Day 6 – Lucca

Where is Lucca? Yup, I heard you asking that. Lucca is a small-ish city in Tuscany, very near to Pisa and Florence. As a tourist attraction, its most redeeming feature is the old walled city in the middle of town. This is where we spent the day.

The best adjective I can use for Lucca is charming. It was beautiful, quaint, quiet, and easy. We covered about half the total walled area in a space of about four hours, including stopping for lunch. That should give you some idea of the size.

The touristy stuff? We saw a church, a piazza, the cathedral, another piazza, a couple statues, a few more piazzas, and a couple more churches. There wasn’t a lot to get terribly excited over. The city is home to Puccini, and they are extremely proud of it. I didn’t see much of else of real historical importance.

The first church we stopped at was San Michel. It was gorgeous, and, to my mind, everything a medieval church should be. It was decidedly Romanesque, with enormous barrel vaults and rounded arches. I think there must have been some Gothic influence, though, as the church itself was huge and quite brightly lit. Just being there was uplifting and deeply moving.

The cathedral was probably similarly uplifting. But, most of it was covered up by a massive renovation project. We did see some beautiful stuff there, including a wonderful facade. The claim to fame of the cathedral is that it has a statue with supposedly the true face of Jesus. Legend has it that it was carved by the apostle Nicodemus himself, then washed up on the shore of Italy in an unmanned rowboat in the 8^th century. The interesting thing is that this Jesus is black, with features that really speak more of North Africa than Israel.

But, the real treat to Lucca was just strolling the streets. It is a wonderful town. I hope Sonya’s pictures do it justice. It seemed that around every corner there would be a neat little piazza, an old archway that spoke of past elegance, or a pretty courtyard. The thing I noticed most was that the town was layered. The ancient Roman city laid down the streets. The medieval city expanded the interior all the way to the walls. Clearly, during the Renaissance, the medieval buildings were torn down, and new buildings erected on their bones. The 19^th and early 20^th centuries saw an updating of the old Renaissance structures. Recent years have seen a lot of modern touches applied here and there, especially where electricity has made a difference. The blending of all the different elements, especially where the beauty of the old was deliberately preserved, gave the town its character.

The best piazza had to be the Piazza Anfiteatro. This was the site of the Roman amphitheater originally (hence the name). Rather than rip down the amphitheater, though, the later inhabitants used the outer shell to support apartment buildings. So, now, there is this oval ring of buildings in the middle of town, with a large, open oval courtyard in the middle.

The other element worth noting is the outer wall. It is a double wall, which means it is easily big enough to walk, jog, or even bike on. And the residents do, on a regular basis. The moat beyond the wall has long since drained away, leaving a beautiful green sward just beyond the wall, extending out roughly 200 yards. I think that if I had a view like that for my daily walk, I’d enjoy it much more.

Back on board the ship, I read for a bit (ah, glorious relaxation!), the wandered down to watch a presentation on “The Masters of Art,” which was put on by Park West, the group that does art auctions on board. I mostly just went to see them show Destino again, this time with the sound working. I so wish I could get a copy of that. I would watch it over and over, trying to pick out all the details. It is a magnificent film, but I’ve definitely only scratched the surface of its meanings.

To celebrate the end of the Italian leg of our journey on such a high note (Ray and Tina went to Florence instead, and had an equally wonderful time), we went to the “cover charge” Italian restaurant on board. It was well worth the extra $10. I had a wonderful osso bucco, a dish I do not often indulge in.

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