Neither of us had ever heard of Lucca until we started researching where to go next. Lucca is just north of Pisa in Tuscany and mostly famous for it intact Renaissance-era city walls.
The city walls were initially built as a defensive rampart, once they lost their military importance they became a pedestrian promenade. We decided on the first day to take our Raleigh E bikes for a spin. The city walls are approx. 4 kms and the four principal sides of the structure are all lined with different tree species. This was very obvious as we cycled around.
In places the trees still have a lot of their leaves and on.
Other places they were nearly bare.
As the promenade is almost flat we decided to cycle around it firstly clockwise and then when we arrived back at Piazza Saint Maria we turned around and cycled it anti clockwise just to ensure that we hadn’t missed any of the views.
We then ventured down in to the City and along the cobbled streets until we reached the Piazza dell’Anfiteatro. This was originally the site of an ancient Roman amphitheatre but now houses several shops and restaurants.
We had both worked up an appetite so stopped to have some lunch.
After lunch we cycled around Lucca admiring the quaint shops, several churches and cathedral.
The next day we decided to take the dogs for a nice walk around the city walls.
As we were walking the dogs along the city walls we noticed a statue of two monkeys sat underneath an arch. After further research we have read that paper production is a leading industry in the area and local artists exhibit their work. Once the exhibition is finished the paper pieces are displayed above ground through Lucca for two months. Afterwards these pieces are moved to spaces under the walls to protect the fragile paper construction from the elements.
You can still see the moat going around the outside of the City walls.
Lucca is such a quaint City to visit and has a real Tuscan feel about it. We would highly recommend a visit if you are in the area.
