16 February 2024 – Lucca
Miles driven today = 68
Total Miles to date = 1,289
We got ourselves straight back onto the E80 Toll Road this morning and for a while we found ourselves ploughing through tunnels again for at least half of the time. Then, shortly after we passed the sign announcing we are in Tuscany, we noticed that the hills to our left were turning a brilliant white. Snow, we initially thought, but then we realized that what we could see were the marble quarries of Carrara and as we continued past nearby factories we could see huge blocks and slabs of the stuff. My lad Rory spent some time out here during his first job after leaving Uni, when he was briefed to source a block of stone suitable for carving a marble grandfather clock. You can see the finished piece HERE.
A little while later we branched off onto the A11 and headed inland to Lucca. Total toll expenditure for the day was a little over €13 which seemed a bit pricey compared to yesterday. Perhaps they stuck us in a larger vehicle category today. Who knows?
We easily found our way to our overnight park up and took the short walk to the Gates of the old City. Lucca is unique in Italy in that it is the only City to have retained its City Walls intact. When Italy was unified in 1860 it was decreed that defensive walls were unnecessary and should be demolished but Lucca insisted on keeping theirs. You can walk or cycle all the way around the 2.5 mile perimeter.
I had downloaded a walking tour onto my phone so we grabbed a couple of focaccia sandwiches for lunch and made our way to the Piazza Napoleone where the tour starts. The square was established by Napoleon’s sister, Elisa, who had a statue of the Emperor created as a centrepiece but this didn’t last long and was replaced by this one dedicated to Maria Luisa of Spain.
The entire length of one side of the Square is the Ducale Palace where the high and mighty of the town used to live and go about their business.
The square hosts a series of concerts every Summer for the Lucca Summer Festival (“LSF” for short). The line up of familiar names due to appear in 2024 include Ed Sheeran, Rod Stewart & Duran Duran.
The Palazzo Pretorio, which was built as a Court in 1370, had this impressive tiger standing guard.
The Church of San Michele in Foro was originally built in 795AD and then rebuilt in 1070 and is often described as looking like a giant wedding cake due to the marble giving it an icing sugar like appearance.
The Bell Tower was added in the 13th Century but it was shortened in 1366 at the behest of the Doge of Pisa because he complained that the bells were too loud. Pisa is 12 miles away! I doubt he would have been a fan of the Rolling Stones playing here.
It was really quite dark inside so I employed sniper breathing skills to make sure I had a steady enough hand for the shot.
The chap in the glass coffin is Saint Davino Armeno and he has been dead for nearly 1,000 years. Pretty grim really!
In December 1858, this rather unobtrusive looking building was the birthplace of Giacomo Puccini. Nowadays it is a museum of the composer’s life and achievements.
The 13th Century Clock Tower stands 164 feet tall. You can clamber up 207 rickety wooden steps to marvel at the antique clock mechanism. We didn’t feel the urge to do so.
The Church of San Frediano was named after an Irish pilgrim called Fredianus (stop sniggering!) who became Bishop of Lucca in 560AD. The Church was rebuilt in 1112 with further additions and alterations made over the subsequent centuries.
This “Square” (it’s actually oval) was originally a Roman Amphitheatre capable of seating 10,000 spectators. Most of the original buildings either collapsed or were demolished but the shape remains the same.
Once Lucca had as many as 250 towers and, like the ones we saw in Albenga the other day, these were built by the wealthy to show how much cash they had to chuck about willy nilly by building ostentatious follies. The Guingi Tower was constructed in 1384, entirely of red bricks. It has Holm Oak trees growing on the roof and again you can clamber 125 feet to the top if the desire were to take you.
These buildings weren’t mentioned in the guided tour although I think the dome on the right might be a Baptistry. Anyway, they make for interesting components of the Lucca skyline.
Final stop for us was the Cathedral of St Martin. Founded in the 6th Century, it was rebuilt in 1060 and again in the 12th and 13th Centuries.
You can have a poke about inside but they make a small charge and having seen old Saint Davino waving at us from his glass box earlier we decided we’d had enough of Catholicism for one day thankyou. Nice carvings above the doors though.
So we wandered along the City walls and sat and enjoyed the views for a while. I’d agree with everything I had read about Lucca. There’s enough here to hold your attention for a day or two but it is also bitesized enough to see all of the highlights in a single afternoon without having to fight through throngs of tourists. A cruel twist of geographical fate dictates that we have Pisa, Florence and Siena all coming up over the course of the next few days. I have a feeling that we might not be quite so fortunate there, especially if our Chinese friends from yesterday are still around.
Our home for tonight is a very spacious dedicated motorhome parking area which is a mere 10 minutes walk from Saint Anna Gate in the City Wall. It’s supposed to be at least €10 a night to stay here but the ticket machine isn’t currently working and the barrier gate is permanently up so it looks like being a freebie. When we parked up we noticed we had Brit neighbours in a van which is almost a twin of ours. By the time we got back from our tour of the City they had moved on but it’s the first British van we have seen for at least a week and probably a good deal longer. We are not alone!
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