Meschi photos on Flickr

Les Totems de Sylvian Meschia sont au cœur de Saint Bertrand. Ils sont une trentaine de taille et de dimension différentes. Ils symbolisent le bâton du pèlerin. Les hommes sont en marche.

L'exposition de Sylvian Meschia composée de totems d'une hauteur de 2 à 4 m portant chacun un décor unique d'écritures, peintures, photographies réalisés sur le principe du palimpseste.

Cette technique utilisée au Moyen Âge consiste à faire disparaître les inscriptions d’un parchemin déjà utilisé pour pouvoir y écrire de nouveau.

Présentés et rassemblés comme des "bouquets", ces totems appellent le regard comme des points de repères monumentaux.

« Le Conseil départemental voulait donner une âme à Via Garona », confie Didier Cujives, président de Haute-Garonne Tourisme et amoureux de Saint Bertrand. « Via Garona est un chemin engagé qui relie Toulouse à Saint Bertrand, en passant par Rieux Volvestre. 160km au total. Trois cathédrales : Saint Etienne à Toulouse, Sainte Marie à Rieux et à Saint Bertrand.

«Mon cœur de travail est la céramique », indique Sylvian Meschia. « J’ai déjà organisé des expositions, ici, dans ce domaine au musée archéologique départemental. Ce qui est représenté sur ces totems sont des photos d’œuvres réalisées en céramique. Ces photos sont imprimées sur du vinyle, lui-même collé sur les totems. » Chaque bâton porte un décor unique, intégrant des motifs picturaux et photographiques ainsi que des références aux différents sites de la Via Garona.

The Totems of Sylvian Meschia are at the heart of Saint Bertrand. They are about thirty different sizes and dimensions. They symbolize the pilgrim's staff. The men are on the move.

The exhibition of Sylvian Meschia composed of totems from a height of 2 to 4 m each carrying a unique decoration of writings, paintings, photographs produced on the principle of the palimpsest.

This technique used in the Middle Ages consists of removing the inscriptions from a parchment that has already been used in order to be able to write on it again.

Presented and gathered like "bouquets", these totems appeal to the eye like monumental landmarks.

"The Departmental Council wanted to give a soul to Via Garona", says Didier Cujives, president of Haute-Garonne Tourisme and lover of Saint Bertrand. “Via Garona is a committed path that connects Toulouse to Saint Bertrand, passing through Rieux Volvestre. 160km in total. Three cathedrals: Saint Etienne in Toulouse, Sainte Marie in Rieux and Saint Bertrand.

“My heart of work is ceramics,” says Sylvian Meschia. “I have already organized exhibitions here in this area at the departmental archaeological museum. What is represented on these totems are photos of works made in ceramics. These photos are printed on vinyl, which is itself glued to the totems. Each stick bears a unique decoration, integrating pictorial and photographic motifs as well as references to the various sites of the Via Garona.

Victtorio Veneto. Italia. by MANUEL PÉREZ

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Campanario de la Iglesia Catedral de Santa Maria Nova, de Serravalle. Se encuentra en una posición independiente frente a la fachada, y a la orilla del rio Meschio, su estructura es del siglo XIV, de estilo Romanico.

Lucca by dynamo.photography

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++++++++ FROM Wikipedia +++++++++

Lucca (/ˈluːkə/ LOO-kə, Italian: [ˈlukka] (About this soundlisten)) is a city and comune in Tuscany, Central Italy, on the Serchio, in a fertile plain near the Tyrrhenian Sea. It is the capital of the Province of Lucca. It is famous for its intact Renaissance-era city walls.[4][5]

History

See also: List of mayors of Lucca

Culture

Lucca is the birthplace of composers Giacomo Puccini (La Bohème and Madama Butterfly), Nicolao Dorati, Francesco Geminiani, Gioseffo Guami, Luigi Boccherini, and Alfredo Catalani. It is also the birthplace of artist Benedetto Brandimarte. Since 2004, Lucca is home to IMT Lucca, a public research institution and a selective graduate school and part of the Superior Graduate Schools in Italy (Grandes écoles).[11]

Guinigi Tower

Museums

National Museum of Villa Guinigi

Museum of Villa Mansi

Museo della Cattedrale

Lu.C.C.A. Museum of the Archaeology of the Lucca Cathedral

Orto Botanico Comunale di Lucca

Events

Lucca hosts the annual Lucca Summer Festival. The 2006 edition featured live performances by Eric Clapton, Placebo, Massive Attack, Roger Waters, Tracy Chapman, and Santana at the Piazza Napoleone.

Lucca hosts the annual Lucca Comics and Games festival, Europe's largest festival for comics, movies, games and related subjects.

Other events include:

Lucca Film Festival[12]

Lucca Digital Photography Fest[13]

Procession of Santa Croce, on 13 September. Costume procession through the town's roads.

Lucca Jazz Donna[14]

Film and television

Mauro Bolognini's 1958 film Giovani mariti with Sylva Koscina is set and was filmed in Lucca.[citation needed]

Top Gear filmed the episode 'series 17, episode 3' here.

International relations

See also: List of twin towns and sister cities in Italy

Lucca is twinned with:[15][16]

England Abingdon, England, United Kingdom

France Colmar, France

Finland Hämeenlinna, Finland

Germany Schongau, Germany

Belgium Sint-Niklaas, Belgium

United States South San Francisco, United States

People

St. Anselm of Lucca, (1036–1086), bishop of Lucca

Giovanni Arnolfini, merchant and arts patron

Pompeo Batoni, painter

Simone Bianchi, comics artist[17]

Luigi Boccherini, musician and composer

Elisa Bonaparte, ruler of Lucca

Giulio Carmassi, composer

Castruccio Castracani, ruler of Lucca (1316–1328)

Alfredo Catalani, composer

Gusmano Cesaretti, photographer and artist

Mario Cipollini, cyclist

Matteo Civitali, sculptor

Ivan Della Mea, singer-songwriter

Theodor Döhler, composer and pianist; lived in Lucca from 1827–1829

Ernesto Filippi, football referee

Saint Frediano

St. Gemma Galgani, mystic and saint

Tejay van Garderen, cyclist

Francesco Geminiani, musician and composer

Giovanni Batista Giusti, harpsichord maker

Agostino Giuntoli, nightclub owner and entrepreneur

Gioseffo Guami, composer

Pope Lucius III

Vincenzo Lunardi, pioneer aeronaut [18]

Ludovico Marracci, priest and first translator of the Qur'an to Latin

Felice Matteucci, engineer

Italo Meschi, harp guitarist, poet, anarchist-pacifist

Leo Nomellini, athlete

Mario Pannunzio, journalist and politician

Marcello Pera, politician and philosopher

Giacomo Puccini, composer

Eros Riccio, chess player

Marco Rossi, footballer

Daniele Rugani, footballer

Renato Salvatori, actor

Carlo Sforza, diplomat and politician

Rinaldo and Ezilda Torre, founded the Torani syrup company in San Francisco using Luccan recipes from their hometown

Rolando Ugolini, athlete

Giuseppe Ungaretti, poet

Antonio Vallisneri, scientist and physician

Alfredo Volpi, painter

Hugh of Lucca, medieval surgeon

Saint Zita

John Meschi #johnmeschi #photo #photographer #fashion #magazine #mag by john meschi

John Meschi walk #walk #theWalk ph by John Meschi fashion photographer for editorial #editorial #magazine #issue #johnmeschi #fashionphotographer #meschiphoto by john meschi

Royan, Saint Georges de Didonne , Plage de Suzac by thierry llansades

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San Michele In Foro Roman Catholic Basilica, Lucca, Italy. by PHOTOGRAPHY by DM & DBM.

