On display are works from the precious Alinari Archives, one of the largest and oldest photographic archives in the world. The heritage has over five million pieces, many of which are unique, dating from 1841 to the present day, collected in hundreds of archives and collections of great importance for the history of photography, not only in Italy. In December 2019 this archive became public thanks to the purchase of the Tuscany Region, one of the most important cultural investment and policy operations in recent years, which saved it from dispersion and dismemberment, guaranteeing its conservation and its accessibility.

The link between the city of the 4 Moors and its sea is told through a century (between the 1800s and 1900s) of photographers and photographs. Starting from the daguerreotype of the Dogana D'Acqua attributed to Aristide Castelli of about 1845. Livorno welcomes the invention of photography early, in fact already in 1843, just 4 years after the discovery of the daguerreotype, Giuseppe Marzocchini opened the first photographic studio in Tuscany in Livorno. Photos of bathing establishments and bathers, storm surges, various ships, divers and other trades related to the sea will flow through the exciting exhibition, in the shots of photographers (or entire dynasties of photographers) from Livorno.

Names of photographers such as Bettini and Miniati will not leave photography enthusiasts indifferent and will surprise visitors who will see their images for the first time with their charm.

The hand-colored slides by the Florentine scientist Giorgio Roster during his stays on the island of Elba in the second half of the 19th century are surprising, just as other amateur photographs of summer holidays dating back to the 1920s and 1930s were always taken on Elba.

As for the title, what does it refer to? To an enchanting photo by Michele Vestrini from 1958 which depicts a child from behind, sitting on a parapet of the Mascagni Terrace; in front of him, in the vastness of the open sea, the famous ship "Vespucci" in full sail.

Or perhaps, the corsairs?