Seaport city and associated province (postal/car number plate abbreviation LI) in Italy, on the coast of Tuscany. In medieval times a dependency of Pisa, with whom it retains an intense local rivalry; subsequently dominated by Genoa and then Florence. In the high renaissance the Medicis developed it as a major trading centre; under the Dukes of Tuscany it was a free port and flourished as such until the unification of Italy in 1860, during which time it gained its English name (now deprecated) of Leghorn. It was heavily bombed during World War II and is therefore not one of the first places tourists head for, unless they are arriving by car sleeper, for which it is a terminus, or by ferry from Corsica or Sardinia.
The Leghorn/Livorno naming thing reflects a local dialect phenomenon whereby standard Italian gutturals are rendered as Vs, e.g. "vello" for "quello". Would-be students of livornese dialect are strongly recommended to seek out the satirical magazine "Il vernacoliere" available at newsstands across Tuscany.