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San Michele in Foro is a Roman Catholic basilica church in Lucca, Tuscany, central Italy, built over the ancient Roman forum. Until 1370 it was the seat of the Consiglio Maggiore (Major Council), the commune's most important assembly. It is dedicated to Archangel Michael.

History

The church is mentioned for the first time in 795 as ad foro (in the forum). It was rebuilt after 1070 by will of Pope Alexander II.

Notable is the façade, from the 13th century, with a large series of sculptures and inlays, numerous of which remade in the 19th century. The lower part has a series of blind arcades, the central of which includes the main portal. The upper part, built using plenty of iron materials to counter wind, has four orders of small loggias. On the summit, flanked by two other angels, is the 4 m-tall statue of St. Michael the Archangel. According to a legend, an angel's finger would have a huge diamond. On the lower right corner of the façade is a statue (1480) of the Madonna salutis portus, sculpted by Matteo Civitali to celebrate the end of the 1476 plague.

The church interior has a nave and two aisles with transept and semicircular apse; the nave is supported by arcades on monolithic columns. From the southern transept rises the bell tower, built in the 12th-14th centuries, with a series of single, double and triple mullioned windows. The last floor was demolished during the rule of Giovanni dell'Agnello (1364-1368), Doge of Pisa.

Lucca is a city and comune in Tuscany, Central Italy, on the Serchio River, in a fertile plain near the Ligurian Sea. The city has a population of about 89,000, while its province has a population of 383,957.

Lucca is known as an Italian "Città d'arte" (City of Art) from its intact Renaissance-era city walls and its very well preserved historic center, where, among other buildings and monuments, are located the Piazza dell'Anfiteatro, which has its origins in the second half of the 1st century A.D. ,the Guinigi Tower, a 45-metre-tall (150 ft) tower that dates from the 1300s and the Cathedral of San Martino.

The city is also the birthplace of numerous world-class composers, including Giacomo Puccini, Alfredo Catalani, and Luigi Boccherini.

Toponymy

By the Romans, Lucca was known as Luca. From more recent and concrete toponymic studies, the name Lucca has references that lead to "sacred grove" (Latin: lucus), "to cut" (Latin: lucare) and "luminous space" (leuk, a term used by the first European populations). The origin apparently refers to a wooded area deforested to make room for light or to a clearing located on a river island of Serchio debris, in the middle of wooded areas.

History

The territory of present-day Lucca was certainly settled by the Etruscans, having also traces of a probable earlier Ligurian presence (called Luk meaning "marsh", which has already been speculated as a possible origin for the city's name), dating from 3rd century BC. However, it was only with the arrival of the Romans, that the area took on the appearance of a real town, obtaining the status of a Roman colony in 180 BC, and transformed into a town hall in 89 BC.

The rectangular grid of its historical centre preserves the Roman street plan, and the Piazza San Michele occupies the site of the ancient forum. The outline of the Roman amphitheatre is still seen in the Piazza dell'Anfiteatro, and the outline of a Roman theater is visible in Piazza Sant'Augostino. Fragments of the Roman-era walls are incorporated into the church of Santa Maria della Rosa.

At the Lucca Conference, in 56 BC, Julius Caesar, Pompey, and Crassus reaffirmed their political alliance known as the First Triumvirate.

Middle Ages

Frediano, an Irish monk, was bishop of Lucca in the early sixth century.[16] At one point, Lucca was plundered by Odoacer, the first Germanic King of Italy. Lucca was an important city and fortress even in the sixth century, when Narses besieged it for several months in 553. From 576 to 797, under the Lombards, it was the capital of a duchy, known as Duchy of Tuscia, which included a large part of today's Tuscany and the province of Viterbo, during this time the city also minted its own coins. The Holy Face of Lucca (or Volto Santo), a major relic supposedly carved by Nicodemus, arrived in 742.

Among the population that inhabited Lucca in the medieval era, there was also a significant presence of Jews. The first mention of their presence in the city is from a document from the year 859. The Jewish community was led by the Kalonymos family (which later became a major component of proto-Ashkenazic Jewry).

Thanks above all to the Holy Face and to the relics of important saints, such as San Regolo and Saint Fridianus, the city was one of the main destinations of the Via Francigena, the major pilgrimage route to Rome from the north.

The Lucca cloth was a silk fabric that was woven with gold or silver threads. It was a popular type of textile in Lucca throughout the mediaeval period

Lucca became prosperous through the silk trade that began in the eleventh century, and came to rival the silks of Byzantium. During the tenth–eleventh centuries Lucca was the capital of the feudal margraviate of Tuscany, more or less independent but owing nominal allegiance to the Holy Roman Emperor.

In 1057, Anselm of Baggio (later Pope Alexander II) was appointed bishop of Lucca, a position he held also during the papacy. As bishop of Lucca he managed to rebuild the patrimony of the Church of Lucca, recovering alienated assets, obtaining numerous donations thanks to his prestige, and had the Cathedral of the city rebuilt. From 1073 to 1086, the bishop of Lucca was his nephew Anselm II, a prominent figure in the Investiture Controversy.

During the High Middle Ages, one of the most illustrious dynasties of Lucca was the noble Allucingoli family, who managed to forge strong ties with the Church. Among the family members were Ubaldo Allucingoli, who was elected to the Papacy as Pope Lucius III in 1181, and the Cardinals Gerardo Allucingoli and Uberto Allucingoli.

Republican period (12th to 19th century)

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 condottiero, 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.

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 Mastino II 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.

In 1408, Lucca hosted a convocation organized by Pope Gregory XII with his cardinals intended to end the schism in the papacy.

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.

Early modern period

Main articles: Principality of Lucca and Piombino and Duchy of Lucca

Palazzo Pfanner, garden view

Lucca had been the second largest Italian city state (after Venice) with a republican constitution ("comune") to remain independent over the centuries.

