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Writer's pictureThe Introvert Traveler

Weekend in Northern Tuscany: a day in Lucca

Updated: Sep 23


A panoramic view of Piazza dell'Anfiteatro in Lucca

Country: Italy

Region: Tuscany

Time of visit: September 2021

Duration of visit: A full day

My rating: 9/10


After a Saturday a little below expectations (Pistoia did not particularly thrill me and the Borgo a Mozzano bridge... well, ok, it is beautiful and has its own charm, but 10 minutes of a nice little birdge is not enough to fulfill a whole day of travelling) the Sunday that was waiting for us would have definitely raised the bar. I had already been to Lucca in the past, one of the upsides of this small town is that the more you see it, the more you appreciate its beauty. It is not only the famous walls, which are however a spectacle out of the ordinary, from any perspective you observe and exploit them, Lucca has more than one particularity and more than one upside. First of all, the fact that it is entirely enclosed within the walls gives this small city an almost domestic temperament; walking through the narrow streets of Lucca, you do not have the sensation of walking through a city or even a small town; the atmosphere is intimate and cozy; it almost seems to be inside an enclave rather than a city. Secondly, Lucca is much more vital than Pistoia (not that there must necessarily be a relationship between the two cities, but the comparison comes natural to me, having visited them in subsequent days), the city hosts a series of festivals throughout the year (cinema, comics, music, are all forms of expression that find a home in Lucca periodically in popular annual festivals) but on any Sunday of the year, walking through Lucca, you perceive a vitality that is not given only by tourism.

From an aesthetic, artistic and architectural point of view Lucca is a unique city; the presence of the walls prevented the city from expanding into modern suburbs of dubious taste (modern suburbs do exist, but they are sufficiently distant from the walls to make them perceive as different units from the historic city) so the historic center is one of the best preserved in Italy; while Pistoia is evidently affected by the Florentine taste without having the same pomp and magniloquence as the greater "sister", the historical events in Lucca have developed an irresistible blend of Romanesque architecture, medieval town planning, sixteenth-century building and Napoleonic style. The presence of Napoleon, who had assigned the principality of Lucca to his sister Elisa, left a tangible sign in these parts; as per his practice, Napoleon (yes, I confess, I have some kind of sympathy for the Emperor of Ajaccio; I suggest reading his biography Napoleon, A Life by Andrew Roberts) did not travel without a following of art experts and intellectuals, who in Lucca worked very well, building without destroying; as I said, the result is a perfect synthesis of two styles, the Italian and the French, which integrate perfectly without eliminating each other in a unique blend.


The visit to Lucca can only start from its walls, the strong point for which the city is known throughout Italy. Lucca’s city walls form a perfect ring around the city: 4 kilometres and 223 metres of imposing embankments planted with trees, which also make this a wonderful green space, with centuries-old trees and ornamental species that change their colours with the seasons.


The walls also provide an exceptional panoramic point, with the churches, towers house of Lucca seen from above on one side and the Apuan Alps on the horizon. Building work began in 1513 and took more than a century; the structure of the walls, so wide, was meant to stem the evolution of the artillery of the sixteenth century; however, the walls never suffered any military attack and were never actually used for military purposes. So they were demilitarized during the Napoleon era and used ever since as public gardens and walkways. A walk path, 30 meters wide, is located on the entire upper part of the walls and it can be fully explored on foot, by bike between rows of centuries-old trees, old military structures used as bars and restaurants, arcades with wooden trabeations, local citizens walking or jogging. Looking from one side you can see the roofs of the houses, many of which are splendid, with exposed terraces or Italian gardens, the churches and the numerous towers of the city, while looking to the other side you can see nothing but the majestic walls that continue as far as the eye can see, the greenery that skilfully surrounds the city and the blurred profile of the Apuan Alps in the distance. What an enchanting view! The end of September is also an ideal time to enjoy the city, with the mild temperature and the color of the trees as it gradually begins to darken.

The bike tour of the walls is a must for every tourist who visits Lucca, it is no coincidence that along all the walls there are numerous shops that rent bicycles and rickshaws at reasonable prices.


The access to the city is through a few open doors in the walls and it is quite suggestive; the experience is exactly what any traveler in past centuries must have felt when entering a fortified city.


Once inside the walls of Lucca, the approach I suggest is to wander aimlessly for a while, simply enjoying the beauty of the city. I must immediately say that, with the exception of Palazzo Mansi, which I will talk about later, there are not many works of art in the city; from this point of view, in Tuscany, Florence plays the role of the ace catcher ... using my splendid search engine of works of art (free for you on these pages, you're welcome) I had still identified the presence of works by Filippino Lippi and Domenico Ghirlandaio (respectively at the churches of San Michele in Foro and San Martino). I believe the most important work is the funeral monument to Ilaria del Carretto by Jacopo della Quercia, a great sculptor a little underrated; what I wrote in the previous post about Giovanni Pisano's pulpit in Pistoia also applies to this work; a generation younger than the Pisan master, Jacopo della Quercia still raises the bar both on a technical and aesthetic level and paves the way for the great masters who will follow him (Michelangelo, Bernini, Giambologna etc.); great softness of shapes, extraordinary realism, extreme formal elegance ... a splendid work.

