Today I would like to talk about my town, Lucca. I love it!
Well, probably this is nothing new… it is the same for most people who love their birth place… but I really love it and I am sure I wouldn’t like living anywhere else….
I love it because it’s gorgeous in its simplicity.
It’s not like Florence or Rome or Venice, where you are surrounded by such important monuments, huge works of art, that may also make you feel out of place and uncomfortable.
Here nothing is fancy.. nothing is extraordinarily important like the David of Michelangelo or The Colosseum or the Sistine Chapel… here everything is simple and beautiful at the eye, harmonious, elegant and refined and it gives you a feel of serenity
That’s what I feel every morning when I go shopping or walk to the bank or buy the newspaper at the stand on the corner. I love my town. I have been so lucky to be born here!
I like travelling in Italy to discover all our small towns. Several of them are surrounded by walls... Lucca is not the only one... but none are like ours. None have such a large and long promenade and are so well kept... none are completely intact. You can walk the complete ring all the way round the town, including the bastions, the large greening areas. There is a corner - between the Giardino Botanico and the San Colombano - where you can see the ancient stone cannon balls!! That's amazing.
You might be impressed of the fact that it is still free. It’s cool, isn't it?? A gorgeous monument from the Renaissance Age completely available for everyone any time any day!! I will keep my fingers crossed so that it stays like this forever… For now we are lucky and we can take a walk or a run or a ride on top of the walls when we like.
Of course the Wall is only one of the numerous beauty of Lucca… but I don t want to bother you with a list of monuments to visit… what I want to transfer to you is that Lucca is beautiful not only to sightsee but also to live in.
I love Lucca as it is easy to live in.
It is small enough to be all within a walking distance.. or cycling at the most…. consider that walking from Porta Sant Anna (far west side) to Porta Elisa (far east side) take less than 30 minutes. You can forget your car! Ah ahah, I indeed often forget my car… Sometimes I don’t remember where I parked it.. and I go crazy trying to find it! Nowadays having the possibility to forget your car is a luxury! Lucca allows that!
Not only. It’s location is so superb that you can easily enjoy the seaside, mountains or lakes.. or the art!! everything you wish is available.
There are beaches 20 minutes away; a breathtaking countryside 10 minutes away; the Garfagnana region 40 minutes away … I can drive to Siena and it’s countryside in less than two hours, have a good lunch somewhere set in a wonderful landscape and be back home for dinner… and more and more... I could write a book!
I love Lucca as it is still original...
.. even though it’s changing and you hear all the local people complaining about the increasing modernity of new stores of low quality… despite all of that, there are still plenty of small local stores and shops… it still maintains an “antique” flavor… and when I buy groceries in my small store it seems really to be “out of our time”.
Lucca allows you to forget the supermarket!!! I go out and in just a couple of minutes I reach Via San Paolino where I find my grocery store, my vegetable store, my butcher… and the fantastic handmade chocolate store .. ah! there is also a bakery! They are all run by local families who you can talk to about the weather and about your neighbor’s new car!! When I go to the supermarket, first of all I have to take the car and I don’t like it; then I feel the supermarket alienating … who can I talk to? Nobody … except for the girl at the checkout… also, why do they have to play such loud music that drives you crazy? The reason why in some places you are obliged to listen to music – which probably isn’t even your type - is a mystery.
I love Lucca, as it is still safe.
Well, everything can always happen every-day everywhere, but Lucca allows you to live feeling safe and it makes your life easier… you can sleep forgetting to lock your door.. yes I know maybe that’s too much… but it happens and most of the time nothing happens… you go to the Theatre or to the cinema at night or just to take a stroll, or to cycle with your boyfriend and you don’t have to worry about your purses and wallets.
Especially in the summer time when in the historical center there are plenty of people all around just walking or having an ice cream .. it ‘s beautiful… I feel we are very lucky for that!
I love Lucca and its quietness. That’s the main reason most young locals hate it!! Maybe nowadays it is really very quiet for the young people… when we were younger Lucca was much livelier. It offered a wide selection of places where you could meet people and stay all together talking, listening to music, having something to drink... oh what great memories! it was so much fun! Nowadays everything has changed. There aren’t a lot of places for young people to meet… but this means no loud music from bars until late, no clubs, no late night life…
In Lucca you go out for dinner and usually go back home before midnight! You can have a walk on the walls (the promenade is all lit up) or you can eat an ice cream or buy a book (there is a book store open until 11pm – I love it! If you want to dance … or listen to music you have to go outside the city’s Walls.. and probably take the car to get to the Versilia area.