Between 1799 and 1800, it was contested by the French and Austrian armies. Finally the French prevailed and granted a democratic constitution in the 1801. However, already in 1805 the Republic of Lucca was converted into a monarchy by Napoleon, who installed his sister Elisa Bonaparte Baciocchi as "Princess of Lucca".

From 1815 to 1847, it was a Bourbon-Parma duchy. The only reigning dukes of Lucca were Maria Luisa of Spain, who was succeeded by her son Charles II, Duke of Parma in 1824. Meanwhile, the Duchy of Parma had been assigned for life to Marie Louise, Duchess of Parma, the second wife of Napoleon. In accordance with the Treaty of Vienna (1815), upon the death of Marie Louise, Duchess of Parma in 1847, Parma reverted to Charles II, Duke of Parma, while Lucca lost independence and was annexed to the Grand Duchy of Tuscany. As part of Tuscany, it became part of the Kingdom of Sardinia in 1860 and finally part of the Italian State in 1861.

World War II internment camp

In 1942, during World War II, a prisoner-of-war camp was established at the village of Colle di Compito, in the municipality of Capannori, about 11 kilometres (6.8 mi) from Lucca. Its official number was P.G. (prigionieri di guerra) 60, and it was usually referred to as PG 60 Lucca. Although it never had permanent structures and accommodation consisted of tents in an area prone to flooding, it housed more than 3,000 British and Commonwealth prisoners of war during the period of its existence. It was handed over to the Germans on 10 September 1943, not long after the signing of the Italian armistice. During the Italian Social Republic, as a puppet state of the Germans, political prisoners, foreigners, common law prisoners and Jews were interned there, and it functioned as a concentration camp. In June 1944, the prisoners were moved to Bagni di Lucca.

Culture

Lucca is the birthplace of composers Giacomo Puccini (La Bohème and Madama Butterfly), Nicolao Dorati, Francesco Geminiani, Gioseffo Guami, Luigi Boccherini, and Alfredo Catalani. It is also the birthplace of artist Benedetto Brandimarte. Since 2004, Lucca is home to IMT Lucca, a public research institution and a selective graduate school and part of the Superior Graduate Schools in Italy (Grandes écoles).

Events

Lucca hosts the annual Lucca Summer Festival. The 2006 edition featured live performances by Eric Clapton, Placebo, Massive Attack, Roger Waters, Tracy Chapman, and Santana at the Piazza Napoleone.

Lucca hosts the annual Lucca Comics and Games festival, Europe's largest festival for comics, movies, games and related subjects.

Other events include:

Lucca Film Festival

Lucca Digital Photography Fest

Procession of Santa Croce, on 13 September. Costume procession through the town's roads.

Lucca Jazz Donna

Moreover, Lucca hosts Lucca Biennale Cartasia, an international biennial contemporary art exhibition focusing solely on Paper Art.

Film and television

Mauro Bolognini's 1958 film Giovani mariti, with Sylva Koscina, is set and was filmed in Lucca.[citation needed]

Top Gear filmed the third episode of the 17th season here.

Architecture

Lucca is also known for its marble deposits. After a fire in the early 1900s, the West Wing of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario was rebuilt with marble sourced in Lucca. The floor mosaic in the West Wing was hand-laid and is constructed entirely of Italian, Lucca marble.

Main sights

Walls, streets, and squares

The walls encircling the old town remain intact, even though the city has expanded and been modernised, which is unusual for cities in this region. These walls were built initially as a defensive rampart which, after losing their military importance, became a pedestrian promenade (the Passeggiata delle Mure Urbane) atop the walls which not only links the Bastions of 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 but also passes over the gates (Porte) of San Donato, Santa Maria, San Jacopo, Elisa, San Pietro, and Sant'Anna. Each of the four principal sides of the structure is lined with a tree species different from the others.

The walled city is encircled by Piazzale Boccherini, Viale Lazzaro Papi, Viale Carlo Del Prete, Piazzale Martiri della Libertà, Via Batoni, Viale Agostino Marti, Viale G. Marconi (vide Guglielmo Marconi), Piazza Don A. Mei, Viale Pacini, Viale Giusti, Piazza Curtatone, Piazzale Ricasoli, Viale Ricasoli, Piazza Risorgimento (vide Risorgimento), and Viale Giosuè Carducci.

The town includes a number of public squares, most notably the Piazza dell'Anfiteatro, (site of the ancient Roman amphitheater), the Piazzale Verdi, the Piazza Napoleone, and the Piazza San Michele.

Palaces, villas, houses, offices, and museums

Ducal Palace: built on the site of Castruccio Castracani's fortress. Construction was begun by Ammannati in 1577–1582 and continued by Juvarra in the eighteenth century

Pfanner Palace

Villa Garzoni, noted for its water gardens

Casa di Puccini: House of the opera composer, at the nearby Torre del Lago, where the composer spent his summers. A Puccini opera festival takes place every July–August

Torre delle Ore: ("The Clock Tower")

Guinigi Tower and House: Panoramic view from tower-top balcony with oak trees

National Museum of Villa Guinigi

National Museum of Palazzo Mansi

Orto Botanico Comunale di Lucca: botanical garden dating from 1820

Academy of Sciences (1584)

Palazzo Cenami: Renaissance palace once owned by the Arnolfini family

Teatro del Giglio: nineteenth-century opera house

Churches

There are many medieval, a few as old as the eighth century, basilica-form churches with richly arcaded façades and campaniles

Duomo di San Martino: St Martin's Cathedral

San Michele in Foro: Romanesque church

San Giusto: Romanesque church

Basilica di San Frediano

SanSan Romano, Luccat'Alessandro an example of medieval classicism

Santa Giulia: Lombard church rebuilt in thirteenth century

San Michele: church at Antraccoli, founded in 777, it was enlarged and rebuilt in the twelfth century with the introduction of a sixteenth-century portico

San Giorgio church in the locality of Brancoli, built in the late twelfth century has a bell tower in Lombard-Romanesque style, the interior houses a massive ambo (1194) with four columns mounted on lion sculptures, a highly decorated Romanesque octagonal baptismal fount, and the altar is supported by six small columns with human figures

San Lorenzo di Moriano, a 12th century Romanesque style parish church

San Romano, erected by the Dominican order in the second half of the 13th century, is today a deconsecrated Roman Catholic Church located on Piazza San Romano in the center of Lucca

Museums

Museo della Cattedrale

Orto Botanico Comunale di Lucca

Education

Since 2005, Lucca hosts IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca, a selective graduate and doctoral school which is part of the Italian superior graduate school system. Its main educational facilities are located at the San Francesco Convent Complex and Campus, and the former Renaissance-style Roman Catholic church of San Ponziano now hosts the university library.

