Italy People & Culture

During the Norman domination, in 1184 the archbishop of Palermo Walter Offamilio started the construction of a splendid cathedral to replace the Muslim mosque with a Christian church. Over the centuries the additions and restorations modified the original building: the most radical change was made by Ferdinando Fuga in 1771 and in 1809. He was an architect from Florence and gave to the interior of the church a neoclassical aspect. Visiting the Cathedral it is important to observe: the XIV century portal with bronze doors, the long right side is decorated with a scenic portico in Catalan-Gothic style from the XV century, under which there is a highly decorated portal by Antonio Gambarra in 1426, the apses kept their original form of the XII century. The Cathedral contains the Royal and Imperial tombs. Among the people buried there are Roger II, Henry VI of Hohenstaufen, Costance de Hauteville, Frederick II of Hohenstaufen. Among the numerous chapels there is Santa Rosalia's, where in a silver urn done in 1631, there are kept the ashes of the patron Saint of Palermo. There is lastly fine treasure, comprising precious objects and pieces of embroidery found in Royal and Imperial tombs, holy vestments, chalices, ostensories.

Hmmm... are you German? Brittish? NO? well, Caorle is.... quite a place out there, in the middle of nowhere. Unlike the stereotypical idea, the truth is that the place is a little town where locals work their ass of in the summer season... the beach is crowded of umbrellas standing on a row, in a perfect, straight line. There is no space for your own towel... Basically, its just a little beachtown that is trying to make money out of foreign (mainly german and british) tourists in the summer months. YOU NEED A CAR, because there is not much to do in the village.... with a car you can get to venice and other cities, which you shouldnt miss if you are in this part of italy. Seriously... there is not much to see or do... if you wanna party, choose Jesolo instead of Caorle... if you go for the beach, go further south where the water is clear.... or why not to Croatia, same sea, but less people and cheaper... If you still go... enjoy!

Brindisi is a tourist trap for people taking boats to Greece, so if you go to a restaurant there (and there are good ones) go off the beaten path... also if you can pull off pretending not to speak english, when they give you the menu, ask if they have one in Italian. More than one place I went to had prices that were less than half those on the english menu.

Firenze, it's amazing museums during the day, and such an exciting nightlife! Just hang around on the plaza's and find some people making music, they'll probably show you the clubs to go! For the museums, buy your tickets a couple days before going, you'll get inside quicker! Otherwise, be patient!

If you visit Italy a must see is Cinque Terre. Cinque Terre is five small villages chiseled into the rocky cliffs overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. They are Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza Monterosso. It might not surprise you to know the tourist population of this area grows every year, not from advertising but from word-of-mouth as people are so taken by their experience that they want other people to go there. It is a dream destination...

The art and culture of millenarian times in one place

Best shopping...glamour and culture... you can not miss an Opera Show at the Scala...ciao amore!

Lovely old bishop's town, with beautiful white tower and a duomo with medieval frescoes. Excellent classical hotel 'The Elefant' where an elephant once stopped on his way as a present to the German emperor. The combination of Tyrolean and Italian culture and cuisine has led to a large number of great restaurants, such as the Traubenwirt. Monastery of Neustift also very worth visiting and they have a great cellar for a speck schuttelbrot lunch, which goes well with some Forst beer or the monastery's own wines

Its a nice city if you like luxury and have a lot of money to spend, becuase its well overprised. The areas just outside milan are wonderfull and average priced. Good nightlife and reasonable amount of culture. Book your hotel or hostel well in advance otherwise you pay a lot of money!!!!

Yes, gelato in ALL of Italy a must. Florence is a beautiful city swith so much art, culture and architecture to see. Everything is very close to walk to. Suggest staying on Nationale near the train station. Very close to everything, convenient to and from the station, and there is a great open market for souvenirs just around the block. A must see! Make sure you take time aside to just people watch.

