Lucca is the birthplace of Giacomo Puccini. Lucca’s origins date back to Etruscan times and the name ‘Lucca’ itself is said to derive from a Celto-Ligurian word ‘Luk’ meaning ‘marsh’. The first official attestation dates back to 180 B.C. when the Romans, following their victory over the Ligurians, founded Lucca, which still preserves the orthogonal Roman urban layout.
Piazza dell’Anfiteatro is the beating heart of city life in Lucca. In the 1st century A.D., an elliptical Roman amphitheatre with a capacity of 10,000 spectators was built here. The present square dates back to the 19th century when architect Nottolini had some of the buildings that had risen in the centre of the former arena demolished, keeping in their place the irregularly high medieval houses that had taken the place of the amphitheatre’s arches. We think we do no wrong to other Italian cities if we call Piazza dell’Anfiteatro in Lucca one of the most beautiful in Italy. The first thing to see as soon as you set foot in Lucca, it was built from 1830 onwards by the architect Nottolini, following the ancient layout of the Roman amphitheatre. The construction sacrificed most of the Roman buildings, which are partly visible inside the shops surrounding the square.
The harmony of Piazza Anfiteatro can be seen when admiring it from the centre and is largely due to the absence of large openings. In fact, access to the square is through four small vaulted doors and this gives it the appearance of a ‘closed square’. The houses have the particularity of having pastel-coloured façades on the yellow colour scale and green shutters. In the area of the former arena today there are numerous restaurants and shops selling all sorts of souvenirs.
The Cinta Muraria of Lucca stretches uninterruptedly for 4 km and was built between 1491 and 1645 with the purpose of constituting a fortified defensive system for the city. In reality, it never served this purpose and so in the 19th century its walkway and its 11 bastions were transformed into Lucca’s most important public park.
The Basilica of San Frediano is one of the oldest churches in Lucca and the first time it appears in a document is 685 AD where it is mentioned as Basilica Longobardorum. From the second half of the 12th century, it became one of the most important centres for the spread of the Gregorian liturgical reform. A distinctive symbol on the façade is the precious 13th century mosaic, a rarity in the Romanesque period, depicting Christ the Redeemer descending from heaven in a mandorla carried by angels.
The first thing one notices about the Cathedral dedicated to St Martin is the asymmetry of the right side of the façade, which had to be adapted to the existing bell tower. On the polychrome façade inspired by Pisa Cathedral is a statue of St Martin in the act of sharing his cloak with a poor man. On the right side is a labyrinth that refers to the myth of Ariadne and Theseus and, symbolically, to the path to take in life to seek the path of redemption.
The towers and streets of Lucca’s historic centre
Strolling through the streets of Lucca’s historic centre is a real pleasure. The narrow streets are bordered by tall buildings built of stone and are often interrupted by small squares housing many churches that share the same architectural style and period of construction (13th-15th century).
The best way to start discovering Lucca is to look at it from above. This can be done by climbing its mighty walls, the Guinigi Tower or by tackling the 207 steps of the even higher Torre delle Ore. From these points one can admire a splendid panorama over the rooftops of the Tuscan town, an overall view that allows one to appreciate its beauty and harmony and to rediscover the same urban structure desired by the Romans.
There was a time, in the Middle Ages, when there were 250 towers of all sizes in Lucca. Today only two remain: the Guinigi Tower and the ‘Tower of the Hours’.
The Guinigi Tower was commissioned by the rich and powerful merchant family of Lucca in the 15th century. It is 45 metres high and has a hanging garden on the top in which beautiful holm oaks have been growing for several centuries. The presence of the trees on the top make it one of the most unusual places in Lucca and in Italy. Their shade is ideal, especially in summer, to recover from climbing the 230 steps! The Tower of the Hours is an irresistible attraction for all European fans of time-measuring mechanisms: installed in 1754 by Lucchese watchmakers on a pre-existing clock, it still works today with manual winding and has a visible mechanism.
Again, you get there after 207 wooden steps and the view is spectacular, also because the tower is even higher than the Guinigi tower.
Via del Fosso was once inhabited by leather and silk dyers, and if you look up, you can still see the terraces on the upper floors of the 16th-century dwellings that were used to hang out fabrics and skins. Today, Via del Fosso is one of the most picturesque streets in the historic centre of Lucca, with the narrow canal that accompanies its course and a few small bridges crossing it.
We, during our walk, walked along it in the stretch from the Madonna dello Stellario Column, a votive monument dating back to 1687, to the Baluardo San Regolo. During our walk we were able to see the Church of San Francesco with its white limestone façade and Gothic portal, and the Porta di San Gervasio, one of the remaining gates of the mighty medieval walls that had a narrower perimeter than the one that has survived to this day.
Via del Fosso un tempo era abitata dai pellai e dai tintori di seta e, se si alza lo sguardo, si possono tuttora vedere le altane ai piani alti delle abitazioni cinquecentesche che servivano per stendere i tessuti e le pelli. Oggi Via del