Sports

Association football arrived in Lucca in 1905 and has its roots in Brazil, thanks to a number of fans that helped found the club who had learned the game in Brazil. The Lucchese 1905, or simply Lucchese, play in Serie C, the third tier of Italian football, having last been in top tier Serie A in 1952. The club plays their home games at Stadio Porta Elisa, just outside the northeast wall of the city.

Notable people

St. Anselm of Lucca (1036–1086), bishop of Lucca

Giovanni Arnolfini (1400–1472), merchant and patron of the arts

Pompeo Batoni (1708–1787), painter

Giovanni Antonio Bianchi (1686–1768), friar, theologian, and poet

Simone Bianchi (born 1972), comics artist

Luigi Boccherini (1743–1805), musician and composer

Elisa Bonaparte (1777–1820), ruler of Lucca

Anthony Bonvisi (1470s–1558), merchant and banker in London

Giulio Carmassi (born 1981), pop musician

Castruccio Castracani (1316–1328), ruler of Lucca

Alfredo Catalani (1854–1893), composer

Gusmano Cesaretti (born 1944), photographer and artist

Mario Cipollini (born 1967), cyclist

Alfredo Ciucci (born 1920), football player

Matteo Civitali (1436–1501), sculptor

Ivan Della Mea (1940–2009), singer-songwriter

Theodoric Borgognoni (1205–1296/8), medieval surgeon

Marco Antonio Franciotti (1592–1666), bishop of Lucca

Ernesto Filippi (born 1950), football referee

Saint Frediano (6th century), Irish prince and hermit, bishop of Lucca

St. Gemma Galgani, mystic and saint

Francesco Geminiani (1687–1762), musician and composer

Giovanni Battista Giusti (c.1624–c.1693), harpsichord maker

Gioseffo Guami (1542–1611), composer

Leo I (died 1079), saint

Pope Lucius III (1097–1185)

Vincenzo Lunardi (1754–1806), aeronautical pioneer aeronaut[41]

Ludovico Marracci (1612–1700), priest and first translator of the Qur'an into Latin

Felice Matteucci (1808–1887), engineer

Mazzino Montinari (1928–1986), germanicist and Nietzsche scholar

Italo Meschi (1887–1957), harp guitarist, poet, anarchist-pacifist

Julian Niccolini, restaurateur

Leo Nomellini (1924–2000), athlete

Mario Pannunzio (1910–1968), journalist and politician

Marcello Pera (born 1943), politician and philosopher

Giacomo Puccini (1858–1924), composer

Eros Riccio (born 1977), chess player

Marco Rossi, footballer

Daniele Rugani (born 1994), footballer

Renato Salvatori (1933–1988), actor

Carlo Sforza (1872–1952), diplomat and politician

Rinaldo and Ezilda Torre, founded the Torani syrup company in San Francisco using Luccan recipes from their hometown

Nicola Fanucchi (born 1964), actor and director

Rolando Ugolini (1924–2014), athlete

Giuseppe Ungaretti (1888–1970), poet

Antonio Vallisneri (1661–1730), scientist and physician

Alfredo Volpi (1896–1988), painter

Hugh of Lucca (1160–c.1259), medieval surgeon

Saint Zita (c.1212–1272), saint

Cattedrale Di San Martino, Lucca, Italy. by PHOTOGRAPHY by DM & DBM.

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Lucca Cathedral (Italian: Duomo di Lucca, Cattedrale di San Martino) is a Roman Catholic cathedral dedicated to Saint Martin of Tours in Lucca, Italy. It is the seat of the Archbishop of Lucca. Construction was begun in 1063 by Bishop Anselm (later Pope Alexander II).

Description

Of the original structure, the great apse with its tall columnar arcades and the fine campanile remain. The nave and transepts of the cathedral were rebuilt in the Gothic style in the 14th century, while the west front was begun in 1204 by Guido Bigarelli of Como, and consists of a vast portico of three magnificent arches, and above them three ranges of open galleries adorned with sculptures.

In the nave a small octagonal temple or chapel shrine contains the most precious relic in Lucca, the Holy Face of Lucca (Italian: Volto Santo di Lucca) or Sacred Countenance. This cedar-wood crucifix and image of Christ, according to the legend, was carved by his contemporary Nicodemus, and miraculously conveyed to Lucca in 782. Christ is clothed in the colobium, a long sleeveless garment. The chapel was built in 1484 by Matteo Civitali, the most famous Luccan sculptor of the early Renaissance.

The tomb of Ilaria del Carretto by Jacopo della Quercia of Siena, the earliest of his extant works was commissioned by her husband, the lord of Lucca, Paolo Guinigi, in 1406.

Additionally the cathedral contains Domenico Ghirlandaio's Madonna and Child with Saints Peter, Clement, Paul and Sebastian; Federico Zuccari's Adoration of the Magi, Jacopo Tintoretto's Last Supper, and finally Fra Bartolomeo's Madonna and Child (1509).

There is a legend to explain why all the columns of the façade are different. According to the tale, when they were going to decorate it, the inhabitants of Lucca announced a contest for the best column. Every artist made a column, but then the inhabitants of Lucca decided to take them all, without paying the artists and used all the columns.

Labyrinth

The labyrinth is embedded in the right pier of the portico and is believed to date from the 12th or 13th century. Its importance is that it may well pre-date the famous Chartres labyrinth, yet is of the Chartres pattern that became a standard for labyrinths. The rustic incised Latin inscription refers to ancient pagan mythology: "This is the labyrinth built by Dedalus of Crete; all who entered therein were lost, save Theseus, thanks to Ariadne's thread" (HIC QUEM CRETICUS EDIT. DAEDALUS EST LABERINTHUS . DE QUO NULLUS VADERE . QUIVIT QUI FUIT INTUS . NI THESEUS GRATIS ADRIANE . STAMINE JUTUS").

Burials

Adalbert II of Tuscany

Bertha, daughter of Lothair II

Lucca is a city and comune in Tuscany, Central Italy, on the Serchio River, in a fertile plain near the Ligurian Sea. The city has a population of about 89,000, while its province has a population of 383,957.

Lucca is known as an Italian "Città d'arte" (City of Art) from its intact Renaissance-era city walls and its very well preserved historic center, where, among other buildings and monuments, are located the Piazza dell'Anfiteatro, which has its origins in the second half of the 1st century A.D. ,the Guinigi Tower, a 45-metre-tall (150 ft) tower that dates from the 1300s and the Cathedral of San Martino.

The city is also the birthplace of numerous world-class composers, including Giacomo Puccini, Alfredo Catalani, and Luigi Boccherini.

Toponymy

By the Romans, Lucca was known as Luca. From more recent and concrete toponymic studies, the name Lucca has references that lead to "sacred grove" (Latin: lucus), "to cut" (Latin: lucare) and "luminous space" (leuk, a term used by the first European populations). The origin apparently refers to a wooded area deforested to make room for light or to a clearing located on a river island of Serchio debris, in the middle of wooded areas.