Will go back again just for the ice-creams, the Gondolas are a rip off so beware, or do a deal first. The shops streets are fasinating , as is the history of the buildings. Avoid drinking in St Marks square the'll charge you 2 arms 2 legs for a coke, find an ice-cream booth they sell cold drinks also keep loose change for the loo's. The night life is romantic and there's live music twinkling lights in St Marks square, try and go in the local August holidays it's busy but worth it, Even thunder storm;s are romantic at night.

Firenze, it's amazing museums during the day, and such an exciting nightlife! Just hang around on the plaza's and find some people making music, they'll probably show you the clubs to go! For the museums, buy your tickets a couple days before going, you'll get inside quicker! Otherwise, be patient!

Avoid the tourist season and Venice will be one of your favorites! Without the crowds it feels like you are the only person in this amazing labyrinth of a city. Have a glass of wine at one of the restaurant on either side of the Piazza San Marcos and listen to the competing orchestras. It's much more expensive, but worth it to enjoy the music and see the couples dancing in the square to the music.

In the heart of Emilia-Romagna, you will find the little town of Vignola. It is smaller and more peaceful than its neighbor Modena, but it comes alive during the annual cherry festival! It is also home to a music school (CUBEC) founded by the legendary soprano, Mirella Freni, so it’s not unusual to hear opera as you walk through the streets.

If you need a place to stay, try:

Via Tavoni, 20
Vignola (MO)
tel. +39.059.77.67.11
web: http://www.cittacastelliciliegi.it
email: info@cittacastelliciliegi.it


I’ve spent many weeks in this lovely family-style hostel off the beaten track in Vignola. The rooms are tidy and the views are gorgeous, especially in the springtime. You can start the day with a good cappuccino, then rent a bicycle and explore the path along the river.

Home of Romeo and Juliet, you can still see the balcony where the lovers whispered their secrets to each other. Verona also is home to the ruins of a Roman Coloseum, which has been restored and is used as an opera house and civic music hall. Worth a visit!

One of the most beautiful places i went to, and i want to go back there. The shopping is fantastic as is the lovely architecture. You can get your caricature drawn by one of the many artists along the street, take photos of 'David', and also walk the infamous bridge laden with shops of gold - once the shops of butchers meat!! There are many designer stores and many crepe stands, but don't forget to leave without picking up a real piece of genuine leather garment from florence! Don't miss also the 'Space Discoteca' night club!! Don't worry if you hurt yourself in Florence, hospital help is great in florence (if you can speak italian- although all doctors speak english)

While staying at a really great campsite in Sorrento my husband and I rented a motercycle to drive out to Pompei for the day. Pompei the city is pretty ugly and run-down - unfortunately most of the town's money is generated by the scavii site. Taking a bike out there for the day from a nearby base gives you a chance to take in the beautiful coastline, and avoid having to spend the night in Pompei itself.

Hold on to your handbag as it if were made of gold - because to the numerous crims it may as well be. Also, when in line at an eftpos terminal, have a friend or family member pretend to queue behind you - people will literally push you out of the way to grab the money or card that comes out - I speak from experience! Try saying/yelling loudly in Italian; they are less likely to bother you if they think you can call for help in the native language.

Go to Punta Scutari - it is the best lookout in the region, and you can see miles of beautiful mediterranean. Can be a bit of a walk, so make sure you are fit before going to Meta! If you aren't, don't worry; you will be by the time you leave, even if you only spend one day there! Beaches are better than in Sorrento, Piano di Sorrento etc, but you don't really need to pay, because the 'public beaches', which are right next to the private ones, are every bit as good, unless you are looking for first-class treatment; this being the case Meta is probably not the place for you, as is more of a fishing village. This would have to be one of my favourite villages in Italia, as it has a more 'untouched' feel than Sorrento.

Sweet place. I can reccomend getting a mountain bike and travelling here. also, if you're going to kill youself throwing yourself off one of the surrounding mounains on a bike would be by far the best way to go out!! ;) incredible fun

An extraordinary country! Good to visit, always!

