Lucca

Piazza Anfiteatro and the Basilica di San Frediano.

Lucca (help·info) is a city and comune in Tuscany, central Italy, situated on the river Serchio in a fertile plain near the Tyrrhenian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Lucca. Among other reasons, it is famous for its intact Renaissance-era city walls.

 Panorama of Lucca from the Torre Guinigi

Main sights

The walls around the old town remained intact as the city expanded and modernized, unusual for cities in the region. As the walls lost their military importance, they became a pedestrian promenade which encircled the old town, although they were used for a number of years in the 20th century for racing cars. They are still fully intact today; each of the four principal sides is lined with a different tree species.

The Academy of Sciences (1584) is the most famous of several academies and libraries.

Palazzo Pfanner, garden view.

The Casa di Puccini will re-open to the public on 14 September 2011. At the nearby town of Torre del Lago, there is a Puccini opera festival every year in July/August. Puccini had a house there as well.

There are many richly built medieval basilica-form churches in Lucca with rich arcaded façades and campaniles, a few as old as the 8th century.

l   Piazza dell'Anfiteatro

l   Piazzale Verdi

l   Piazza Napoleone

l   Piazza San Michele

l   Duomo di San Martino (St Martin's Cathedral)

l   The Ducal Palace, built on the location of Castruccio Castracani's fortress. The original project was begun by Bartolomeo Ammannati in 1577–1582, and continued by Filippo Juvarra in the 18th century.

Duomo di San Martino (the Cathedral).

l   The ancient Roman amphitheatre

l   Church of San Michele in Foro

l   Romanesque church of San Giusto.

l   Basilica di San Frediano

l   Torre delle ore ("The Clock Tower")

l   Casa and Torre Guinigi - The Guinigi Tower with oak trees on top

l   Museo Nazionale Guinigi

l   Museo e Pinacoteca Nazionale

l   Orto Botanico Comunale di Lucca, a botanical garden dating from 1820

l   Palazzo Pfanner

Autumn in Lucca.

l   Villa Garzoni, noted for its water gardens.

l   Church of San Giorgio in the locality of Brancoli, built in the late 12th century. It has a nave and two aisles with a single apse, and a bell tower in Lombard-Romanesque style ranked amongst the most beautiful in northern Italy. The interior houses a massive ambo (1194) with four columns mounted on notable sculptures of lions. Also having notable medieval decoration is the octagonal baptismal fount. The altar is supported by six small columns with human figures

l   Church of San Michele, at Antraccoli. Founded in 777, it was enlarged in the 12th century and modified again in the 16th century with the introduction of a portico.

A close up of the front façade of the San Michele in Foro.

l   Passeggiata delle Mura Urbane, a street all over the city on the bastions. It passes from these balconies: Santa Croce, San Frediano, San Martino, San Pietro/Battisti, San Salvatore, La Libertà/Cairoli, San Regolo, San Colombano, Santa Maria, San Paolino/Catalani, and San Donato; also pass over these gates: Porta San Donato, Porta Santa Maria, Porta San Jocopo, Porta Elisa, Porta San Pietro, and Porta Sant'Anna.

l   Church of Santa Giulia, of Lombard origins, but remade in the 13th century.

l   The fortified city is surrounded by the streets of: Piazzale Boccherini, Viale Lazzaro Papi, Viale Carlo Del Prete, Piazzale Martiri della Libertà, Via Batoni, Viale Agostino Marti, Viale G. Marconi (vide Guglielmo Marconi), Piazza Don A. Mei, Viale Pacini (vide Pacini), Viale Giusti, Piazza Curtatone, Piazzale Ricasoli, Viale Ricasoli, Piazza Risorgimento (vide Risorgimento) and Viale Giosuè Carducci (vide Giosuè Carducci).

The Passeggiata delle Mura.

Culture

Lucca is the birthplace of composers Giacomo Puccini (La Bohème and Madama Butterfly), Nicalao Dorati, Francesco Geminiani, Gioseffo Guami, Luigi Boccherini, and Alfredo Catalani. It is also the birthplace of Bruno Menconi and artist Benedetto Brandimarte.

Church of San Michele of Antraccoli

Museums

l   National Museum of Villa Guinigi

l   Museum of Villa Mansi

l   Museo della Cattedrale

l   Lu.C.C.A. Lucca Center of Contemporary Art

l   Orto Botanico Comunale di Lucca

Lucca, Piazza Anfiteatro

Festivals

Lucca annually hosts the Lucca Summer Festival. The 2006 edition saw Eric Clapton, Placebo, Massive Attack, Roger Waters, Tracy Chapman and Santana play live in the Piazza Napoleone.

Lucca hosts the annual Lucca Comics and Games festival, Italy's largest festival for comics and related subjects.

Film and television

Mauro Bolognini's 1958 film Giovani mariti with Sylva Koscina is set and was filmed in Lucca.

Lucca was featured on Top Gear during a Hot Hatch comparison in Episode 2 of Season 17. The city's narrow and one-way street layout played a large role in the segment.

Posted in: ITALY