Sights in Lucca

Lucca

Dave Greaves

Lucca is a small city, rich of sights and history. Here you still can feel the flair of all its important periods: the Roman city, the Medieval city, the Renaissance city, the nineteenth century city: traces of all of these may still be found in the urban fabric. Apart from the significant monuments, such as the sixteenth-seventeenth century Walls, Lucca stands out in its integrity and its atmosphere as a lively and vital centre. Suffice to look down from on high, from one of its towers, or to wander through the narrow, tortuous Medieval streets: the white marble of superb Romanesque churces, the orange-red or the thirteenth-fourteenth century buildings, the grey of the paving stones, the green of the vegetation peeping out all over that heightens the powerful mass of the ramparts and the surfaces of the Walls that rise, almost unreal, out of the lawns of glacis.

Lucca has many beautiful attractions. The many romanesque churches, San Michele, the Duomo of San Martino and the Basilica of San Frediano should not be missed. A walk along but a section of the Walls is not to be missed. The ramparts, thirty meters wide at the base and still in their original state, cover over four kilometers. With their vegetation, they make for a highly original public park from which it is possible to enjoy views of the city and the sorrounding hills.

A trip to the Torre Guinigi is highly recommended. It offers fabulous view; but it is also one of the city's symbols, it for no other reason then the odd tree planted at the top. Along the same route, a visit should be made to the ninenteenth century Piazza Anfiteatro, built on the remains of the ancient Roman Amphitheatre. Then, proceed to the house of Giacomo Puccini (now museum), and further on to Via del Battistero. This street is the world renowned for its antique dealers. The antiques market on the third Sunday of every month is also famous. For thirty years, it as drawn innumerable antique lovers to the city's plazas and streets.

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Casa di Puccini

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Giacomo Puccini was born almost opposite to this museum at Via di Poggio 30. The Casa di Puccini - his home for several years - is now a school of music and a small museum, featuring the Steinway piano on which he composed "Turandot", along with original scores and photographs from premieres.

type:	Museums
World66 rating:	[rate it]
address:	Corte San Lorenzo 9
openinghours:	Tue - Fri 10am - 1pm and in summer 3-6pm, Sat & Sun always 10am - 1pm & 3-6pm

Duomo San Martino

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Already beautiful from the outside the interior of San Martino hosts real treasures. The great hall-like interior includes paintings by Tintoretto, Ghirlandaio and Filippino Lippi. The most famous item, however, is Jacopo delle Quercia's "Tomb of Ilaria del Caretto" - unfortunately restored in a very vigorously way. Lucca's finest sculptor was perhaps Matteo Civitali, whose Tempietto in the north aisle was sculpted to house the city's most famous relic: the "Volto Santo" - said to be a "true effigy of Christ".

type:	Churches
World66 rating:	[rate it]
address:	Piazza San Martino
openinghours:	daily 7am - 5/7pm

San Frediano

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This basilica has a facade with a brilliant 13th century mosaic of "Christ in Majesty" and fine treasures inside, among them the mummy of Santa Zita, the beloved virgin of Lucca and the frescoes of the "Legend of the Volto Santo" by Amico Aspertini.

type:	Hotspots
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address:	Piazza San Frediano
openinghours:	Mon - Sat 7.30 - 12.30 & 3 - 8pm

Villas of Lucca Tour

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Tour suggestion: (with special thanks to the City Network of Lucca

Our starting point is a well-known spot in Lucca. Here the ring of walls built in the 1300s marked the eastern border of the medieval town. Once beyond the turreted vault of the gate of Saint Gervasio and Saint Protasio, we can see the enclosure walls of VILLA BUONVISI and catch a glimpse of the outstanding gardens of the villa, thanks to the so-called ‘finestre lucchesi’ which open onto them. (This method of setting openings as if they were real windows along the enclosure walls of more..

type:	Villas
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Pinacoteca Nazionale

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Housed in the seventeenth century Palazzo Mansi the pinacoteca exhibits an indifferent collection of pictures, although the Rococo palace itself is a sight.

type:	Museums
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address:	Via Galli Tassi
openinghours:	Tue - Sat 9am - 7pm, Sun 9am - 2pm

Museo Guinigi

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This Lucca's major museum of art and sculpture; with a good deal of lively Romanesque sculpture from the city and some good works by the cathedral's maestro, Matteo Civitali.

type:	Hotspots
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address:	Via della Quarquonia
openinghours:	Tue - Sat 9am - 7pm , Sun 9am - 2pm

San Michele in Foro

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A triumph of eccentricity this church shows different columns at each of its loggias, some twisted, some striped or sculpted. The facade is crowned by a huge bronze sculpture of the Archangel Michael. Inside the church houses a nice Andrea della Robbia terrakotta and a painting by Filippino Lippi.

type:	Churches
World66 rating:	[rate it]
address:	Piazza San Michele
openinghours:	daily 7.30 am - 12.30pm & 3 - 8pm

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