Dont travel with a group in venice!!! - after you diembarked from your opereta boat, go alone and dont stick with the group. the group tours show san marco and realto- and stick 3 hours to unesseary explanations. venice is small and easy to get around- go always by foot and alone- so you will reach all the shops. by the way- there is a small market on the beach right after san marco

Be sure to stop by Cinque Terre on the way to Pisa because you can just fly by and not notice these really cool little towns on the way. Great beaches and really picturesque places to walk/ take pictures or whatever.

The art and culture of millenarian times in one place

firenze is superb! You really have to visit it once in your life. All the art and the little streets, just marvellous!

- Acc or ding to a tradition dated at least to Virgil's Eneide, and rediscovered by the medieval commune to gl or ify itself, it was founded in 1183 BC by the Trojan prince Anten or - The Scrovegni Chapel ( Cappella degli Scrovegni ) is Padua's most famous sight. It houses a remarkable cycle of frescoes completed in 1305 by Giotto. - The Palazzo della Ragione , with its great hall on the upper flo or , is reputed to have the largest roof unsupp or ted by columns in Europe. - The most famous of the Paduan churches is the Basilica di Sant'Antonio da Padova , locally simply known as "Il Santo". - In the Piazza dei Sign or i is the beautiful loggia called the Gran Guardia , and close by is the Palazzo del Capitanio , the residence of the Venetian govern or s, with its great do or , the w or k of Giovanni Maria Falconetto

Tarquinii (Etruscan Tarchnal) is said to have been already a flourishing city when Demaratus of Corinth brought in Greek workmen. It was the chief of the 12 cities of Etruria, and appears in the earliest history of Rome as the home of two of its kings, Tarquinio Priscus and Tarquinio Superbus. From it many of the religious rites and ceremonies of Rome are said to have been derived, and even in imperial times a collegium of sixty hauruspicies continued to exist there. The people of Tarquinii and Veii attempted to restore Tarquinius Superbus to the throne after his expulsion. In 358 BC the citizens of Tarquinii captured and put to death 307 Roman soldiers; the resulting war ended in 351 with a forty years' truce, renewed for a similar period in 308. When Tarquinii came under Roman domination is uncertain, as is also the date at which it became a municipality; in 181 BC its port, Graviscae (mod.porto Clementino), in an unhealthy position on the low coast, became a Roman colony. It exported wine and carried on coral fisheries. Nor do we hear much of it in Roman times; it lay on the hills above the coast road. The flax and forests of its extensive territory are mentioned by classical authors, and we find Tarquinii offering to furnish Scipio with sailcloth in 195 BCE. A bishop of Tarquinii is mentioned in 456 The original site of the Etruscan city of Tarquinia, known as the "Civita", is on the long plateau to the north of the current town. The two coexisted for most of the early middle ages, with Tarquinia dwindling to a small fortified settlement on the "Castellina" location, and the more strategically placed Corneto (possibly the "Corito" mentioned in Roman sources) growing progressively to become the major city of the lower Maremma sea coast, especially after the destruction of the port of Centumcellae (modern Civitavecchia). The last historic references to Tarquinia are from around 1250, while the name of Corneto was changed to Tarquinia in 1934. Reversion to historical place names (not always accurately), was a frequent phenomenon under the Fascist Government of Italy as part of the nationalist campaign to evoke past glories. The Etruscan necropolises , with some 6,000 tombs, 60 of which include wall paintings. The National Museum , with a large collection of archaeological findings. It is housed in the Renaissance Palazzo Vitelleschi , begun in 1436 and completed around 1480-1490 Main Sights Church of Santa Maria di Castello (1121-1208), with Lombard and Cosmatesque influences. The façade has a small bell-tower and three entrances. The interior has a nave and two aisles, divided by massive pilasters with palaeo-christian capitals and friezes. Noteworthy are also the rose-window in the nave and the several marble works by Roman masters. The Cathedral , once in Romanesque-Gothic style but rebuilt after the 1643 fire, has maintained from the original edifice the 16th century frescoes in presbitery, by Antoniodel Massaro Church of San Giacomo and Santissima Annunziata , showing different Arab and Byzantine influences. The small church of San Martino (12th century). The church of St. John the Baptist (12th century), with an elegant rose-window in the simple façade. The Communal Palace , in Romanesque style, begun in the 13th century and restored in the 16th. The numerous medieval towers , including that of Dante Alighieri. The Palazzo dei Priori . The façade, remade in Baroque times, has a massive external staircase. The interior has a fresco cycle from 1429. The Gothic-Romanesque church of San Pancrazio . .

