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26-522: Roberto Gallina (born 4 January 1940 in La Spezia ) is a former Italian Grand Prix motorcycle road racer and racing team owner. His best year was in 1973 when he finished eighth in the 250cc world championship. After his racing career ended, he started his own racing team which proved to be a successful venture. His team won two 500cc world championships as a team owner in 1981 and 1982 with riders Marco Lucchinelli and Franco Uncini . Gallina

52-552: A major Italian Navy base. A popular seaside resort, it is also a significant railway junction, and is notable for its museums, for the Palio del Golfo rowing race, and for railway and boat links with the Cinque Terre . La Spezia and its province have been settled since prehistoric times. In Roman times the most important centre was Luni , not far from Sarzana . As the capital of the short-lived Niccolò Fieschi Signoria in

78-575: A partnership of more than 20 entities including Fincantieri , Leonardo S.p.A. , Intermarine, Rina Service, Consorzio Tecnomar, Autorità portuale, CNR , Camera di Commercio and University of Genoa and one of the five of innovation and research hub in Liguria. Both the "G. Marconi" pole and the DLTM are hosted in the old building of the Bruno Falcomatà hospital since December 2019. In 2020,

104-496: Is 1,314 millimetres (51.7 in), more than twice that in London. Snow is extremely uncommon. Heavy snowfalls are exceptional events: only in 1985 was a snowfall of more than 50 centimetres (20 in) recorded. Another big snowfall occurred during the night of 18 December 2009, with approximately 25 centimetres (9.8 in) of snow and temperatures as low as −7.4 °C (18.7 °F) in the following nights. In winter nights, if

130-566: Is called Shaʿar Zion , in Hebrew "Gateway to Zion ". La Spezia has a borderline humid subtropical ( Cfa ) and Mediterranean climate ( Csa ). The city enjoys hot summers, chilly damp winters and very changeable and rainy autumns and springs. The average temperatures of the coldest month (January) are 4 °C (39 °F) minimum and 11 °C (52 °F) maximum. In the hottest month (July) they are 20 °C (68 °F) minimum and 29 °C (84 °F) maximum. Average annual precipitation

156-706: Is still based on the original nineteenth-century design. The advent of aerial warfare has made the base almost redundant, as it is too exposed to air attack. The fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Soviet threat changed Italy's defense needs, shifting the focus to the south, in the Mediterranean . This resulted in a significant decline in importance of La Spezia base in favor of those of Taranto and Augusta . The only complete units left in La Spezia are

182-820: The Maestrale-class frigates of the 2nd squadron with the Vesuvio , the Lerici-class minehunters of the Mine Countermeasures Forces, and the Elettra multipurpose support unit. Another problem with the base is the lack of privacy: the arsenal is easily visible from the houses next to the perimeter and the mountains of the western part of the Gulf, while modern technology has rendered the security measures obsolete. For these reasons, as well as

208-408: The local trolleybus network and other services within the city. The main railway stations in the city are La Spezia Centrale railway station , Migliarina railway station, and Ca' di Boschetti. Since 2002, a university named G. Marconi has had its headquarters in La Spezia. The Distretto Ligure delle Tecnologie Marine (DLTM) is a research hub in La Spezia, Italy, focused on blue economy . It's

234-618: The Navy, who arranged funding and entrusted Domenico Chiodo , an official of the Military Engineers, with the construction of the new naval base. Work began in 1862 and ended on August 28, 1869, when General Domenico Chiodo formally inaugurated the plant by flooding the newly built docks. During the Second World War , because of its strategic importance, the base was heavily bombed and was almost completely destroyed, but

260-412: The civil authorities and the population. In at least one case, the local press has drawn attention to a possible accident to a US submarine moored at the diga foranea breakwater, but no official confirmation has been given. The base occupies the area of future expansion of the city, forcing it to develop to the east, a reclamation area. The main damage caused by the arrival of the arsenal was suffered by

286-653: The closure of the training center for recruits at the end of their compulsory military service, the activities and personnel there are currently being reduced, resulting in large areas of the base being disused. Next to the main entrance of the base lies the Naval Technical Museum , normally open to the public. The museum, established with the aim of keeping seafaring traditions alive, includes more than 150 models of ships and boats, about 2500 medals, 6500 memorabilia, 2000 documents, and over 5000 technical and historical books. In 2004 an investigation began into

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312-578: The colder and heavier air trapped in the Po Valley , behind the Apennine Mountains . Today, La Spezia is the chief Italian naval base and arsenal, and the base for a navy navigation school. It is also a commercial port, with shipyards and industries producing machinery, metal products, and refined petroleum. La Spezia's public transportation services are managed by ATC La Spezia, which owns urban, suburban and interurban bus routes; as well as

338-503: The end only ten examples were built, at an overall cost of $ 2.5 million. Gallina's own finances never recovered. This Italian biographical article relating to motorcycle sport is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . La Spezia La Spezia ( UK : / l æ ˈ s p ɛ t s i ə / , US : / l ɑː -/ or / l ɑː ˈ s p ɛ t s i ɑː , - ˈ s p eɪ t -/ ; Italian: [la ˈspɛttsja] ; Ligurian : A Spèza , in

