Day-Tripping: Lucca

Exhausted from Siena on Saturday, I only managed to read Rick Steves' chapter on Lucca before falling asleep on the bus.

Guide book on the bus! The Tuscan hill-views while traveling never get old.

Upon waking, the first thing I noticed was green, green, green. If there's anything that truly stands out about Lucca (aside from its wall), it's all of the greenery. I hadn't realized how deprived my eyes had been of fields of grass and real trees until this.

The fantastic greenery around Lucca's Renaissance wall.

This particular day trip was run by NYU and began with a walking tour of the city. One of the first things that our happy blond tour guide (Alexandra, I believe) pointed out was that Lucca is one of the few cities that never got bombed. It's arch-rival is Pisa and the two cities are separated by the mountains of Pisa. The wall that goes around the city today is the third wall to be built in Lucca. The wall, built between 1550 and 1650, goes for approximately 2.5 miles and is approximately 100 feet deep. It was built to resist canon fire in the Renaissance, but was never actually attacked. In fact, the only reason why Lucca is not currently independent is because Napoleon Bonaparte took a liking to it and gave it to his sister in 1799, making it a part of Italy.

Today, the wall acts as a park and walking/bike path. The heart-shaped bastions are particularly beautiful. It's interesting to think that at one point its ramparts were armed with 130 cannons and only military officials of Lucca were allowed to walk on it.

Nowadays, the wall makes car travel very difficult in Lucca and there are only certain areas where parking is allowed (and most houses do not have private garages). That being said, our guide bikes out of the walled portion of the city to go grocery shopping. Her limit (determined by bike-hanging placement and her four-story walk-up) is four bags. Her favorite word on the tour: Andiamo!

One of the entrances/exits in the wall. 

Our amazing guide! She really was the cutest :-)

Our tour took us past a palazzo where a Nicole Kidman movie was shot. Nowadays you can tour it or peer into its gardens from the wall above. Next we left the wall to enter the Basilica di San Frediano. From the outside, its typical romanesque structure is, in my opinion, somewhat bland. While the mosaic is lovely and the house-like structure is interesting to note, it is nothing in comparison to some of the highly ornamental church-fronts I have seen in Italy thus far. The interior, however, was subtly stunning.

Exterior of the Basilica di San Frediano. Note the window that was cut into the mosaic. 

A shot of the interior. It was amazing to be able to sit and take it all in for a few minutes. 

Made of white marble, there are various naves and components to the basilica's open floor plan. Prominently displayed near the entrance, is the Fonte Lustrale. This baptismal font is my tour guide's favorite font in the world.

The Fonte Lustrale.

Close by is Saint Zita. The patron saint of maids and domestic servants' body is on display in a case. Zita died in her sleep at age 60 on April 27. 1272. In 1580 her body was exhumed and found to be incorrupt. It was at this time that it was put on display in Lucca. Our guide pointed out the two most common philosophies as to why her body is still in good shape today (as it was not mummified). The first is that, well, she's a saint! It's a miracle that her body has been preserved. The second philosophy is much less romantic. Back in her time, the water pipes were made out of lead. Some believe that the high lead content of the water has something to do with her body's everlasting condition.

Personally, while I found this very cool, her skin-quality kind of gave me the heebie jeebies. 

As a last fact, one of the miracles that Saint Zita is known for is turning bread into flowers.

After visiting the basilica, we walked down the "yellow brick road" of Lucca. It is neither yellow nor part of the Wizard of Oz, but it is the main drag in the city and it is made of brick. This lead us to many a piazza, the site of the palazzo where Napoleon's sister resided, and the site of the main stadium in Lucca. We also walked past the house of Puccini (who was born in Lucca) and the Duomo di San Martino.

The outside of the stadium. You would never guess what the interior looked like from this. However, if you look at the brick, you can see the remnants of the exterior facade from days past. Note the columns especially. Like many Italian cities (as I've come to find out), the ground in Lucca is feet above where it used to be. 

The incredible interior! As our guide told us, it contains mainly bars...a great place to get a drink, but do not eat here!

All in all, we covered a lot of territory in an hour and a half...and that was only the start of our day.