Andiamo in Italia - Seconda Parte

Lucca

 

This is the second part of our trip to Italy. See the first part here.

First off, why did we go to Lucca? History! Short term: three years ago we came to explore Lucca and the surrounding area. Longer term: about 120 years ago my grandparents were born near there! Which, after all, is why we went there in the first place… This time we wanted to recreate our trip of three years ago (see that blog here), except spend more time in Florence, a train ride away. 

 

Our arrival in Lucca was preceded by a drive along coastal mountains that, at first, appeared to be sprinkled with snow. This got Paula’s attention, but she quickly realized that it wasn’t snow, it was stone. We were passing through Carrara, site of the marble mountains that have been providing the raw material for statues since before the Romans. And still are today!

 

That ain't snow on these mountains near Carrara!

Before long we saw storage yards on both sides of the road filled with massive stone blocks: was a future David hidden in one of them? Other yards had snow-white sheets lined up, eventually to be, perhaps, tiles in some Fifth-Avenue penthouse? (Or in a more modest home in Atascadero?) And still visible in the distance were the white mountains of stone feeding these stockpiles of marble. 

A few of the many yards for storing and handling marble from Carrara. 

Here's a truckload of happiness for some sculptor!

Lucca is not on many tourist itineraries, it has no great monuments or particularly interesting works of art. It does have a history: it was an Etruscan settlement, and a Roman colony by 180 BCE. Julius Caesar met there with Pompey and Crassus in 56BCE. But as mentioned earlier, we have personal reasons to visit. 

Much of the old town was built in the same era as Florence, with buildings designed in the same style, and probably by some of the same people. So, magnificent churches with impressive facades? Check. Tall towers visible from a good distance away? Check. Massive numbers of tourists clogging the streets? Ah, no. But it does have narrow, shaded streets that curve mysteriously off in the distance, good restaurants, and plenty of gelato.

Seen from the train: these barns are found in Tuscany, but only near Lucca. The open brick lattice allows for good ventilation in the hot summers.

 

The green oasis of the city walls!

The most significant feature of Lucca is the walls surrounding the old city. Built for defense during the Renascence (although, apparently, they never served in battle), today they are preserved in their entirety, a rarity. Most impressive for me are the vast swaths of grassy fields around the walls (the former moat?). The walls themselves are brick, surmounted by massive trees. Approaching the walls from the hot and noisy modern part of the city, the old town appears as an oasis of green.

Even outside the walls, there are some magnificent homes in Lucca...

 

On this trip we stayed at the same Airbnb as on our last visit. Our hostess was very glad to see us again, and we were pleased to reconnect with her. While her rooms are a bit out from the center (a 10-minute walk?), there is space for parking a car. Added bonus: we could leave the car there while we were in Florence.

We passed these every day on our walk to the city.

The main purpose of our trip was to visit Florence before the crowds arrived. That worked well, but it was still a relief to get back to low-key, compact Lucca. We spent several long, tranquil evenings wandering the quiet streets as the sky slowly darkened. Sunday was our last full day in Lucca, and our hostess suggested we might want to drive up into the surrounding hills and visit some of the quaint villages; we studied the map and laid out a plan. But, it was not to be!

Detail of the gate from one house. Note the Tuscan shutters--they hinge up to let in light and air while keeping out the intense direct sun.

We left our parking spot Sunday morning anticipating a visit to a much-less traveled part of Tuscany. The route out of the parking lot was a tortuous path around several buildings (pretty standard, in Europe), ending with a security gate blocking off the main road. Not terribly difficult, but at the end, we could not get the electric gate to open! It was just a long plastic pipe across the exit, but the key fob we’d been given simply did not work. We finally accepted that today was not the day for us to be out driving.

Except… getting the car back to its parking space required backing down that long and tortuous path. At least the car was equipped with bumper sensors all around, and an advanced back-up camera that somehow gave an image of the car seen from above. I slowly reversed down the steep slope, and… oh, mercy! Found I could turn around. Ah, that made it easier! 

And thus ended our Tuscan driving adventure.

Approaching the city walls. Paula--mask in hand--heads for one the smaller, human-sized entrances. 

Through the tunnel under the wall and into the city!

Once inside we are greeted by one of Lucca's many towers.

The walls at night.

 

Instead of driving we spent the day strolling on the top of the city walls, some 4km (2.4 miles) all around. They’re wide enough for a two-lane road, but thankfully, are only open to pedestrians—and bicycles. We stopped for lunch at a restaurant owned by a couple who had stayed with us some years ago, back when our spare bedroom was an Airbnb guest room. It was good to connect up with them again; we were glad they were still in business, since the COVID lockdown was quite hard on everybody. (We figure part of our responsibility as travelers is to pump a little money into the local economy, which we were happy to do!)

 

The beautiful shaded road atop the wall.

Looking north across the city to the distant hills.

Looking south into the new town... and the distant hills.

Not much more to say about Lucca, really. It was very pretty, quiet, low key, and we had a great gin and tonic at a bar our last evening there!

 

 

Narrow curving streets provide deep shade on even the hottest days.

A quiet square in the old town.

Chiesa di San Michele in Foro, St. Michael's church on the site of the ancient roman Forum (the in Foro part of the name), with its funky statue of St Michael.

 

The bell tower of Chiesa di San Michele, seen down a narrow street.

Lucca's duomo, or cathdral, the Duomo di San Martino

A Saturday night happy hour crowd, social but not distancing! (Note the "Cafe Puccini" on the right: Giacomo Puccini, the opera composer, was born in Lucca!) 

The magnificent mosaic facade of the Basilica di San Fediano

One end of the huge Piazza dell'Anfiteatro, an oval "square" on the site of the former Roman amphitheater.

An entrance to the Piazza dell'Anfiteatro.

And finally, Torre Guinigi at night, a medieval tower topped with an oak tree.

 UP NEXT: The drive back. We didn’t go straight home; instead, we spent the night near the lavender fields of Provence and did a bit of exploring before getting on the road to Montpellier.