With its huge shipyards and high-rise, post WWII blanket-bombed suburbs, Livorno, Tuscany’s second-largest city doesn’t immediately entice the visitor, but it’s worth pushing through to Fortezza Nuova – a green lung in the city centre – or to Nuova Venezia, the canal-lined district.

The city’s aquarium at Piazzale Mascagni, showcases marine environments from the Ligurian coast to the tropics, while the Villa Henderson houses the Mediterranean Natural History Museum, with its whale skeletons and splendid botanical gardens.

Central Piazza Cavour and pedestrians-only Via Ricasoli are good places to shop for international fashion. Livorno’s housewives stock up at the Mercato Centrale market off Piazza Cavour, while Friday morning’s market in Via dei Pensieri is a riot of food, clothes, accessories and household items.

Protected habitats along the Etruscan Coast between Livorno and Piombino, are home to deer, badgers, porcupines, falcons and flamingos.