Lucca, Tuscany, Italy

Quoting from www.knowitall.com: "Lucca is the most wonderful small town; its famous walls enclose a place that can be wandered or pedalled with ease yet remains full of secrets.
One of Italy's finest mediaeval treasures, the centre is relatively unspoilt and is sprinkled with palazzi, towers and almost countless splendid churches. The surrounding hills produce some excellent wines and arguably the finest olive oil anywhere, whilst the beaches and nightlife are but a small hop away."

We arrived on a day with a rain-threatening sky, but happily, the clouds receded and the sun emerged holding the rain off until we were returning to the parking lot outside the city walls. As mentioned above, Lucca is famous for it's 15th century wall -- huge, very thick and virtually 100% intact. In fact the wall is so wide that the top has become a favorite foot and bike path around the city and a great vantage point for looking down into the gardens and at many of the old buildings in its nearly-intact medieval center. The pictures here show one of the city gates and a small section of the wall.

By the way, we may never have mentioned it, but there is an obscure Italian law that says anyone traveling with Susan DeCorpo (she and Jim were with us in Lucca) is required, at least once each day, to stop to buy gelato. That's why, when you look at our Lucca pictures, below, you will see a picture of a gelato shop on the Piazza St. Michele.

An interesting feature of Lucca is the Piazza Anfiteatro, on the site of an original Roman amphitheater. Over the centuries, various buildings were built along and among the amphitheater's walls and its original purpose was lost. It is now a beautiful oval-shaped plaza, surrounded by buildings built along the original lines of the outer wall of the amphitheater. The buildings now house shops and restaurants on their ground floors and an outdoor table at a cafe in the Piazza is a lovely place for a cup of coffee or a meal. We enjoyed lunch at one of them.

Lucca is the birthplace of Puccini, by the way.

Like so many Italian towns, Lucca has a wealth of beautiful churches. St Frediano has a magnificent 13th century mosaic on the facade and St. Michele is adorned with a bewildering variety of marble carvings (Lucca is not far from Carrara, the home of the classic white marble) including numerous pillars carved to many different designs. Amidst all this ancient beauty, there is a vibrant, living town, with many modern shops and services -- but with all of them made to reside peacefully with the town's ancient fabric.

For our pictures of Lucca, go to:

http://chuck.smugmug.com/gallery/2976123#161031623