La Spezia in January - La Spezia and Naval museum

It's our last day in La Spezia, well, last for this trip because given the opportunities for hiking and the fact it's one of the nearest places by car by the sea from where we live I suspect we will return at some point, all being well. It's a cloudy day and it rained overnight. The morning is taken up with a stroll around the shops and purchasing fish for lunch and artichokes to take home.

In the afternoon we go out for a longer walk to visit some places we hadn't yet seen, in particular the controversial Piazza Verdi with its modern art sculptures which is pleasant,

and Piazza Europe with the Town Hall building and a modern church on top of a concrete- surrounded line of shops, which decidedly isn't. The gardens and the palm lined walk by the waterside are nice though.

Our objective this afternoon is the Naval museum. It costs just €1.55 per person to go in. You have to follow the numbers on the floor to see things in a logical sequence. I have to say that I know nothing at all about boats.

First there are some lengthy written explanation panels about the La Spezia naval base which we skip to look at the next part - large models of various types of boats on the left, with a bit of lighthouse in the centre of the room, whereas on the right more models in a chronological order of how boats have developed since ancient times. 

Very nice. The next section is dedicated to Marconi, and the written information and explanations are really interesting, mostly in Italian, once again I was totally ignorant about the origins and theories behind the telegraph and radio, so perhaps I've learnt something -  certainly to regard with awe  Marconi, who made his most important inventions when he was in his early twenties, and then continued....

The next part of the exhibition shows some torpedoes and other means used for attacking during the war, which were developed in La Spezia. Something else I know nothing about, ingenious.....

There's also a section about diving with an old diving suit and other equipment and in the garden there are bigger items including a small yellow Submarine. All in all it's an interesting visit but the special part is upstairs where there's a room housing Polene, that is the figureheads of ships. This is really quite spectacular, many are enormous and also beautiful carvings and they are exhibited in the same position they would be in at the front of the ship. Definitely worth seeing.

So we are satisfied when we come out and have another stroll through the centre, Via Prione in the dark with the old buildings tastefully illuminated is really quite nice, the crowds on a late Saturday afternoon are local people out for a stroll and shopping. There's no doubt that over the week La Spezia has grown on us.....