History

The territory of present-day Lucca was certainly settled by the Etruscans, having also traces of a probable earlier Ligurian presence (called Luk meaning "marsh", which has already been speculated as a possible origin for the city's name), dating from 3rd century BC. However, it was only with the arrival of the Romans, that the area took on the appearance of a real town, obtaining the status of a Roman colony in 180 BC, and transformed into a town hall in 89 BC.

The rectangular grid of its historical centre preserves the Roman street plan, and the Piazza San Michele occupies the site of the ancient forum. The outline of the Roman amphitheatre is still seen in the Piazza dell'Anfiteatro, and the outline of a Roman theater is visible in Piazza Sant'Augostino. Fragments of the Roman-era walls are incorporated into the church of Santa Maria della Rosa.

At the Lucca Conference, in 56 BC, Julius Caesar, Pompey, and Crassus reaffirmed their political alliance known as the First Triumvirate.

Middle Ages

Frediano, an Irish monk, was bishop of Lucca in the early sixth century.[16] At one point, Lucca was plundered by Odoacer, the first Germanic King of Italy. Lucca was an important city and fortress even in the sixth century, when Narses besieged it for several months in 553. From 576 to 797, under the Lombards, it was the capital of a duchy, known as Duchy of Tuscia, which included a large part of today's Tuscany and the province of Viterbo, during this time the city also minted its own coins. The Holy Face of Lucca (or Volto Santo), a major relic supposedly carved by Nicodemus, arrived in 742.

Among the population that inhabited Lucca in the medieval era, there was also a significant presence of Jews. The first mention of their presence in the city is from a document from the year 859. The Jewish community was led by the Kalonymos family (which later became a major component of proto-Ashkenazic Jewry).

Thanks above all to the Holy Face and to the relics of important saints, such as San Regolo and Saint Fridianus, the city was one of the main destinations of the Via Francigena, the major pilgrimage route to Rome from the north.

The Lucca cloth was a silk fabric that was woven with gold or silver threads. It was a popular type of textile in Lucca throughout the mediaeval period

Lucca became prosperous through the silk trade that began in the eleventh century, and came to rival the silks of Byzantium. During the tenth–eleventh centuries Lucca was the capital of the feudal margraviate of Tuscany, more or less independent but owing nominal allegiance to the Holy Roman Emperor.

In 1057, Anselm of Baggio (later Pope Alexander II) was appointed bishop of Lucca, a position he held also during the papacy. As bishop of Lucca he managed to rebuild the patrimony of the Church of Lucca, recovering alienated assets, obtaining numerous donations thanks to his prestige, and had the Cathedral of the city rebuilt. From 1073 to 1086, the bishop of Lucca was his nephew Anselm II, a prominent figure in the Investiture Controversy.

During the High Middle Ages, one of the most illustrious dynasties of Lucca was the noble Allucingoli family, who managed to forge strong ties with the Church. Among the family members were Ubaldo Allucingoli, who was elected to the Papacy as Pope Lucius III in 1181, and the Cardinals Gerardo Allucingoli and Uberto Allucingoli.

Republican period (12th to 19th century)

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 condottiero, 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.

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 Mastino II 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.

In 1408, Lucca hosted a convocation organized by Pope Gregory XII with his cardinals intended to end the schism in the papacy.

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.

Early modern period

Main articles: Principality of Lucca and Piombino and Duchy of Lucca

Palazzo Pfanner, garden view

Lucca had been the second largest Italian city state (after Venice) with a republican constitution ("comune") to remain independent over the centuries.

Between 1799 and 1800, it was contested by the French and Austrian armies. Finally the French prevailed and granted a democratic constitution in the 1801. However, already in 1805 the Republic of Lucca was converted into a monarchy by Napoleon, who installed his sister Elisa Bonaparte Baciocchi as "Princess of Lucca".

From 1815 to 1847, it was a Bourbon-Parma duchy. The only reigning dukes of Lucca were Maria Luisa of Spain, who was succeeded by her son Charles II, Duke of Parma in 1824. Meanwhile, the Duchy of Parma had been assigned for life to Marie Louise, Duchess of Parma, the second wife of Napoleon. In accordance with the Treaty of Vienna (1815), upon the death of Marie Louise, Duchess of Parma in 1847, Parma reverted to Charles II, Duke of Parma, while Lucca lost independence and was annexed to the Grand Duchy of Tuscany. As part of Tuscany, it became part of the Kingdom of Sardinia in 1860 and finally part of the Italian State in 1861.

World War II internment camp

In 1942, during World War II, a prisoner-of-war camp was established at the village of Colle di Compito, in the municipality of Capannori, about 11 kilometres (6.8 mi) from Lucca. Its official number was P.G. (prigionieri di guerra) 60, and it was usually referred to as PG 60 Lucca. Although it never had permanent structures and accommodation consisted of tents in an area prone to flooding, it housed more than 3,000 British and Commonwealth prisoners of war during the period of its existence. It was handed over to the Germans on 10 September 1943, not long after the signing of the Italian armistice. During the Italian Social Republic, as a puppet state of the Germans, political prisoners, foreigners, common law prisoners and Jews were interned there, and it functioned as a concentration camp. In June 1944, the prisoners were moved to Bagni di Lucca.

Culture

Lucca is the birthplace of composers Giacomo Puccini (La Bohème and Madama Butterfly), Nicolao Dorati, Francesco Geminiani, Gioseffo Guami, Luigi Boccherini, and Alfredo Catalani. It is also the birthplace of artist Benedetto Brandimarte. Since 2004, Lucca is home to IMT Lucca, a public research institution and a selective graduate school and part of the Superior Graduate Schools in Italy (Grandes écoles).

Events

Lucca hosts the annual Lucca Summer Festival. The 2006 edition featured live performances by Eric Clapton, Placebo, Massive Attack, Roger Waters, Tracy Chapman, and Santana at the Piazza Napoleone.

Lucca hosts the annual Lucca Comics and Games festival, Europe's largest festival for comics, movies, games and related subjects.

Other events include:

Lucca Film Festival

Lucca Digital Photography Fest

Procession of Santa Croce, on 13 September. Costume procession through the town's roads.

Lucca Jazz Donna

Moreover, Lucca hosts Lucca Biennale Cartasia, an international biennial contemporary art exhibition focusing solely on Paper Art.

Film and television

Mauro Bolognini's 1958 film Giovani mariti, with Sylva Koscina, is set and was filmed in Lucca.[citation needed]

Top Gear filmed the third episode of the 17th season here.

Architecture

Lucca is also known for its marble deposits. After a fire in the early 1900s, the West Wing of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario was rebuilt with marble sourced in Lucca. The floor mosaic in the West Wing was hand-laid and is constructed entirely of Italian, Lucca marble.

