Lucca, Pisa

Originally published on: Sep 28, 2008 

I was in Lucca for six days and the time seemed to fly by. Staying at the hostel, I met many interesting women who had their own adventures to share. One woman, who had lived in Paris for 15 years, now lives on a small island near Seattle. She had just come from a week in Venice, where she'd been working as a personal assistant to an architect. Another woman, who works as a chef in Santa Barbara,  once lived in Africa for 12 years. She'd rented a villa with several friends for a week in the countryside outside of Lucca, but had to wait a few days for it to be free, so was staying at the hostel during the interim. A lively Moroccan woman gave me tips about the best hostels in Italy from her many travels. And a young woman from New York, who had been living with her Italian boyfriend on the island of Ischia, was returning to the States, after finding out that island life was not to her liking.

One of the portals into the walled city of Lucca.

I also got chummy with the albergatore, Samuele, who ran the hostel. It's hard not to be charmed by a sweet, attentive, attractive Italian who calls you cara and touches your arm or takes your hand every time he sees you. Lucca seems to have an abundance of attractive Italians...more than I've seen in one place, including Rome or Milan. I did more people watching than usual, simply because there were so many beautiful people everywhere you looked. Though I had brought some nice clothes to wear, I felt frumpy in comparison to the stylish Italians in Lucca.

Celebrating Puccini

Lucca is renowned as the birthplace of Giacomo Puccini, who wrote many famous operas, including La Boheme and Madame Butterfly. 2008 is the 150th anniversary of his birth, so there were quite a few events in Lucca with a Puccini theme. Each night during the year an hour long presentation of famous arias is performed by professional opera singers in one of the churches. I went to one of these performances, which combined arias by Mozart and Puccini, sung by two accomplished sopranos. ,I wish I had gone to them every night, as it was quite beautiful and moving. While at the performance, I met an architect from Portland who was also spending 5 weeks in Italy, and we strolled around Lucca after the concert, sharing our adventures.

A view of Torre Guinigi, with its iconic trees on top.

I climbed two towers in Lucca, both with great panoramic views, and the taller one, Torre Guinigi, has oak trees growing on top of it. One night I rented a bike and rode for an hour along the top of the wall that surrounds the city. The weather was perfect most of the time I was there, and many people made good use of the wall for running, walking, skating and biking.

A view of Torre Guinigi from the street. 

I took two side trips during my stay in Lucca, one to Pisa and the other to Florence. I had been to Pisa for a few hours on my first trip to Italy, but didn't get to see the Duomo or Baptistery the first time.

The Battistero and Cattedrale in Pisa. 

Besides the Leaning Tower, these three monuments are about all there is of interest in Pisa. But they are definitely worth seeing. The Baptistery is the largest in the world, and the huge Duomo sits across from it, giving one perspective on what a thriving region Pisa once was. However, the town was so crowded with tourists that I longed to be back in Lucca, so I only spent a few hours there again this time.

The Battistero in Pisa.

The trip to Florence was due to an errand I had to run. I needed to have a form for one of my jobs notarized and returned within two weeks, so I made an appointment online at the American Consulate in Florence to get that taken care of. I was surprised how easy it turned out to be. Since I learned that taking the bus was easier and faster than the train, I took an early bus and arrrived by 9 am. I found the Consulate and they allowed me in right away, even though I was two hours early for my appointment. It only took about 15 minutes to get the form notarized, then I found a place to fax it, bought an envelope at an office supply store, then mailed the form at the post office. I decided to make it into an adventure, figuring out how to take care something that would be quite simple if I were home. Then, after my errand was done, Haruko and I met for lunch and gelato, then strolled around a bit before I returned to Lucca. It was a beautiful day, and it was nice to share it with Haruko, but I wanted to enjoy my last evening in Lucca before getting ready to move on.

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Enjoying the walking/bike path atop the city wall in Lucca.

If I had to choose now, Lucca would easily be where I'd want to live in Italy. But I still have a few more places to check out. Next, I'm off to Umbria, and the hill town of Orvieto.