Description
The Naval Military Arsenal of La Spezia is the Navy's great base in the heart of the city, an area of almost 90 hectares between the old town and the gulf. It is a military zone, but it made modern La Spezia, and next to the main entrance there is a museum devoted to the Navy.
In 1861 La Spezia had about 15,000 inhabitants. By the end of the 19th century there were 70,000. What changed everything was an enormous construction site, considered one of the two greatest maritime engineering works of the century, together with the Suez Canal.
The first to dream of it was Napoleon, who with the architect Andrea Tagliafichi imagined an arsenal city of 12,000 inhabitants. The project stayed on paper. Cavour took it up again in 1857, found the money and entrusted the work to the Engineer Corps officer Domenico Chiodo.
The site swallowed half the town. Almost all the medieval walls and several old churches vanished, the little village of San Vito was razed to the ground, and with the new canal the sprugole, the springs that gushed on the plain, nearly disappeared.
During the works Roman and early medieval remains came to light, now displayed in the civic museum in the Castle of San Giorgio. Work began in 1862. On August 28, 1869 Chiodo inaugurated the still-incomplete arsenal by flooding the newly dug basins.
Around it grew avenues such as Viale Italia and Viale Garibaldi, new neighborhoods for the workers, the Public Gardens, the commercial port and new industries. To protect arsenal and city, the system of forts on the ridges of the gulf was expanded and the breakwater built.
Inside run about 13 kilometers of roads and more than seven of quays. There are two inner docks, five dry docks and dozens of buildings that were workshops and barracks. The gates are various, from Porta Marola in the west to the main gate in the east.
During the Second World War, because of its strategic importance, it was bombed almost to destruction. But thanks to very fast work it was operational again already in the postwar years, and remained the seat of the 1st Naval Division throughout the Cold War.
To get close to this history there is the Naval Technical Museum, next to the main entrance, created to keep the traditions of seafaring alive. It collects more than 150 models of ships and boats, about 2,500 medals, 6,500 relics, 2,000 documents and 5,000 volumes.
Don't miss
• The Naval Technical Museum.
• The ship models.
• The view from above, from the hills west of the gulf.
Did you know?
• The inside of the arsenal can be seen from nearby houses and from the mountains on the western side of the gulf.
• The Roman and early medieval remains found during the digging are in the civic museum, in the Castle of San Giorgio.
In 1861 La Spezia had about 15,000 inhabitants. By the end of the 19th century there were 70,000. What changed everything was an enormous construction site, considered one of the two greatest maritime engineering works of the century, together with the Suez Canal.
The first to dream of it was Napoleon, who with the architect Andrea Tagliafichi imagined an arsenal city of 12,000 inhabitants. The project stayed on paper. Cavour took it up again in 1857, found the money and entrusted the work to the Engineer Corps officer Domenico Chiodo.
The site swallowed half the town. Almost all the medieval walls and several old churches vanished, the little village of San Vito was razed to the ground, and with the new canal the sprugole, the springs that gushed on the plain, nearly disappeared.
During the works Roman and early medieval remains came to light, now displayed in the civic museum in the Castle of San Giorgio. Work began in 1862. On August 28, 1869 Chiodo inaugurated the still-incomplete arsenal by flooding the newly dug basins.
Around it grew avenues such as Viale Italia and Viale Garibaldi, new neighborhoods for the workers, the Public Gardens, the commercial port and new industries. To protect arsenal and city, the system of forts on the ridges of the gulf was expanded and the breakwater built.
Inside run about 13 kilometers of roads and more than seven of quays. There are two inner docks, five dry docks and dozens of buildings that were workshops and barracks. The gates are various, from Porta Marola in the west to the main gate in the east.
During the Second World War, because of its strategic importance, it was bombed almost to destruction. But thanks to very fast work it was operational again already in the postwar years, and remained the seat of the 1st Naval Division throughout the Cold War.
To get close to this history there is the Naval Technical Museum, next to the main entrance, created to keep the traditions of seafaring alive. It collects more than 150 models of ships and boats, about 2,500 medals, 6,500 relics, 2,000 documents and 5,000 volumes.
Don't miss
• The Naval Technical Museum.
• The ship models.
• The view from above, from the hills west of the gulf.
Did you know?
• The inside of the arsenal can be seen from nearby houses and from the mountains on the western side of the gulf.
• The Roman and early medieval remains found during the digging are in the civic museum, in the Castle of San Giorgio.