Main sights

Walls, streets, and squares

The walls encircling the old town remain intact, even though the city has expanded and been modernised, which is unusual for cities in this region. These walls were built initially as a defensive rampart which, after losing their military importance, became a pedestrian promenade (the Passeggiata delle Mure Urbane) atop the walls which not only links the Bastions of 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 but also passes over the gates (Porte) of San Donato, Santa Maria, San Jacopo, Elisa, San Pietro, and Sant'Anna. Each of the four principal sides of the structure is lined with a tree species different from the others.

The walled city is encircled by Piazzale Boccherini, Viale Lazzaro Papi, Viale Carlo Del Prete, Piazzale Martiri della Libertà, Via Batoni, Viale Agostino Marti, Viale G. Marconi (vide Guglielmo Marconi), Piazza Don A. Mei, Viale Pacini, Viale Giusti, Piazza Curtatone, Piazzale Ricasoli, Viale Ricasoli, Piazza Risorgimento (vide Risorgimento), and Viale Giosuè Carducci.

The town includes a number of public squares, most notably the Piazza dell'Anfiteatro, (site of the ancient Roman amphitheater), the Piazzale Verdi, the Piazza Napoleone, and the Piazza San Michele.

Palaces, villas, houses, offices, and museums

Ducal Palace: built on the site of Castruccio Castracani's fortress. Construction was begun by Ammannati in 1577–1582 and continued by Juvarra in the eighteenth century

Pfanner Palace

Villa Garzoni, noted for its water gardens

Casa di Puccini: House of the opera composer, at the nearby Torre del Lago, where the composer spent his summers. A Puccini opera festival takes place every July–August

Torre delle Ore: ("The Clock Tower")

Guinigi Tower and House: Panoramic view from tower-top balcony with oak trees

National Museum of Villa Guinigi

National Museum of Palazzo Mansi

Orto Botanico Comunale di Lucca: botanical garden dating from 1820

Academy of Sciences (1584)

Palazzo Cenami: Renaissance palace once owned by the Arnolfini family

Teatro del Giglio: nineteenth-century opera house

Churches

There are many medieval, a few as old as the eighth century, basilica-form churches with richly arcaded façades and campaniles

Duomo di San Martino: St Martin's Cathedral

San Michele in Foro: Romanesque church

San Giusto: Romanesque church

Basilica di San Frediano

SanSan Romano, Luccat'Alessandro an example of medieval classicism

Santa Giulia: Lombard church rebuilt in thirteenth century

San Michele: church at Antraccoli, founded in 777, it was enlarged and rebuilt in the twelfth century with the introduction of a sixteenth-century portico

San Giorgio church in the locality of Brancoli, built in the late twelfth century has a bell tower in Lombard-Romanesque style, the interior houses a massive ambo (1194) with four columns mounted on lion sculptures, a highly decorated Romanesque octagonal baptismal fount, and the altar is supported by six small columns with human figures

San Lorenzo di Moriano, a 12th century Romanesque style parish church

San Romano, erected by the Dominican order in the second half of the 13th century, is today a deconsecrated Roman Catholic Church located on Piazza San Romano in the center of Lucca

Museums

Museo della Cattedrale

Orto Botanico Comunale di Lucca

Education

Since 2005, Lucca hosts IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca, a selective graduate and doctoral school which is part of the Italian superior graduate school system. Its main educational facilities are located at the San Francesco Convent Complex and Campus, and the former Renaissance-style Roman Catholic church of San Ponziano now hosts the university library.

Sports

Association football arrived in Lucca in 1905 and has its roots in Brazil, thanks to a number of fans that helped found the club who had learned the game in Brazil. The Lucchese 1905, or simply Lucchese, play in Serie C, the third tier of Italian football, having last been in top tier Serie A in 1952. The club plays their home games at Stadio Porta Elisa, just outside the northeast wall of the city.

Notable people

St. Anselm of Lucca (1036–1086), bishop of Lucca

Giovanni Arnolfini (1400–1472), merchant and patron of the arts

Pompeo Batoni (1708–1787), painter

Giovanni Antonio Bianchi (1686–1768), friar, theologian, and poet

Simone Bianchi (born 1972), comics artist

Luigi Boccherini (1743–1805), musician and composer

Elisa Bonaparte (1777–1820), ruler of Lucca

Anthony Bonvisi (1470s–1558), merchant and banker in London

Giulio Carmassi (born 1981), pop musician

Castruccio Castracani (1316–1328), ruler of Lucca

Alfredo Catalani (1854–1893), composer

Gusmano Cesaretti (born 1944), photographer and artist

Mario Cipollini (born 1967), cyclist

Alfredo Ciucci (born 1920), football player

Matteo Civitali (1436–1501), sculptor

Ivan Della Mea (1940–2009), singer-songwriter

Theodoric Borgognoni (1205–1296/8), medieval surgeon

Marco Antonio Franciotti (1592–1666), bishop of Lucca

Ernesto Filippi (born 1950), football referee

Saint Frediano (6th century), Irish prince and hermit, bishop of Lucca

St. Gemma Galgani, mystic and saint

Francesco Geminiani (1687–1762), musician and composer

Giovanni Battista Giusti (c.1624–c.1693), harpsichord maker

Gioseffo Guami (1542–1611), composer

Leo I (died 1079), saint

Pope Lucius III (1097–1185)

Vincenzo Lunardi (1754–1806), aeronautical pioneer aeronaut[41]

Ludovico Marracci (1612–1700), priest and first translator of the Qur'an into Latin

Felice Matteucci (1808–1887), engineer

Mazzino Montinari (1928–1986), germanicist and Nietzsche scholar

Italo Meschi (1887–1957), harp guitarist, poet, anarchist-pacifist

Julian Niccolini, restaurateur

Leo Nomellini (1924–2000), athlete

Mario Pannunzio (1910–1968), journalist and politician

Marcello Pera (born 1943), politician and philosopher

Giacomo Puccini (1858–1924), composer

Eros Riccio (born 1977), chess player

Marco Rossi, footballer

Daniele Rugani (born 1994), footballer

Renato Salvatori (1933–1988), actor

Carlo Sforza (1872–1952), diplomat and politician

Rinaldo and Ezilda Torre, founded the Torani syrup company in San Francisco using Luccan recipes from their hometown

Nicola Fanucchi (born 1964), actor and director

Rolando Ugolini (1924–2014), athlete

Giuseppe Ungaretti (1888–1970), poet

Antonio Vallisneri (1661–1730), scientist and physician

Alfredo Volpi (1896–1988), painter

Hugh of Lucca (1160–c.1259), medieval surgeon

Saint Zita (c.1212–1272), saint

Stazione Di Lucca, Viareggio–Florence Railway, Piazza Ricasoli, Lucca, Italy. by PHOTOGRAPHY by DM & DBM.

