Lucca and More

Monday, October 20, 2014
Lucca, Tuscany, Italy
From the tiny airport in Florence to the bus, and then for the drive to Lucca, it seemed as if the trip would never end. Finally we arrived at the Elisa Gate and met Olivia, our trip leader. From there it was a 5 minute walk to our hotel in the Old Town. I was enchanted by a brief trip to Lucca on my first trip to Italy, and the fact that we would spend three days here was a big part of my decision to take this trip.

The hotel is located between the two walls of the city and faces a small canal . In less than 15 minutes I can walk almost anywhere in the Old City. Car access is limited, but you still need to be on the lookout for scooters and bicycles. There was not much to do on the first day, but settle into my room and meet some of my fellow travelers, and take a brief orientation walk before dinner.

Tuesday morning we awoke to heavy rain and gusty winds. So there was some concern about our scheduled walking tour of the city and even more about the bike ride along the top of the city wall. A slight adjustment is plans meant that we met Ria, our local guide in meeting room located inside the inner city wall that was originally part of an old church but is now an annex to our hotel. After a discussion of the history of Lucca we ventured out for a brief walk along the top of the outer wall. The older inner wall was built to protect the city from Pisa, but it failed and was partially destroyed. The city rulers then built the outer wall to protect the city from attack by Florence, which was becoming more powerful . However, the Florentines, never attacked, so this wall remains intact. Talks with UNESCO are being held about declaring the City Wall a World Heritage site.

Our next stop was at the Cathedral of San Martino, also known as the Duomo. Inside there are a number of paintings including works by Tintoretto, Zuccari, Ghirlandaio, and Fra Bartolomeo. It also contains the Shrine of the Sacred Face which houses Lucca's most famous relic. A close look at the exterior columns reveals that they are all different. One story to explain this is that the city held a competition to determine who would provide the columns for the Duomo, and then decided to keep and use all of the submissions, but pay for none of them.

We also visited the theater where nightly performances of Puccini's music are held and the house where he was born. We viewed the Church of San Michele, with its facade that is impressive from the front, but incomplete from the side, and ended at the Piazza Antfiteatro. Located on the site of a Roman ampitheater, where the buildings reflect the shape of the original structure. It was there that our morning walk ended, and where we chose to stay for a light lunch al fresco. For me that meant just a glass of wine and some bruschetta with cheese, artichokes and mushrooms. I was saving a little room for a gelato later.

After consulting our map, Alice and I made our way back to the hotel. On the way we passed the Center of Contemporary Art which was featuring an exhibit of Robert Capa's photos. Although it seemed a little odd to see such an exhibit in Lucca, that is the way that we spent our afternoon. Later we stopped for gelato, and then back to the hotel to rest before dinner.

Comments

2025-02-07

Comment code: Ask author if the code is blank