Lucchese

Lucca the charming, rich, medieval town, wit its rounded shape, fascinates every tourist who comes to see the Cathedral, a real masterpiece of medieval architecture housing the famous sculpture by Jacopo della Quercia: Ilaria del Carretto, forever asleep. Lucca’s territory […]

Lucca the charming, rich, medieval town, wit its rounded shape, fascinates every tourist who comes to see the Cathedral, a real masterpiece of medieval architecture housing the famous sculpture by Jacopo della Quercia: Ilaria del Carretto, forever asleep. Lucca’s territory has a lot of wonderful jewels to offer: its plain, the hills by the river Serchio, the mountains of Garfagnana, the sea of Versilia.

The local nature offers different, many-sided features to the tourist coming to Lucca. The so called Lucchesia is characterized by nature, history and traditions alike: its beautiful and fragrant camellias, for example, come to a full bloom in March.

The annual exhibition of Camellias in March is surely one of the most important events in Tuscany, bringing to Lucca botanists and flower lovers from all over Italy: this is the best time of the year to follow the so called “Camellias’ path”, a fascinating route branching off from the villages Sant’ Andrea and Pieve di Compito, inside the town of Capannori, jus a few Kilometres far from Lucca.

As an exception tourists and visitors can visit private gardens inside historic villas, where some of the note worthiest Camellias are to be seen in their original settings.

Thanks to this special route Capannori, Porcari and Altopascio are still connected to Lucca today, as they were in the past, along the medieval road Via Francigena.

Another town – Montecarlo – is linked to the previous ones through a secondary road, the wine road of the hills, along the northern hills, characterised by wonderful olive trees and ancient vineyards.

16th and 19th century Villas (Villa Basilica among them), old Romanesque churches and high bell towers characterize this natural landscape, where the tourist can find the famous thermal baths of Lucca along the river Serchio.

Some smaller villages, like Borgo a Mozzano, Barga and Coreglia Antelminelli are still well preserved and worth seeing as well, reminding us of their most flourishing time: the Middle Age.

The river Serchio’s valley belongs to the territory called Garfagnana, parting the mountains Alpi Apuane from the Apennine.

Over the centuries this area was controlled by the Estense family; the mountains mingle here with the whole nature, giving birth to an unusual coloured habitat, linking history to nature.

The Garfagnana, with its nature parks (Alpi Apuane), its reserves (Orrido di Botri or Pania di Corfino) and its old towns is an ideal place for a regenerating holyday, the ideal territory for horse riding or trekking, stopping at small centres rich of folklore, like Castelnuovo Garfagnana, Pieve Fosciana, Gallicano, Piazza al Serchio and many others.

Beyond the western side of the Apuane mountains you can easily reach the sea, coming to Versilia.

The landscape includes here mountains and hills (Stazzema, Seravezza), small lakes like Massaciuccoli (Massarosa) and – obviously – the world famous coast, characterized by the Mediterranean scrub and by different towns, renowned for their summer life, events and marble productions. Pietrasanta, Viareggio, Forte dei Marmi, Camaiore: each town is a modern sea side and a medieval centre at the same time: archaeological sites and roman finds are to be found between the hinterland, with the white marble landscapes from Alpi Apuane, and the coast.