2

Lucca station is the main railway station of the city of the same name . It is located on the Viareggio-Florence railway and is the terminus of the lines to Pisa and Aulla . All lines are local, operated exclusively by regional trains. The most important railway station in the province of Lucca is located in Viareggio .

History

The traveler's building was designed in the first half of the 19th century by the engineer. Enrico Pohlmeyer , author of the plan, and the Lucchese architect Giuseppe Pardini , who created the elevations: the building was inaugurated on 29 September 1846 . The façade, elegant and refined, features a double order of arches that lighten its structure. However, some changes undergone over the years have not affected the original nineteenth-century construction.

In the square in front there was, since 1884 , the terminal station of the Lucca-Ponte a Moriano tramway , whose urban penetration section used a tunnel built under the walls called the Cairoli sortie, which is still visible today. This tram station, called Porta San Pietro due to its proximity to the homonymous access structure to the city, was in turn equipped with a brick building serving the "Tranvia Lucchese" company and a central canopy. The system was completed by a water tank for refueling the tram locomotives. A connecting track with the railway goods yard, not connected to the state network, completed the system. The tramway to Ponte a Moriano was closed in 1932 .

In the immediate vicinity of the station, with a dedicated stop, there was also the electrified metre-gauge track of the Lucca-Monsummano tramway , inaugurated in 1907 and definitively abolished in 1957 .

On 22 May 2023, work began on the construction of a new cycle-pedestrian underpass which will connect the cycle-pedestrian path around the walls at Piazzale Ricasoli to the station.

On 3 July 2023, the restoration work on the main building of Lucca station began.

Structures and systems

The station has six passing tracks, five of which are used for passenger service, and three short tracks. Trains to and from Media Valle del Serchio , Garfagnana and Lunigiana stop on platform 1 , freight trains pass on platform 2, trains coming from Florence and heading to Viareggio stop on platform 3 , trains coming from Viareggio and Viareggio stop on platform 4. bound for Florence, tracks 5 and 6 are used for parked trains then headed towards the hill towns, towards Pisa and towards Florence. Tracks 1 and 2, the western section, are used as the terminus of the lines for Pisa and Viareggio. Track 1 east section is used as the terminus of the line to Florence.

In the station there is a bar, toilets, a Polfer office , a ticket office and, in front of the building, a car park, and a stop for taxis and buses.

Movement

Passenger traffic is very good at all hours of the day, especially in the morning and evening when the station is crowded with commuters; in the summer period the station is often crowded with tourists and people heading to Viareggio , the reference airport for the entire Province of Lucca . All the regional trains that pass through stop at the station with various destinations, among which the most important are Florence , Aulla , Viareggio , Pisa . Furthermore, a daily train leaves from the station to Livorno , and there is a frequent bus connection to Pisa Airport .

The station has a daily passenger traffic of 4018 units (1,500,000 per year)

Lucca is a city and comune in Tuscany, Central Italy, on the Serchio River, in a fertile plain near the Ligurian Sea. The city has a population of about 89,000, while its province has a population of 383,957.

Lucca is known as an Italian "Città d'arte" (City of Art) from its intact Renaissance-era city walls and its very well preserved historic center, where, among other buildings and monuments, are located the Piazza dell'Anfiteatro, which has its origins in the second half of the 1st century A.D. ,the Guinigi Tower, a 45-metre-tall (150 ft) tower that dates from the 1300s and the Cathedral of San Martino.

The city is also the birthplace of numerous world-class composers, including Giacomo Puccini, Alfredo Catalani, and Luigi Boccherini.

Toponymy

By the Romans, Lucca was known as Luca. From more recent and concrete toponymic studies, the name Lucca has references that lead to "sacred grove" (Latin: lucus), "to cut" (Latin: lucare) and "luminous space" (leuk, a term used by the first European populations). The origin apparently refers to a wooded area deforested to make room for light or to a clearing located on a river island of Serchio debris, in the middle of wooded areas.

History

The territory of present-day Lucca was certainly settled by the Etruscans, having also traces of a probable earlier Ligurian presence (called Luk meaning "marsh", which has already been speculated as a possible origin for the city's name), dating from 3rd century BC. However, it was only with the arrival of the Romans, that the area took on the appearance of a real town, obtaining the status of a Roman colony in 180 BC, and transformed into a town hall in 89 BC.

The rectangular grid of its historical centre preserves the Roman street plan, and the Piazza San Michele occupies the site of the ancient forum. The outline of the Roman amphitheatre is still seen in the Piazza dell'Anfiteatro, and the outline of a Roman theater is visible in Piazza Sant'Augostino. Fragments of the Roman-era walls are incorporated into the church of Santa Maria della Rosa.

At the Lucca Conference, in 56 BC, Julius Caesar, Pompey, and Crassus reaffirmed their political alliance known as the First Triumvirate.

Middle Ages

Frediano, an Irish monk, was bishop of Lucca in the early sixth century.[16] At one point, Lucca was plundered by Odoacer, the first Germanic King of Italy. Lucca was an important city and fortress even in the sixth century, when Narses besieged it for several months in 553. From 576 to 797, under the Lombards, it was the capital of a duchy, known as Duchy of Tuscia, which included a large part of today's Tuscany and the province of Viterbo, during this time the city also minted its own coins. The Holy Face of Lucca (or Volto Santo), a major relic supposedly carved by Nicodemus, arrived in 742.

Among the population that inhabited Lucca in the medieval era, there was also a significant presence of Jews. The first mention of their presence in the city is from a document from the year 859. The Jewish community was led by the Kalonymos family (which later became a major component of proto-Ashkenazic Jewry).

Thanks above all to the Holy Face and to the relics of important saints, such as San Regolo and Saint Fridianus, the city was one of the main destinations of the Via Francigena, the major pilgrimage route to Rome from the north.

The Lucca cloth was a silk fabric that was woven with gold or silver threads. It was a popular type of textile in Lucca throughout the mediaeval period

Lucca became prosperous through the silk trade that began in the eleventh century, and came to rival the silks of Byzantium. During the tenth–eleventh centuries Lucca was the capital of the feudal margraviate of Tuscany, more or less independent but owing nominal allegiance to the Holy Roman Emperor.

In 1057, Anselm of Baggio (later Pope Alexander II) was appointed bishop of Lucca, a position he held also during the papacy. As bishop of Lucca he managed to rebuild the patrimony of the Church of Lucca, recovering alienated assets, obtaining numerous donations thanks to his prestige, and had the Cathedral of the city rebuilt. From 1073 to 1086, the bishop of Lucca was his nephew Anselm II, a prominent figure in the Investiture Controversy.

During the High Middle Ages, one of the most illustrious dynasties of Lucca was the noble Allucingoli family, who managed to forge strong ties with the Church. Among the family members were Ubaldo Allucingoli, who was elected to the Papacy as Pope Lucius III in 1181, and the Cardinals Gerardo Allucingoli and Uberto Allucingoli.

