"This neo-classic building was built in the 1840s as a water cistern and never used and it found a new life in the 1960s as Casa della Cultura (House of the Culture). Recently refurbished now hosts events and exhibitions in a peculiar space just in the center of the city."

Giacomo Spagnoli

"The Cisternino di città is an elegant neoclassical building built in the first half of the 19th century to meet the water needs of the center of Livorno.
The construction of the Cisternino di città is linked to the completion of the Leopoldino Aqueduct, begun at the end of the 18th century to enhance the water resources of Livorno and its suburbs. In 1809 Pasquale Poccianti took over the direction of the aqueduct works and in 1827 he outlined the works to be done for its completion: the report also included the project for a reservoir to be built in the center of the city, inside the fortified walls built by the Medici in the 16th century. The project was approved in 1837 and the works were completed only in 1848.

The tank, called Cisternino di città to distinguish it from the other tanks located outside the town (the Cisternone and the Cisternino di Pian di Rota), would have occupied a lot along Via Ferdinanda (now Via Grande), between Porta a Pisa and Fosso Reale. Precisely because of the presence of these pre-existing structures, the only visible façade would have been the one facing west; for it, Poccianti had designed a characteristic semi-circular apse lightened by a window of thermal derivation.

However, around 1840, the demolition of the fortifications and the construction of the Piazza dei Granduchi (now Piazza della Repubblica) above the Fosso Reale, forced Poccianti to redesign the facades on Via Ferdinanda and the new square: therefore, along the main road axis of the city, the architect set up a massive base surmounted by a light Ionic architraved portico, while, towards the Piazza dei Granduchi, he limited himself to a simple distribution of the openings, although the architect's papers show a more complex project for this facade too, probably not realized due to lack of funds. The Cisternino, however, never came into operation, perhaps due to the complications that arose with the construction of the new square on the Fosso Reale, which with its vault would have obstructed the passage of the pipes coming from the nearby Gran Conserva. Subsequently, following the bombings of the Second World War, the small city reservoir was almost completely isolated from the surrounding buildings with the construction of a new and incongruous facade facing north, while the internal tank was divided in half with the construction of a new attic to house the rooms of the House of Culture.
It is currently closed to the public, although the reopening as a house of culture and related activities is imminent."

Davide Pizzi

"Interesting building, even more so Piazza Guerrazzi located next to it with the monument of the same name."

Roberto Bolognesi