Il Parterre

Laid out in 1854 to prettify the wasteland around the city's great water cistern (unveiled in 1842), this lush public park is a peaceful green oasis of towering palm trees, statues of mythological gods and nymphs, fountains and Livornese dog walkers aplenty. A slowly expanding collection of beast-themed open-air art by local artists evokes the exotic animals kept here during the park's late-19th-century heyday (including a dancing bear named Gigi who local singer Bobo Rondelli penned a song about in 1993).