Lucca sparkles like a jewel of rare beauty amongst the wonderful art cities of Tuscany; you can in fact view it from the city walls (see the picture below), so well built and preserved, that it’s possible to travel completely around them, on foot or by bike.
A bike is our preferred mode of transport to discovering the most representative spots of the city, with it’s many stories, legends, and characters as accompainment during our exploration.
Our meeting point is the Porta San Pietro from which, we begin our discovery of the historical city centre, cycling along famous streets such as Via Fillungo, which is brimming with shops, to arrive at the Piazza Anfiteatro, its name derives from the presence of an ancient roman amphitheatre, which is used as home to a market several times a week.
Not far from here, we find another of Lucca’s landmarks: the Guinigi Tower, whose owner enriched the summit with holm oak trees, in this way the tower itself remained under the height restrictions requested by the law of that period (we talk about the fourteenth century), but thanks to the trees, seemed higher than all the others!
At this point, we stop for a short break, to enjoy an italian coffee, and then recommence bound for the Roman Forum, of which remains show the various activities that ran in this part of the ancient city. Our next stop, the marvelous cathedral of San Michele in Foro awaits us.
We continue further and arrive at the Piazza Napoleone, or as the inhabitants call it “Piazza Grande” that is “Large Square”, where concerts are held during the Summer Festival. Recently the festival has became so internationally renowned that Lucca has hosted the likes of the Rolling Stones and Roger Waters, unforgettable performances!
We continue south-east bound and discover the Piazza del Giglio and the famous Teatro del Giglio, a reference point for lovers of classical music, opera, comedy theatre and dance.
A few meters away is also the Piazza San Martino, with the enchanting San Martino Cathedral, which has been restored and enlarged many times througout the centuries, it holds several pieces of art, of which there is the Volto Santo, a wooden sculpture, venerated since the period in which the pilgrims walked along the Via Francigena and stopped to rest here, plus there is the very famous tomb of Ilaria Del Carretto, an artwork of the Renaissance master Jacopo Della Quercia.
We hope that you can imagine the sense of fulfillment, and at times of amazement that many visitors feel when they visit Lucca with us, being in direct contact with the ancient streets, the buildings, and the towers, of a city pulsating in history, culture, and art!
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Thanks for reading, we wait in anticipation to arrange a special experience for you, here in Tuscany!
