The Diacinto Cestoni Municipal Aquarium is located in Livorno, on the edge of the suggestive scenery of the seafront and the Mascagni Terrace. It is the largest aquarium in Tuscany and is the only structure of its kind to have a Greek-Roman archaeological marine area with the suggestive reproduction of a ship wreck. Originally built as a heliotherapy asylum, it was transformed into an aquarium and was inaugurated on June 20, 1937. It was destroyed during the Second World War and was rebuilt in 1950; in 1962 it was further expanded and in 1968 it became the seat of the Interuniversity Center for Marine Biology, set up by the Municipality of Livorno and the Universities of Bologna, Florence, Modena, Siena, Pisa and Turin.
At the end of the nineties, the structure was the subject of an extension and reconstruction by the architect Vittorio Gregotti. The works were suspended several times and the site, also visited by the then President of the Republic Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, proceeded with innumerable difficulties. On July 31, 2010, the renovated complex was finally inaugurated.