Livorno | The City With No Time For You

Tuscany's working port, a few days alone, and the one place in the region that refuses to perform

The bars open early in Livorno, earlier than they have any right to, and on the first morning, I was at one of them before I had fully decided to be awake. The coffee came out night-black, bitter, raw, and hit me like a punch to the chest. The pastry was sweeter than anything I tasted before in Italy, and that says a lot, the kind of breakfast built for…