes linked to Modigliani’s life in Livorno took place. The artist's relationship with his fellow citizens was always turbulent: he was not well understood by his contemporaries, and when he was about to abandon the city to move to Paris permanently, tradition would have it that in a moment of dejection, Modigliani threw his sculptures away at this very point. This story would have interesting if not surprising repercussion in the centenary year of Modigliani’s birth, giving rise to the “beffa delle teste”.