The Sea Route: Livorno or Viareggio
One of the most popular ways of reaching the capital of the grand duchy was the sea voyage. The preferred port, sailing from Genoa or, more rarely, from the Cinque Terre, and more rarely still (a route chosen by those who wished to avoid the Alpine passes) from Marseilles, was obviously Livorno. A friendly place, it had a harbor with good facilities and offered easy connections owing to its importance as a commercial port. The city was a lively one, accustomed to foreigners and welcoming in its attitude toward them, with the result that it had many flourishing and well-integrated expatriate communities. It retained this status right through the age of the Grand Tour , with the majority of arrivals coming from Liguria, and Genoa in particular. But in exceptional cases Livorno might also be reached from the south: an example was Baxter who, in 1849 (not coincidentally during a period when the South had acquired an important place in the mythology of the Italian journey), sailed there from Civitavecchia.
Another and equally popular alternative was to land at Viareggio, a seaside town belonging to the republic of Lucca, and continue from there by land to Lucca or directly to Pisa.