The weather gods have decided to turn on some sunshine after a few soggy rainy days, and it looks like sunshine will follow us to Rome.
Lucca is a very old city dating back to 180 BC and was for a long time the centre of Italian silk trade. It is surrounded by a 12 meter high Renaissance wall built during the 16th and 17thcenturies. The wall is some 4kms long and completely surrounds the old town. A footpath on top of the wall goes all the way around the town and has five entry “portos”. We are advised that it offers endless photo opportunities of the old town. We intend to explore this tomorrow, our last day here before we head for the Eternal City.
The medieval in tact behind Lucca’s walls
Of course Lucca also has more than its fair share of churches and cathedrals, our quick count from the tourist map is ten, within the wall alone! And they’re not just small chapels but full on enormous marble and stone cathedrals.
As I type this, I can see what we have named the “Marble Mountains” in the distance from our sitting room window. The mountains look snow covered, but the white is actually marble, which Michelangelo and other sculptors had quarried for their wonderful works of art. It must have been an enormous job to manually haul those huge blocks of marble down the mountainside and transport them to the cities where the artists had their studios.
The view as I type
This morning we walked into the old town just to have a look around, about 1km as the crow flies. Traffic along the country lanes can be fast and furious, and with no footpaths for some of the way it’s like playing dodge-em-cars. Generally though, drivers are considerate and give us a wide berth. When we walk back to our villa at night we have torches to both light the way and to warn drivers that we are there.
The conveyance of choice is bicycles. Not your up to date, state-of-the-art bikes, but old rusty rattlers of all shapes and sizes. Large bike parking bays are positioned all around the place to accommodate them. Most areas within the old city’s walls are pedestrian only areas, with only bikes, delivery vans, small community buses and taxis allowed.
The ringing of bike bells is a prevalent sound, which everyone totally ignores as they continue to walk down the middle of the road. The narrow alleyways resemble Venice with their cobble stones (no more bridges to climb thank goodness), and have the usual array of every kind of shop imaginable.
Of course its a wool shop.
Christmas decorations are only now beginning to appear in Italy – very different to Australia where they go into the shops immediately after Fathers Day! Italians take religion seriously, and Christmas is not a crass commercial exercise as in Australia.
We dined like doges in a restaurant called Lucca in Tavola, the best dinner so far in my opinion. The waiter was both interesting and interested in us, the service was excellent, and the meal delicious. We highly recommend this restaurant for anyone travelling through Lucca.
Then, the highlight of our stay in Lucca. We attended an evening Puccini opera recital staged by Puccini e la sua Lucca in the 12th century deconsecrated Chiesa a Battistero dei SS Giovanni e Reparata. Puccini was born and raised in Lucca, and is the city’s most famous son. This chapel is where he was baptized, and worshipped and is one of the places he used to perform in as organist after being appointed Church Musician.
Puccini’s chapel, now the concert venue
Two professional sopranos, Barbara Lippi and Xu Hui, together with pianoforte musician Miassimo Morelli held us enthralled for over an hour of arias from the best loved Puccini operas (as well as two arias from Mozart) such as La Boheme, Turandod, and Madam Butterfly to mention but a few. Un bel di erdremo , and O mio babbino caro had us in tears, the first beautifully sung by Xi Hui, and the latter a duet. AN EVENING PERFECTO !
Ciao for now. Pete’s turn to blog tomorrow.
Ilze
dipidydoo 