Tuscany 6. Lucca
Tuscany 6. Lucca
two views of Lucca from the top of the Torre Guinigi |
Pisa station is interesting if you have time to spare. According to the timetables in the station, the train for Lucca left from platform 2 but there was no information on the platform about any trains going anywhere. Then we found an information point with an actual person who told us that of course the Lucca train left from platform 2 West. This was deja vu for us because years ago when we tried motor-rail from Calais to Bologna, it was fine on the outward journey. On the return trip, we and many other passengers were waiting at Bologna station for the pre-loaded train full of our cars to arrive on platform 6 (or whatever). Then across the station we saw our train arriving and with a two year old Tim, a four year old Louise, Heather’s parents and all the other motor-railers we had to rush to platform 6 West. Successfully I’m happy to say. We caught the Lucca train successfully too and it was full. Nobody offered a seat to either of the two 80 year olds with us although one seated passenger was happy to chat to Newt who is so polite he chatted back.
ever seen a tomato tree before ? |
At Lucca the station lies just to the south of the old city and the glorious, completely encircling walls. Lucca of course is much bigger than the old city but successive councils or whatever the Italian equivalent is, have had the foresight and style to keep a strip of land unbuilt on and green completely around the walls. This strip seems to vary in width between about a hundred and several hundred yards. It sets off the old city beautifully and the modern city is outside that green circlet. The wall itself is about twenty feet high with defensive redoubts at intervals which would allow a murderous cross fire against any attackers. On the top is a walkway as wide as a road but is only for pedestrians and cyclists plus a few service vehicles. The complete circle is about 2.5 miles. It is really one of the highlights of a city which is a highlight in itself.
part of the ramparts with the green lung around the old city |
and the promenade along the top |
There’s a very impressive botanic garden just inside the ramparts with a good collection in a very peaceful setting. It surprised me to find that our Fodor’s guide doesn’t even mention it. It does find space, reasonably I suppose, to mention a much smaller garden which is a collection of of about half a dozen trees on the top of the medieval 150 feet high Torre Guinigi (233 steps for those of you who love the details). It’s all written up fancifully in Fodor’s, “a grove of Ilex trees… roots pushed into the room below”etc. Well Mr Pedant says nonsense, they’re planted in planting boxes and don’t grow into the room below. They’re also not Hollies, they’re Holm Oaks. That said it is a magnificent bit of nonsense. The tower with it’s strange leafy headdress can be seen from many parts of the city and as you would imagine the views from the top are spectacular, especially looking down onto the thousands upon thousands of red terracotta roof tiles covering the huge jumble of the city which looks to have grown organically rather than as a result of much in the way of planning.
the Torre Guinigi, as seen from a variety of places in the city |
and a photo taken at the top - Newt and Heather |
The most famous son of Lucca has to be the composer Puccini. I mention composer because logic dictates that there must be other Puccinis. So now you won’t be confused by thinking I might be writing about the bricklayer Puccini or the greengrocer or pickpocket Puccini. Classical music lovers really don’t need me to say any more about his music but for football fans his stirring Nessun Dorma from Turandot was used as a theme song for the 1990 Football World Cup, held in Italy.
Giacomo Puccini |
One of the really unmissable highlights in Lucca is the site of the Roman Amphitheatre which is no longer there but the visible ghost of it remains. The oval site is bare, about eight or ten feet above the original Roman floor level and surrounded by medieval buildings, almost all of which have a restaurant opening onto the piazza. It is a delightfully elegant place and despite a bloody past and the present day visitors it has quite a calm and peaceful feel to it. We ate here in a lovely restaurant on our final day with Bonnie and Newt this trip. They were due to leave in the morning and fly home to Massachusetts via London and they very generously insisted on buying a delicious dinner for us.
the site of the old Roman Amphitheatre - I think it's a three photo view |
Heather and I were leaving later than B & N and had a day in Lucca after leaving our luggage at the station. We didn’t do anything exciting, wandered around this lovely city, probably my favourite of the whole trip, despite wonderful Florence and so many other beautiful towns we’d seen. Had a very good last day pizza, then a recommended gelateria for some ice cream, knowing that in a few hours we’d be stuck in the sterility of Pisa airport.
it wasn't all sunny, only about 95% of the time |
Here’s one last story to finish with which really did happen on our last day. I was sitting by myself at a cafe table in the sun and I heard what could only be described as a delicious bit of eavesdropping. Not deliberate listening but it was all spoken at some volume. A party of three older ladies arrived and sat at the table next to me. One of these ladies was very tanned, not just nut brown but rather like an old bashed about well loved old handbag. A different woman who was sat with a group at the table behind me said in what’s known as estuary English “you look very familiar, do I know you ?” (for my non-English readers, estuary English is a fairly roughish accent spoken in vaguely the south- east of England, the estuary being the Thames). Handbag lady, speaking in a cut-glass accent (very posh for my non-English readers) “well, I live in Chelsea and I have a house on Barbados”. Estuary lady “Oh, perhaps not”. I enjoyed the exchange enormously just as I enjoyed the entire trip.
11 - 14 May 2025
Thanks for the blogs and photos - I will add Lucca to my prospective itinerary
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