History

[edit] Ancient and medieval city
Autumn in Lucca
Autumn in Lucca

Lucca was founded by the Etruscans (there are traces of a pre-existing Ligurian settlement) and became a Roman colony in 180 BC. The rectangular grid of its historical center preserves the Roman street plan, and the Piazza San Michele occupies the site of the ancient forum. Traces of the amphitheatre can still be seen in the Piazza dell'Anfiteatro.

Frediano, an Irish monk, was bishop of Lucca in the early 5th century.[1] At one point, Lucca was plundered by Odoacer, the first Germanic King of Italy. Lucca was an important city and fortress even in the 6th century, when Narses besieged it for several months in 553. Under the Lombards, it was the seat of a duke who minted his own coins. The Holy Face of Lucca (or Volto Santo), a major relic supposedly carved by Nicodemus, arrived in 742. It became prosperous through the silk trade that began in the 11th century, and came to rival the silks of Byzantium. During the 10-11th centuries Lucca was the capital of the feudal margravate of Tuscany, more or less independent but owing nominal allegiance to the Holy Roman Emperor.

After the death of Matilda of Tuscany, the city began to constitute itself an independent commune, with a charter in 1160. For almost 500 years, Lucca remained an independent republic. There were many minor provinces in the region between southern Liguria and northern Tuscany dominated by the Malaspina; Tuscany in this time was a part of feudal Europe. Dante’s Divine Comedy includes many references to the great feudal families who had huge jurisdictions with administrative and judicial rights. Dante spent some of his exile in Lucca.

In 1273 and again in 1277 Lucca was ruled by a Guelph capitano del popolo (captain of the people) named Luchetto Gattilusio. In 1314, internal discord allowed Uguccione della Faggiuola of Pisa to make himself lord of Lucca. The Lucchesi expelled him two years later, and handed over the city to another condottiere Castruccio Castracani, under whose rule it became a leading state in central Italy. Lucca rivalled Florence until Castracani's death in 1328. On 22 and 23 September 1325, in the battle of Altopascio, Castracani defeated Florence's Guelphs. For this he was nominated by Louis IV the Bavarian to become duke of Lucca. Castracani's tomb is in the church of San Francesco. His biography is Machiavelli's third famous book on political rule.

In 1408, Lucca hosted the convocation intended to end the schism in the papacy. Occupied by the troops of Louis of Bavaria, the city was sold to a rich Genoese, Gherardino Spinola, then seized by John, king of Bohemia. Pawned to the Rossi of Parma, by them it was ceded to Martino della Scala of Verona, sold to the Florentines, surrendered to the Pisans, and then nominally liberated by the emperor Charles IV and governed by his vicar. Lucca managed, at first as a democracy, and after 1628 as an oligarchy, to maintain its independence alongside of Venice and Genoa, and painted the word Libertas on its banner until the French Revolution in 1789.[2].

[edit] Republic of Lucca
Palazzo Pfanner, garden view.
Palazzo Pfanner, garden view.

Lucca was the second largest Italian city state (after Venice) with a republican constitution ("comune") to remain independent over the centuries. In 1805, Lucca was taken over by Napoleon, who put his sister Elisa Bonaparte Baciocchi in charge as "Queen of Etruria". This affair is commemorated in the famous first sentence of Tolstoy's War and Peace:

"Well, Prince, so Genoa and Lucca are now just family estates of the Bonapartes.(...) And what do you think of this latest comedy, the coronation at Milan, the comedy of the people of Genoa and Lucca laying their petitions [to be annexed to France] before Monsieur Bonaparte, and Monsieur Bonaparte sitting on a throne and granting the petitions of the nations?" (spoken by a thoroughly anti-Bonapartist Russian aristocrat, soon after the news reached St. Petersburg).

