La Gran Conserva, or "Il Cisternone", situated on what were the outskirts of 19th-century Livorno, is the largest and best known of the city's's covered cisterns. It was constructed between 1829 and 1842 to the design of Pasquale Poccianti. While the facade of the Cisternone was completed by 1833 to commemorate the marriage of Tuscany's ruling Grand Duke Leopoldo II to his second wife Maria Antonietta, the water system was not fully operational until 1842.
It is thought that the architect, Antonio Antolini (better known for his work at the Bonaparte Forum in Milan, a circular piazza of palazzi with the Castello Sforzesco at its centre) may have also been involved in the design, as correspondence between him and Poccianti regarding the Cisternone exists.
The building appears almost surreal in its design, due to its dominant dome which resembles more a "cut-away" illustrative architectural drawing, a section, than a realised project. Inspired by the Pantheon in Rome the "dome" is unique, appearing as a half-dome or "semi-cupola." It is in reality an enormous niche — open to the elements — thus it seems that one views the interior from the exterior. A similar, but less theatrical, construction can be seen crowning the classical temple front of Alberti's Basilica of Sant'Andrea in Mantua, built in 1470.
At Livorno, the great niche surmounts a massive portico supported by eight columns in the Tuscan order, the order theorists considered most appropriate to military architecture. Attention is drawn to the niche by its proportions which dwarf the lower floors beneath it. One explanation for the individuality of the great niche is that large niches and concave recesses ornamenting pediments were a defining feature of Italian Baroque architecture. In Italy the Baroque style was superseded more swiftly by the neoclassical style than elsewhere in Europe; thus there can be found a confusing blend of the two styles in parts of Italy. However, the Gran Cisterno is very late for this fusion of styles, so the influence of Ledoux seems the most likely reason for this magnificently eccentric feature. There are obvious similarities between the Gran Conserva and Ledoux's drawings for the "House of Supervisors" at his idealistic city of Chaux, a late 18th-century example of modern town planning and more obviously still in a design by Ledoux for a Parisian mansion for Marie-Madeleine Guimard, which was conceived as early as 1766. In its turn, the Gran Cisternone was to be the inspiration for the design of half-dome Beaux-Arts bandshells, such as the Naumburg Bandshell in Central Park, New York.
The interior of the building is divided into two halves. The first and most visible is the principal facade and its flanking wings, which house the apartments for caretakers and staff; behind lies the second half and main body of the building which contains the "T" shaped reservoir itself. This is subdivided by Tuscan columns supporting the roof above, giving it the air of a cavernous aquatic cathedral.
The cisterns were not only places for storing the city's water but were also "purgatori" — places for purifying the water. Water entered the reservoir from the Acquedotto Leopoldino through layers of gravel and carbon, a method of filtration which was later replaced by a more modern chlorine treatment system. The later removal of the gravel filtering system meant that the cistern could be used to its maximum capacity to store 10,000 cubic metres of water. This reservoir and purification plant is still in use today.
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