LUCCA (ITALY)
Lucca is also called the city of one hundred churches. Not many churches are able to impress you at the first sight like San Michele in Foro – one of Lucca’s many beautiful churches in Roman Pisa style – standing on the site of an ancient Roman forum. The façade of the church combines marble lines of facing typical of most of the Roman Pisa buildings with an amazing finishing of miniature stanzas, blind arcades and artfully carved colonnades. The simple interior of the church is decorated by Fillipino Lippi’s work “Saints Geronimo, Sebastian, Roch and Helen” (end of the southern nave).
The main commercial street of Lucca – Via Fillungo – runs through the city’s center and leads to the Roman amphitheater. Among numerous little stores, souvenir shops and hardware shops in art Nuevo style stand out. Roman church San Frediano of XII century with mosaic “Ascension” on its façade and a richly decorated bath in its interior is located nearby.
One of the most amazing cathedrals in Lucca named after Saint Martin, Duomo di San Martino, was built in XIII century. The main portal is ornamented with splendid engraving by Niccolo Pisano and Guidetto da Como. Tempietto stands in the middle, an eight-cornered chapel built by local sculptor Matteo Civitali for a highly revered Crucifix of cedar tree, Volto Santo (Holy Countenance). It is believed that its creator was Nicodemus, a witness of Jesus’ crucifixion. One of the most significant sights of note in the city is the Puccini house. This house was built in the XV century; the most famous Lucca’s son, Giacomo Puccini was born here, and the house became a sacred place for the devotees of the great composer. Here one can see Puccini’s portraits, costumes made for his opera’s and the piano he used for composing his last unfinished opera Turandot.
Outside the city walls one can find di Guinigi National Museum – Villa with paintings by artists of Lucca and valuable sculptures of medieval time.
The pride of Lucca’s vicinities is the unique “Landscape of villas” (Ville Lucchese) with their admirable gardens and fountains. Villas, or rather palaces, are country-side residences built by merchants Lucchese between XV and XIX centuries, who invested incomes from their business – bank marketing. More than three hundred villas, big and small, are scattered upon the hills and along the border of Lucca Valley. Among them are Villa Reale di Marlia, Villa Grabau, Villa Bernardini, Villa Olivia, Villa Mansi and Villa di Carmigliano.
Lucca is the motherland of famous Tuscan cigars, the history of which dates from XIX century, as well as worldwide famous high quality aromatic olive oil. Apart from the common dishes of Tuscan cuisine, Lucca is famous for its Buccellato, a sweet round pie, the recipe of which dates back to XV century. Its shape is like that of Buccina, a Roman trumpet.
Among the sights of interest in the Lucca province is the famous asymmetric Bridge of the Devil near Borgo a Mozzano. One the other side of the Sergio River is Bagni di Lucca thermal center opened here by Charles Bourbon in XVIII century. Rossini, Byron, Shelly, Dumas and Puccini have been here. Not far away from Borgo a Mozzano is Coreglia Antiminelli with a wax Museum in Palazzo Vanni. The biggest one in this area is the city of Barga (XII century). Its medieval fortress and the city cathedral in combination with the view on the surrounding magnificent mountains will not leave you unimpressed. There are many places of interest in Garfagnana district, in Sergio Valley from Appian Alps to Versilia.
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