After 1815 it became a Bourbon-Parma duchy, then part of Tuscany in 1847 and finally part of the Italian State.

[edit] Frazioni

The municipal territory of Lucca includes eighty-one “fractions”: Antraccoli, Aquilea, Arancio, Arliano, Arsina, Balbano, Cappella, Carignano, Castagnori, Castiglioncello, Cerasomma, Chiatri, Ciciana, Deccio di Brancoli, Fagnano, Farneta, Gattaiola, Gignano di Brancoli, Maggiano, Massa Pisana, Mastiano, Meati, Monte San Quirico, Montuolo, Mutigliano, Mugnano, Nave, Nozzano, Nozzano San Pietro, Nozzano Vecchia, Ombreglio di Brancoli, Palmata, Piaggione, Piazza di Brancoli, Piazzano, Picciorana, Pieve di Brancoli, Pieve Santo Stefano, Ponte a Moriano, Ponte del Giglio, Ponte San Pietro, Pontetetto, Saltocchio, San Cassiano a Vico, San Cassano di Moriano, San Concordio di Moriano, San Donato, San Filippo, San Gimignano, San Giusto di Brancoli, San Lorenzo a Vaccoli, San Lorenzo di Moriano, San Macario in monte, San Macario in piano, San Michele di Moriano, San Michele in Escheto, San Pancazio, San Pietro a Vico, San Quirico in Moriano, San Vito, Sant'Alessio, Sant'Angelo in Campo, Sant'Ilario di Brancoli, Santa Maria a Colle, Santa Maria del Giudice, Santissima Annunziata, Santo Stefano di Moriano, Sesto di Moriano, Sorbano del Giudice, Sorbano del Vescovo, Stabbiano, Tempagnano di Lunata, Torre, Torre alla Maddalena, Torre Alta, Tramonte, Tramonte di Brancoli, Vallebuia, Vecoli, Vicopelago, Vinchiana.

[edit] Main sights
Please help improve this section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion. (June 2008)
Piazza Anfiteatro
Piazza Anfiteatro

The walls around the old town remained intact as the city expanded and modernized, unusual for cities in the region. As the walls lost their military importance, they became a pedestrian promenade which encircled the old town, although they were used for a number of years in the 20th century for racing cars. They are still fully intact today; each of the four principal sides is lined with a different tree species.

The Academy of Sciences (1584) is the most famous of several academies and libraries.

The Casa di Puccini is open to the public. At nearby Torre del Lago there is a Puccini opera festival every year in July/August. Puccini had a house there.

There are many richly built medieval basilica-form churches in Lucca with rich arcaded facades and campaniles, a few as old as the 8th century.

* Piazza dell'Anfiteatro
* Piazzale Verdi
* Piazza Napoleone
* Piazza San Michele

A close up of the front facade of the San Michele in Foro.
A close up of the front facade of the San Michele in Foro.

