When I first went to the city of Lucca I left with a feeling of pleasing quietness. The crowds that cram into nearby Pisa seemed to spare this gem of a city, apart from a small number of discreet visitors who were rather careful about not spreading the word. Upon my last visit, though, things seemed to have changed dramatically – judging by the number of tourists strolling along its streets and piazzas, the secret has been revealed.
But my first impression did not change. Lucca is almost too perfect to be real. A dream city – in its own restrained, homely kind of way. Writer Hilaire Belloc’s 1902 description of the city still holds true: “The neatest, the regularest, the exactest, the most fly-in-amber town in the world, with its uncrowded streets, its absurd fortifications… everything in Lucca is good.”
Well, the streets might not be that “uncrowded” anymore, but the “absurd fortifications” are still standing proud. I therefore decided to begin my tour of the city with the customary walk along the mura, Lucca’s legendary 4km-long walls. Built during the 16th and 17th centuries, this stern fortification – complete with 11 impregnable
