Cannons, galleries, ruins and Digital Survey: a first report about the “Molo Cosimo” after seventy years of abandon

Livorno, in Tuscany represent the main harbor in this part of the Mediterranean coast. With the establishment of the Free Port, in 1676, the arrival of merchants was favored and the demand for warehouses, capable of accumulating goods in the port of transit, increased considerably. For this reason, the system of fortifications was strengthened towards the sea and modernized by Cosimo III. Along with the modifications of the fortifications of the city, the project of a fort at the extremity of the “Molo di Cosimo” was also entrusted to the Grand-Ducal Architect Pier Maria Baldi in 1684. General Alessandro Dal Borro chose the design model and supervised the construction of the fort, which began in 1688 at the tip of the “Molo Cosimo”. The complex could control both the interior of the port and the open sea. The main function assigned by the authorities to this fortress was to bomb ships that intended to violate the neutrality declared in 1646, becoming, in fact, a peaceful observatory that, even in moments of tension, did not fire a shot to attack. Thus, it was equipped with an extended system of tunnels to allow the safe movement of people, ammunitions and cannons in case of a battle. This war machine is now in a quite complex state of abandon with a serious loss of architectural identity, mined by fragmented architectures growth all around the fortifications and with the galleries filled with the ruins remained around after the World War II bombings. In 2017-2018 for the first time after 70 years, the Port Authority of Livorno, operated the full removal of the ruins fitted in the galleries, allowing a complete digital survey of an architecture finally brought back to have a chance or revitalization. In this paper it will be presented the products of this research, showing the accurate and unedited representation of this long-lost fortress.