* Duomo di San Martino (St Martin's Cathedral)
* The Ducal Palace (The original project was begun by Bartolomeo Ammannati in 1577–1582, and continued by Filippo Juvarra in the 18th century.)
* The ancient Roman amphitheatre
* Church of San Michele in Foro
* Basilica di San Frediano
* Torre delle ore ("The Clock Tower")
* Casa and Torre Guinigi
* Museo Nazionale Guinigi
* Museo e Pinacoteca Nazionale
* Orto Botanico Comunale di Lucca, a botanical garden dating from 1820
* Palazzo Pfanner
* Church of San Giorgio in the locality of Brancoli, built in the late 12th century. It has a nave and two aisles with a single apse, and a bell tower in Lombard-Romanesque style ranked amongst the most beautiful in northern Italy. The interior houses a massive ambo (1194) with four columns mounted on notable sculptures of lions. Also having notable medieval decoration is the octagonal baptismal font. The altar is supported by six small columns with human figures
* Passeggiata Mura Urbane (which is a street all over the city on the bastions, and which pass from these balconies: Santa Croce, San Frediano, San Martino, San Pietro/Battisti, San Salvatore, La Libertà/Cairoli, San Regolo, San Colombano, Santa Maria, San Paolino/Catalani, and San Donato; also pass over these gates: Porta San Donato, Porta Santa Maria, Porta San Jocopo, Porta Elisa, Porta San Pietro, and Porta Sant' Anna.)
* The fortified city is surround by these street: Piazzale Boccherini, Viale Lazzaro Papi, Viale Carlo Del Prete, Piazzale Martiri della Libertà, Via Batoni, Viale Agostino Marti, Viale G. Marconi, Piazza Don A. Mei, Viale Pacini, Viale Giusti, Piazza Curtatone, Piazzale Ricasoli, Viale Ricasoli, Piazza Risorgimento and Viale Giosuè Carducci from outside.

[edit] Culture

Lucca is the birthplace of composers Giacomo Puccini (La bohème and Madama Butterfly), Francesco Geminiani, Gioseffo Guami, Luigi Boccherini, and Alfredo Catalani. It is also the birthplace of Bruno Menconi and artist Benedetto Brandimarte.

Lucca annually hosts the Lucca Summer Festival. The 2006 edition saw Eric Clapton, Placebo, Massive Attack, Roger Waters, Tracy Chapman and Santana play live in the Piazza Napoleone.

Lucca also hosts the annual Lucca Comics and Games festival, Italy's largest festival for comics and related subjects.

History

Ancient and medieval city

Lucca was founded by the Etruscans (there are traces of a pre-existing Ligurian settlement) and became a Roman colony in 180 BC. The rectangular grid of its historical center preserves the Roman street plan, and the Piazza San Michele occupies the site of the ancient forum. Traces of the amphitheatre can still be seen in the Piazza dell'Anfiteatro.

Frediano, an Irish monk, was bishop of Lucca in the early 5th century.[1] At one point, Lucca was plundered by Odoacer, the first Germanic King of Italy. Lucca was an important city and fortress even in the 6th century, when Narses besieged it for several months in 553. Under the Lombards, it was the seat of a duke who minted his own coins. The Holy Face of Lucca (or Volto Santo), a major relic supposedly carved by Nicodemus, arrived in 742. It became prosperous through the silk trade that began in the 11th century, and came to rival the silks of Byzantium. During the 10-11th centuries Lucca was the capital of the feudal margravate of Tuscany, more or less independent but owing nominal allegiance to the Holy Roman Emperor.

After the death of Matilda of Tuscany, the city began to constitute itself an independent commune, with a charter in 1160. For almost 500 years, Lucca remained an independent republic. There were many minor provinces in the region between southern Liguria and northern Tuscany dominated by the Malaspina; Tuscany in this time was a part of feudal Europe. Dante’s Divine Comedy includes many references to the great feudal families who had huge jurisdictions with administrative and judicial rights. Dante spent some of his exile in Lucca.

In 1273 and again in 1277 Lucca was ruled by a Guelph capitano del popolo (captain of the people) named Luchetto Gattilusio. In 1314, internal discord allowed Uguccione della Faggiuola of Pisa to make himself lord of Lucca. The Lucchesi expelled him two years later, and handed over the city to another condottiere Castruccio Castracani, under whose rule it became a leading state in central Italy. Lucca rivalled Florence until Castracani's death in 1328. On 22 and 23 September 1325, in the battle of Altopascio, Castracani defeated Florence's Guelphs. For this he was nominated by Louis IV the Bavarian to become duke of Lucca. Castracani's tomb is in the church of San Francesco. His biography is Machiavelli's third famous book on political rule.

