I loved this quiet little town. There are no big bus tours cruising in and out, which means no throngs of people. The big tour companies bypass Lucca mainly because there are no major sights.
For our first evening at the villa we drove our free upgrade rental car, a silver Alpha Romero, into Lucca. There are lots of places to park outside the walls. Remember to pay the meter and get a ticket for the dash, and park only in the blue designated spots, never the yellow ones.
Walking inside the gate called Porta Elisa we eventually came to the Ristorante Canuleia, Via Canuleia, 14, Tel. 0583 467470, www.ristorantecanuleia.it/. We reserved for dinner and I had asked for gluten-free pasta which they cooked with care. Later I discovered that you can buy gluten-free products at the pharmacy, believe it or not! Bread, pasta, cookies, and crackers were mostly made with corn flour. Pharmacia shops have a green neon cross.
After a wonderful meal and good service we walked along the quiet streets, overhearing a concerto in a church, children playing in the main piazza, the birds at dusk, and music from other restaurants spilling out into the cobblestone streets. Then we visited the cathedral of Lucca known as the Duomo of San Martino. In the Piazza S. Michele is where the S. Michele in Foro (St. Michael in the Forum) church is located.
Searching for the amphitheatre we expected to find a Roman theatre similar to Verona's, but it turned out to be a piazza, the Piazza del Mercato in the shape of an amphitheatre. Built during the 1st and 2nd centuries, it could accommodate over 10,000 spectators.
The other sights in Lucca are smaller but no less delightful experiences to savour. One night we went to a church concerto which offered two operatic singers performing songs by Puccini and Mozart.
[Photo copyright M. J. Milne 2011: #1 Gate to Lucca; #2 Lovers in Piazza del Mercato.]
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