La Spezia is the city located in Liguria, the north-western part of Italy on the coast of the Ligurian Sea. Despite the fact that the area of La Spezia has been settled since the Roman times, La Spezia experienced extraordinary development after 1861 when the king ordered to transfer a large part of the royal navy to the local port. La Spezia’s navy port played an important role during World War II and when the war was over it was used as a harbor from which people who survived the Holocaust departed towards Israel. For that reason it used to be called the “Gateway to Zion” among the Jewish people. Today La Spezia is one of the most important ports of Italy, apart from the navy vessels, there are also commercial ships.