In 1408, Lucca hosted the convocation intended to end the schism in the papacy. Occupied by the troops of Louis of Bavaria, the city was sold to a rich Genoese, Gherardino Spinola, then seized by John, king of Bohemia. Pawned to the Rossi of Parma, by them it was ceded to Martino della Scala of Verona, sold to the Florentines, surrendered to the Pisans, and then nominally liberated by the emperor Charles IV and governed by his vicar. Lucca managed, at first as a democracy, and after 1628 as an oligarchy, to maintain its independence alongside of Venice and Genoa, and painted the word Libertas on its banner until the French Revolution in 1789.[2].

Republic of Lucca
Palazzo Pfanner, garden view.
Palazzo Pfanner, garden view.

Lucca was the second largest Italian city state (after Venice) with a republican constitution ("comune") to remain independent over the centuries. In 1805, Lucca was taken over by Napoleon, who put his sister Elisa Bonaparte Baciocchi in charge as "Queen of Etruria". This affair is commemorated in the famous first sentence of Tolstoy's War and Peace:

"Well, Prince, so Genoa and Lucca are now just family estates of the Bonapartes.(...) And what do you think of this latest comedy, the coronation at Milan, the comedy of the people of Genoa and Lucca laying their petitions [to be annexed to France] before Monsieur Bonaparte, and Monsieur Bonaparte sitting on a throne and granting the petitions of the nations?" (spoken by a thoroughly anti-Bonapartist Russian aristocrat, soon after the news reached St. Petersburg).

After 1815 it became a Bourbon-Parma duchy, then part of Tuscany in 1847 and finally part of the Italian State.

Frazioni

The municipal territory of Lucca includes eighty-one “fractions”: Antraccoli, Aquilea, Arancio, Arliano, Arsina, Balbano, Cappella, Carignano, Castagnori, Castiglioncello, Cerasomma, Chiatri, Ciciana, Deccio di Brancoli, Fagnano, Farneta, Gattaiola, Gignano di Brancoli, Maggiano, Massa Pisana, Mastiano, Meati, Monte San Quirico, Montuolo, Mutigliano, Mugnano, Nave, Nozzano, Nozzano San Pietro, Nozzano Vecchia, Ombreglio di Brancoli, Palmata, Piaggione, Piazza di Brancoli, Piazzano, Picciorana, Pieve di Brancoli, Pieve Santo Stefano, Ponte a Moriano, Ponte del Giglio, Ponte San Pietro, Pontetetto, Saltocchio, San Cassiano a Vico, San Cassano di Moriano, San Concordio di Moriano, San Donato, San Filippo, San Gimignano, San Giusto di Brancoli, San Lorenzo a Vaccoli, San Lorenzo di Moriano, San Macario in monte, San Macario in piano, San Michele di Moriano, San Michele in Escheto, San Pancazio, San Pietro a Vico, San Quirico in Moriano, San Vito, Sant'Alessio, Sant'Angelo in Campo, Sant'Ilario di Brancoli, Santa Maria a Colle, Santa Maria del Giudice, Santissima Annunziata, Santo Stefano di Moriano, Sesto di Moriano, Sorbano del Giudice, Sorbano del Vescovo, Stabbiano, Tempagnano di Lunata, Torre, Torre alla Maddalena, Torre Alta, Tramonte, Tramonte di Brancoli, Vallebuia, Vecoli, Vicopelago, Vinchiana.

Main sights

(June 2008)
Piazza Anfiteatro
Piazza Anfiteatro

The walls around the old town remained intact as the city expanded and modernized, unusual for cities in the region. As the walls lost their military importance, they became a pedestrian promenade which encircled the old town, although they were used for a number of years in the 20th century for racing cars. They are still fully intact today; each of the four principal sides is lined with a different tree species.

The Academy of Sciences (1584) is the most famous of several academies and libraries.

The Casa di Puccini is open to the public. At nearby Torre del Lago there is a Puccini opera festival every year in July/August. Puccini had a house there.

There are many richly built medieval basilica-form churches in Lucca with rich arcaded facades and campaniles, a few as old as the 8th century.