Among the most important places to visit (but, I repeat, the best approach is to wander around Lucca aimlessly; the city is small, on a human scale, and you will naturally meet these places along the way), there are the churches of San Frediano, San Martino, San Michele in Foro and Santi Giovanni and Reparata as well as the beautiful Piazza dell'Anfiteatro ("square of the amphitheater"), an oval-shaped square built on the remains of an ancient Roman amphitheater, which is accessed by four gates located in the cardinal points of the oval to enter a cozy environment with soft pastel colors. As already mentioned, the architectural style prevailing in Lucca is the Gothic-Romanesque; all the churches I have mentioned are magnificent examples of this period; in particular the facades of San Michele in Foro and San Martino are two splendid examples of the variety and creative imagination of the stonecutters of the time.


I have a small passion for Gothic architecture and sculpture, two forms of expression that left a lot of space for creative madness; the cathedral of San Martino, with the asymmetry of its arches (the fact that it was necessary to respect the state of the pre-existing buildings in my opinion does not diminish its peculiarity) is a good example.


The labyrinth carved on a column in the Cathedral of San Martino, Lucca

Another peculiarity of the Cathedral of San Martino is the labyrinth carved in one of the columns of the front porch; the labyrinths were a very widespread symbol in medieval churches and metaphorically represented the tortuous and obstacle-ridden path of the Christian towards the faith, so the presence of a symbol not strictly Catholic, at least according to modern Catholic iconography (moreover with a written reference to a myth of classical Greek pagan mythology, that of Theseus and Ariadne!) should not be surprising. In any case, the labyrinth is a topos that evokes many symbolic references, studied and sung by great authors over the centuries (Umberto Eco, Jorge Luis Borges to name a few) and seeing it inscribed in stone, still there after many centuries, exerts a particular fascination on me.


After a frugal lunch in a medium quality place for tourists, chosen more to take refuge during a shower of rain than to taste the best Lucca cuisine, we headed towards the museum of Palazzo Mansi.

The museum was immediately my designated destination because it hosts some works by two authors that I particularly love: Agnolo Bronzino, one of the great masters of mannerism and above all his "twin brother" Pontormo, my beloved painter, who only the day before had rejected me with contempt at the villa Medici di Poggio a Caiano leaving me disappointed and heartbroken on the sidewalk.

But my day has finally come; today I will heal my abstinence from Pontormo, which has been going on for too many months now, and I will put another tickmark in the list of his works that I have seen in person!


Palazzo Mansi Museum


First of all, a warning: do not assume that the museum is open on weekends; Museum hours are quite tight so check opening days and times in advance.

Apparently the museum has budget problems; not only the staff does not excel in professionalism and courtesy (when we asked for the privilege of entering a few minutes before the canonical opening time to wait in the entrance hall of the building in order to shelter us from the storm that was unleashed above our head with lightning getting closer and closer, the reaction of the staff was not exactly friendly...) but most of the exhibited works would need, in my view, a restoration; almost all the main works are covered by an apparent patina of dust and candle smoke accumulated over the centuries; I am quite convinced that the colors you see are not the authentic ones. I always find it rather disheartening to see the richness of the Italian artistic heritage compared with the lack of funds that are dedicated to its protection ...

But it doesn't matter, it's time to see my beloved Pontormo!


San Sebastiano by Luca Giordano at the Palazzo Mansi Museum in Lucca

Along the obligatory path that leads to the hall of mannerism there are some important works that deserve attention; in particular I point out a beautiful San Sebastiano by Luca Giordano (another underrated author) with chiaroscuro tones that almost seem made in charcoal and with the sad expression of an Eric Bana forgotten by the star system.


Other noteworthy works are some battles by Salvator Rosa, where soldiers with grotesque features that seem to come out of a Goya canvas collide in a primordial chaos full of episodes, which seems to recall the clamor of the battles of Paolo Uccello.


Before concluding with the highlight, I would like to point out, further on in the itinerary, the private rooms decorated with tapestries; these are not the finest tapestries I have seen in my life, but the splendor of the rooms certainly has some visual impact.



And now, eagerly anticipated, we come to the showpiece, my beloved Pontormo!

The room with the Mannerist works exhibits three other works by Pontormo's "putative brother": Agnolo Bronzino. These are three portraits of Cosimo, Ferdinando and Don Garcia de 'Medici. The portrait of Cosimo, as I said, has an opacity that makes me think that the colors are not those conceived by Bronzino and that the painting would need a good cleaning; anyone who knows Bronzino knows that there are numerous portraits of Cosimo de 'Medici and is forced instinctively to make a comparison with the other famous portraits; this is not among the best, beyond the usual mastery of armor rendering. I find the other two portraits more relevant, where Bronzino shows off his capacity for psychological introspection. Ferdinando's stern gaze suggests the personality of what will be a politician (in purple) of absolute importance. Don Garcia expresses the haughtiness that also transpires from the other portraits that have been handed down to us and that, knowing the sad fate of the son of Eleonora di Toledo (who died of malaria at the age of 15) arouses a feeling of ineluctability of death greater than any memento mori.



And finally here it is, my beloved Pontormo, there in front of me to soothe the pain of being rejected at the entrance of the Medici villa in Poggio al Caiano!



WHAT??? On loan to the Metropolitan Museum until next week??? I missed it for just one week?? Damn those yankees...


Traveling tips

This is a free parking; from here you can reach the old town after a ten minute walk.

Halfway from the parking to the city walls you'll find Sandra & L'Angolo Dolce for a nice breakfast.



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