364-428: The lands of the west of the Gulf of La Spezia: The changes have broken the social and historical context of the places and events associated with them. These physical constraints have delayed, or in some cases prevented, the economic development of the villages of which the sea is a natural continuation: especially today with the move to tourism, such impediments to city activities are strongly resented. Finally, during

390-553: The liberation, La Spezia became the point of departure for survivors from Nazi concentration camps. From the summer of 1945 to the spring of 1948 more than 23,000 Jewish displaced persons managed to leave Italy clandestinely for the Palestine Mandate . After lengthy vicissitudes, the ships Fede , Fenice , and Komemiut managed to evacuate everyone from the Golfo di La Spezia, to the extent that on Israeli maps, La Spezia

416-657: The local Spezzino dialect  [ it ; lij ] ) is the capital city of the province of La Spezia and is located at the head of the Gulf of La Spezia in the southern part of the Liguria region of Italy . La Spezia is the second-largest city in the Liguria region, after Genoa . Located roughly midway between Genoa and Pisa , on the Ligurian Sea , it is one of the main Italian military and commercial harbours and

442-503: The local football club, Spezia Calcio , was promoted to the Serie A for the first time in their history. La Spezia is twinned with: La Spezia Naval Base It was Napoleon Bonaparte who first conceived the idea of building a great arsenal in the Gulf of Spezia. Napoleon's idea was revived in 1857 by Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour , then Chairman of the Board and Secretary of

468-564: The narrow street that divides the Old Town into two. It is called Via del Prione, taking its name from the pietrone or large stone, in local dialect prione, where public announcements were once read out. La Spezia developed substantially after 1861 when the great naval arsenal there was commissioned by the Royal government . In September 1943, after the Italian capitulation to the Allies, it

494-421: The north, which lap western Liguria, but to those from the southeast. These may bring heavy rain and they can reach 80 kilometres per hour (50 mph), in rare cases causing the blocking of the port. The only northern wind reaching the city is the north-eastern Grecale, common during incursions of Arctic air, when the cold air flowing over the warmer Tyrrhenian sea triggers the formation of low pressures, draining

520-466: The period between 1256 and 1273, La Spezia was inevitably linked with Genoese vicissitudes. After the fall of the Republic of Genoa , an independent state until 1797, La Spezia grew, developed and changed, though along lines similar to Liguria's capital Genoa. This Ligurian influence can still be seen in the urban layout as well as in the types of buildings and decorations. This is notable in the carrugio,

546-421: The presence of an illegal dump of toxic substances (including asbestos insulation, and batteries containing lead , cadmium and depleted uranium ) in the campo in ferro area of the base, close to the sea and some houses. Since it is a military area, only government officials have the right of access and inspection. There is a danger of the dispersal of asbestos dust, which is very light and volatile. Part of

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572-420: The sky is clear, temperatures may fall below zero, usually reaching about −2 to −4 °C (28 to 25 °F). Conversely, in summer, especially during sunny days, the temperature can easily exceed 30 °C (86 °F), and sometimes it reaches 35 °C (95 °F). Furthermore, the sensation of heat in summer is increased by the high humidity. Because of its topography, the city is not exposed to winds from

598-462: The waste in the landfill has been removed. Currently the area is covered with plastic sheeting. It is likely that the waste is below sea level. In the depths of the nearby Lagora canal, according to some analyses by l'Arpal, are deposits of hydrocarbons , zinc , mercury and heavy metals . There are also risks linked to the transit and docking of nuclear submarines in the past. The emergency plan in case of an accident has never been communicated to

624-620: Was also involved in designing his own bike, intended for the World Superbike championship, with the help of Japanese investor Yoshiyuki Hayashi. The bike, called the Gallina Quattro 750 , had a custom frame and design and was developed around a heavily modified Suzuki GSX-R750 engine (converted to chain gear drive and with most parts re-cast in magnesium). The bursting of the Japanese asset bubble hurt Hayashi severely and in

650-671: Was quickly renovated to full operation in the postwar period. On April 6 1945, American forces in Italy captured La Spezia against fierce resistance. Later, a counter-attack led to its recapture. The 2nd Squadron and Decima Flottiglia MAS , among others, were based here. After the war and throughout the Cold War era, the base has been home to the 1st Naval Division. Currently it employs approximately 1,000 civilian employees and 200 military. It covers an area of nearly 85 hectares and within it there are about 13 kilometers of roads. The layout

676-684: Was the departure port for the Italian Navy when it was ordered to steam into British hands at Malta. The Germans arrived too late to stop the departure of the fleet. During the war Italian troopships also left from La Spezia, including the Kaiser Franz Josef , a trans-Atlantic liner launched in Trieste in 1911 for the Austrian Lloyd company, which Italy had confiscated in 1919. It was sunk in La Spezia harbour in 1944. After

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