PSI - Issue 11

Massimiliano Lucchesi et al. / Procedia Structural Integrity 11 (2018) 177–184 M. Lucchesi, B. Pintucchi, N. Zani/ Structural Integrity Procedia 00 (2018) 000–000

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Decline of the port and trade activities began in the late 18th century. However, the urban landscape established over centuries in Livorno has been maintained to this day: it is a Renaissance port and city-fortress, whose fortifications, and port infrastructures, such as the canal system and connected cellars, are intimately integrated with the residences on different levels and combined in a single urban fabric (Massa, 2015). The position of Palazzo Monte di Pietà within the system of canals and cellars is indicated in Fig.1b).

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Fig. 1. a) First (yellow) and second (blue) expansion of Venezia Nuova, between the Fortezza Nuova and Fortezza Vecchia (hatched by red); b) Palazzo Monte di Pietà and its cellars (red plan) along the Monte Pio ports.

3. Palazzo Monte di Pietà

3.1. Historical background

Palazzo Monte di Pietà is one of the most prestigious buildings in the Venezia Nuova district. It is located in via Borra , a eighteenth-century elegant street with several examples of baroque architecture. The charitable organization Monte di Pietà (Mount of Piety) was set up in Livorno in 1597, relatively late compared to other such Italian institutions, which arose in the late 15th century. Ferdinando I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, had initially granted a 12-year property lease to three Levantine Jews to establish the institution in via della Coroncina . Only in 1625, when control of the charity was eventually transferred to the municipality, was it relocated, first to via Pollastrini and then to via del Porticciolo . In 1701 the Grand Duke ordered a new building to be built in Via Borra , as designed by the engineer Giuliano Ciaccheri. The building, already partially operational in 1706, was completed only in 1710. After some reforms of the institution, in 1899 the building was restored following the design of Carlo Frullani. The changes mainly involved the building block along Via Borra , which was given a new entrance and a new staircase. Later, in 1912, the adjacent Palazzo delle Colonne di marmo was also incorporated into the Monte di Pietà, and the two buildings’ cellars are still joined together today. The 1927 re-organization of the credit system marked the end of the institution across the nation. In Livorno the Mount of Piety ceased its activity and merged with the bank Cassa di Risparmio , the building’s current owner. The building complex consists essentially of two different above ground structures. The main body is the three story Palazzo Monte di Pietà facing via Borra, which has a rectangular layout and a gabled roof. The second body, which contains the warehouses and cellars, has a U-shaped arrangement around the central courtyard. Facing the Monte Pio ports, it has two floors and a flat roof (see Figs. 2 and 3). The rectangular building overlooking Via Borra is an elegant eighteenth-century mansion. The façade is marked by three orders of windows enclosed in refined elements of pietra serena , as is the entrance, surmounted by a plaque with an epigraph (Fig. 2). The atrium, covered by a barrel vault, leads to the staircase to the upper floors and to the 3.2. Description of the building