Do you think it is boring? Maybe, but in my personal opinion it is not! I like it! Try to be out at night time walking along the deserted streets… it is magical. I have no words to describe it!
Maybe something is missing. But what? Museums? Theatres? Cinemas?
I know this is not NewYork and we don’t have theMoMa nor the Guggehnaim but we have the Lu.C.Ca which is doing a great job in terms of contemporary art!
We don’t have the Uffizzi nor the Accademia with the Michelangelo but you can take the train and easily get to Florence and enjoy all the Botticelli paintings within the Uffizi any time you wish!
People say In lucca there is only one Theatre. It is true. But last year the program was sooo good!! And if you wish to go to another one you can go to Pisa, just 20 minutes away, there are several in Florence, little over an hour away, three in the Versilia area less than 30 minutes away.
Can I miss the Concerts in San Giovanni Church? Can I forget the Summer Festival? from this year we also have the Winter Festival!! Nothing is missing here in Lucca...
I don’t know why people say it’s boring…
I love Lucca.
It’s beautiful that so many people is coming eager to discover it… I hope they will not take away most of its beauty. Please take care of it while being here!
I agree with you Debora!
ReplyDeleteNestled within the walls of Lucca in the heart of the old town in Cortile del Pesce just off Piazza Napoleone, we spent two happy weeks...
...safely walking the streets at any time of day or evening; mesmerized by the "Volto Santo di Lucca" the Cathedral of San Martino's beautiful wooden crucifix; enjoying performances of Puccini works at the Church of San Giovanni; enchanted by the statue of San Michele which dominates the 13th century Church of San Michele in Foro and whose ring, allegedly a diamond, for the discerning eye becomes strangely luminous at a certain time of day; admiring the small tastefully outfitted Domus Romana museum ("Domus del fanciullo col delfino") with its display of Roman period archeological findings...
...exploring the small welcoming shops in central Lucca each offering its own special wealth of books, picture frames, jewellery, baked goods, leather products, fresh fruits and vegetables, countless varieties of every kind of bean imaginable (Bottega di Prospero in Via Santa Lucia)...
...not to mention sharing the town with the calm, easygoing Lucchesi, eating gelati at every street corner, gobbling down pasta with cauliflower sausage and goat cheese in the Buralli family's trattoria da Leo.
Certainly a fine place to live....Arrividerci Lucca.
We recently spent five days - not long enough - in the lovely 3BR apartment Angelo Custode with our friends from Australia. It was marred by our friends having a bag stolen off the train between Pisa and Lucca, but the assistance provided to us by the owner, Duccio Ricci, was simply above and beyond what anyone might expect. Such a kind and sensitive man, he took it pesonally that his guest should be so badly treated in his country. He and Debora had booked a restaurant for us on the evening we arrived, which was most welcome given the time we lost making reports to the police - all with Duccio present to do the talking for us.
ReplyDeleteDebora was also great to work with and very understanding of our needs.
Despite the theft, Lucca was wonderful - the local pastry shop for breakfast croissant, the local deli for a great selection of home-made style food (the best scallopini ever!), excellent wine bar recommended by Duccio, the Puccini square for lunch, walking the wall, the view from the Guinigi tower, the beautiful Antiteatro and some great shopping for the girls (jewellerey, leather "bagaglio a mano", and with the lovely apartment to return to in the evening. Go there, it is the best!
Spent the month of June in Lucca and loved every minute. Special moments: hearing Puccini arias sung in the church where he's been an organist, eating breakfast on the terrace at the apt Debora helped me to find, walking the walls, climbing the tower to the top and seeing all of Lucca below, the food at so man restaurants, La Sorelle shop in the ancient Roman Ampitheater,
ReplyDeleteI can't remember exactly how we found Lucca or made first contact with Debora. I do remember that the first apartment that we found on line was not available, but Debora found us another one. By the time we made the decision to take it, it also had been booked. But, again Debora didn't give up and found us several more to look at. We ended up in a beautiful 2bdr overlooking the Piazza Anfiteatro. I spent every morning watching the square come to life, with the daily deliveries to the occaional tour group to the outdoor restaurants filling up and the periodic rain shower which seem to help clean the quiet streets.
ReplyDeleteFrom the minute we arrived it felt like home. We of course visited many of the magnificant sites that Italy has to offer, and they were amazing, but nothing was as nice as coming "home" each evening and absorbing the culture that is Lucca. Thank you Debora for a wonderful week in Lucca. We can't wait to return.
Mark and Katherine