After our 7-day cruise ended in Venice, we headed to Genoa, Italy. Not really known for tourism, Genoa is a big port city. However, it’s a great base to explore the nearby Cinque Terre and the French Riviera.
On the way to Genoa, we drove through the Tuscany region. We skipped Florence, Tuscany’s capital city, for two reasons. We couldn’t do it justice in the time we had. Also, DH and I had been there before at separate times and had different opinions – I liked it; he did not. When discussing Rome, we had the opposite opinions – DH liked Rome, I did not. So we agreed to skip both Florence and Rome on this trip.
Our cruise debarked at 7:30 am so our original plan was to do more sight-seeing in Venice. However, after enduring the summer crowds the previous weekend, we chose to explore Lucca (pronounced Luke-a) in Tuscany. My in-laws traveled there years before and recommended it. Our knowledge of the area was limited to the limited research I did on the 3-hour trip.
What a neat town Lucca proved to be! First of all, it still has the original walls surrounding the old city. These walls are so thick, you can ride bicycles on top of them.
We parked the car near the train station and walked through the gate on the western part of town. These solid walls have been protecting the city since Roman times. Today’s version of the walls were completed around 1644. You certainly wouldn’t want the actual gate to come down on top of you! We found a great spot for lunch at Il Tabarro and feasted on authentic Italian pizza.
Digesting our lunch, we walked around the town, taking in the medieval and Renaissance structures. We entered Lucca Cathedral, also known as Duomo di San Martino with its adjoining bell tower. The Gothic interior boasts portraits including Tintoretto’s Last Supper and Ghirlandaio’s Madonna Enthroned with the Saints.
Another highlight is the Volto Santo or Holy Face. Legend has it that Nicodemus carved a wooden figure of Jesus except for the face. When he awoke the next morning, the face was completed. The legend continues that it was found in a cave by a Bishop traveling to the Holy Land. To determine its final location, he put it on an unmanned boat where it was found on the northern shores of Italy in 782 by the Bishop of Lucca. The Volto Santo is enshrined in an octagonal-shaped tabernacle built by Matteo Civitali in 1484.
A trip to Lucca wouldn’t be complete without a climb to the top of one of the bell towers. Our admission to Lucca Cathedral included the adjacent campanile. Reminiscent of the final scenes in the movie “Vertigo”, we climbed 217 steps to the top. I hoped the narrow staircases that hugged the brick walls weren’t the original ones from the 1400’s.
At this point, we had different ideas of how to spend the rest of our time in Lucca. I took Thing 1 with me to Piazza Anfiteatro for a beverage and ice cream. The piazza is unusual as it is oval-shaped. It had been built on the footprints of the original coliseum. As we entered the area, workers were setting up for an evening concert that night.
Dear Hubby (DH) took Thing 2 to rent bicycles. They rode on top of the 4km of city walls for different vantage points of the city.
On our way out of the town, we walked by a few more sights.