* Piazza dell'Anfiteatro
* Piazzale Verdi
* Piazza Napoleone
* Piazza San Michele

A close up of the front facade of the San Michele in Foro.
A close up of the front facade of the San Michele in Foro.

* Duomo di San Martino (St Martin's Cathedral)
* The Ducal Palace (The original project was begun by Bartolomeo Ammannati in 1577–1582, and continued by Filippo Juvarra in the 18th century.)
* The ancient Roman amphitheatre
* Church of San Michele in Foro
* Basilica di San Frediano
* Torre delle ore ("The Clock Tower")
* Casa and Torre Guinigi
* Museo Nazionale Guinigi
* Museo e Pinacoteca Nazionale
* Orto Botanico Comunale di Lucca, a botanical garden dating from 1820
* Palazzo Pfanner
* Church of San Giorgio in the locality of Brancoli, built in the late 12th century. It has a nave and two aisles with a single apse, and a bell tower in Lombard-Romanesque style ranked amongst the most beautiful in northern Italy. The interior houses a massive ambo (1194) with four columns mounted on notable sculptures of lions. Also having notable medieval decoration is the octagonal baptismal font. The altar is supported by six small columns with human figures
* Passeggiata Mura Urbane (which is a street all over the city on the bastions, and which pass from these balconies: Santa Croce, San Frediano, San Martino, San Pietro/Battisti, San Salvatore, La Libertà/Cairoli, San Regolo, San Colombano, Santa Maria, San Paolino/Catalani, and San Donato; also pass over these gates: Porta San Donato, Porta Santa Maria, Porta San Jocopo, Porta Elisa, Porta San Pietro, and Porta Sant' Anna.)
* The fortified city is surround by these street: Piazzale Boccherini, Viale Lazzaro Papi, Viale Carlo Del Prete, Piazzale Martiri della Libertà, Via Batoni, Viale Agostino Marti, Viale G. Marconi, Piazza Don A. Mei, Viale Pacini, Viale Giusti, Piazza Curtatone, Piazzale Ricasoli, Viale Ricasoli, Piazza Risorgimento and Viale Giosuè Carducci from outside.

Culture

Lucca is the birthplace of composers Giacomo Puccini (La bohème and Madama Butterfly), Francesco Geminiani, Gioseffo Guami, Luigi Boccherini, and Alfredo Catalani. It is also the birthplace of Bruno Menconi and artist Benedetto Brandimarte.

Lucca annually hosts the Lucca Summer Festival. The 2006 edition saw Eric Clapton, Placebo, Massive Attack, Roger Waters, Tracy Chapman and Santana play live in the Piazza Napoleone.

Lucca also hosts the annual Lucca Comics and Games festival, Italy's largest festival for comics and related subjects.
History

The island was probably settled by the Romans, and in the 6th century was occupied by people from Altino, who named it for one of the gates of their former city. Two stories are attributed to how the city obtained its name. One is that it was initially founded by the Buriana family, and another is that the first settlers of Burano came from the small island of Buranello, five miles to the south.

Although the island soon became a thriving settlement, it was administered from Torcello and had none of the privileges of that island or of Murano. It rose in importance only in the 16th century, when women on the island began making lace with needles. The lace was soon exported across Europe, but decline began in the 18th century and the industry did not revive until 1872, when a school of lacemaking was opened. Lacemaking on the island boomed again, but few now make lace in the traditional manner as it is extremely time-consuming and therefore expensive.

Culture and main sights

Burano is also known for its small, brightly-painted houses, popular with artists. The designer Philippe Starck owns three houses. Other attractions include the Church of San Martino, with a campanile, the Oratorio di Santa Barbara and the Museum and School of Lacemaking. The colours of the houses follow a specific system originating from the golden age of its development; if someone wishes to paint their home, one must send a request to the government, who will respond by making notice of the certain colours permitted for that lot. This practice has resulted in the myriad of warm, pastelly colours that characterises the island today.