Republican period (12th to 19th century)

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 condottiero, 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.

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 Mastino II 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.

In 1408, Lucca hosted a convocation organized by Pope Gregory XII with his cardinals intended to end the schism in the papacy.

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.

Early modern period

Main articles: Principality of Lucca and Piombino and Duchy of Lucca

Palazzo Pfanner, garden view

Lucca had been the second largest Italian city state (after Venice) with a republican constitution ("comune") to remain independent over the centuries.

Between 1799 and 1800, it was contested by the French and Austrian armies. Finally the French prevailed and granted a democratic constitution in the 1801. However, already in 1805 the Republic of Lucca was converted into a monarchy by Napoleon, who installed his sister Elisa Bonaparte Baciocchi as "Princess of Lucca".

From 1815 to 1847, it was a Bourbon-Parma duchy. The only reigning dukes of Lucca were Maria Luisa of Spain, who was succeeded by her son Charles II, Duke of Parma in 1824. Meanwhile, the Duchy of Parma had been assigned for life to Marie Louise, Duchess of Parma, the second wife of Napoleon. In accordance with the Treaty of Vienna (1815), upon the death of Marie Louise, Duchess of Parma in 1847, Parma reverted to Charles II, Duke of Parma, while Lucca lost independence and was annexed to the Grand Duchy of Tuscany. As part of Tuscany, it became part of the Kingdom of Sardinia in 1860 and finally part of the Italian State in 1861.

World War II internment camp

In 1942, during World War II, a prisoner-of-war camp was established at the village of Colle di Compito, in the municipality of Capannori, about 11 kilometres (6.8 mi) from Lucca. Its official number was P.G. (prigionieri di guerra) 60, and it was usually referred to as PG 60 Lucca. Although it never had permanent structures and accommodation consisted of tents in an area prone to flooding, it housed more than 3,000 British and Commonwealth prisoners of war during the period of its existence. It was handed over to the Germans on 10 September 1943, not long after the signing of the Italian armistice. During the Italian Social Republic, as a puppet state of the Germans, political prisoners, foreigners, common law prisoners and Jews were interned there, and it functioned as a concentration camp. In June 1944, the prisoners were moved to Bagni di Lucca.

Culture

Lucca is the birthplace of composers Giacomo Puccini (La Bohème and Madama Butterfly), Nicolao Dorati, Francesco Geminiani, Gioseffo Guami, Luigi Boccherini, and Alfredo Catalani. It is also the birthplace of artist Benedetto Brandimarte. Since 2004, Lucca is home to IMT Lucca, a public research institution and a selective graduate school and part of the Superior Graduate Schools in Italy (Grandes écoles).

Events

Lucca hosts the annual Lucca Summer Festival. The 2006 edition featured live performances by Eric Clapton, Placebo, Massive Attack, Roger Waters, Tracy Chapman, and Santana at the Piazza Napoleone.

Lucca hosts the annual Lucca Comics and Games festival, Europe's largest festival for comics, movies, games and related subjects.

Other events include:

Lucca Film Festival

Lucca Digital Photography Fest

Procession of Santa Croce, on 13 September. Costume procession through the town's roads.

Lucca Jazz Donna

Moreover, Lucca hosts Lucca Biennale Cartasia, an international biennial contemporary art exhibition focusing solely on Paper Art.

Film and television

Mauro Bolognini's 1958 film Giovani mariti, with Sylva Koscina, is set and was filmed in Lucca.[citation needed]

Top Gear filmed the third episode of the 17th season here.

Architecture

Lucca is also known for its marble deposits. After a fire in the early 1900s, the West Wing of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario was rebuilt with marble sourced in Lucca. The floor mosaic in the West Wing was hand-laid and is constructed entirely of Italian, Lucca marble.

Main sights

Walls, streets, and squares

The walls encircling the old town remain intact, even though the city has expanded and been modernised, which is unusual for cities in this region. These walls were built initially as a defensive rampart which, after losing their military importance, became a pedestrian promenade (the Passeggiata delle Mure Urbane) atop the walls which not only links the Bastions of 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 but also passes over the gates (Porte) of San Donato, Santa Maria, San Jacopo, Elisa, San Pietro, and Sant'Anna. Each of the four principal sides of the structure is lined with a tree species different from the others.

The walled city is encircled by Piazzale Boccherini, Viale Lazzaro Papi, Viale Carlo Del Prete, Piazzale Martiri della Libertà, Via Batoni, Viale Agostino Marti, Viale G. Marconi (vide Guglielmo Marconi), Piazza Don A. Mei, Viale Pacini, Viale Giusti, Piazza Curtatone, Piazzale Ricasoli, Viale Ricasoli, Piazza Risorgimento (vide Risorgimento), and Viale Giosuè Carducci.

The town includes a number of public squares, most notably the Piazza dell'Anfiteatro, (site of the ancient Roman amphitheater), the Piazzale Verdi, the Piazza Napoleone, and the Piazza San Michele.

Palaces, villas, houses, offices, and museums

Ducal Palace: built on the site of Castruccio Castracani's fortress. Construction was begun by Ammannati in 1577–1582 and continued by Juvarra in the eighteenth century

Pfanner Palace

Villa Garzoni, noted for its water gardens

Casa di Puccini: House of the opera composer, at the nearby Torre del Lago, where the composer spent his summers. A Puccini opera festival takes place every July–August

Torre delle Ore: ("The Clock Tower")

Guinigi Tower and House: Panoramic view from tower-top balcony with oak trees

National Museum of Villa Guinigi

National Museum of Palazzo Mansi

Orto Botanico Comunale di Lucca: botanical garden dating from 1820

Academy of Sciences (1584)

Palazzo Cenami: Renaissance palace once owned by the Arnolfini family

Teatro del Giglio: nineteenth-century opera house

Churches

There are many medieval, a few as old as the eighth century, basilica-form churches with richly arcaded façades and campaniles

Duomo di San Martino: St Martin's Cathedral

San Michele in Foro: Romanesque church

San Giusto: Romanesque church

Basilica di San Frediano

SanSan Romano, Luccat'Alessandro an example of medieval classicism

Santa Giulia: Lombard church rebuilt in thirteenth century

San Michele: church at Antraccoli, founded in 777, it was enlarged and rebuilt in the twelfth century with the introduction of a sixteenth-century portico

San Giorgio church in the locality of Brancoli, built in the late twelfth century has a bell tower in Lombard-Romanesque style, the interior houses a massive ambo (1194) with four columns mounted on lion sculptures, a highly decorated Romanesque octagonal baptismal fount, and the altar is supported by six small columns with human figures

San Lorenzo di Moriano, a 12th century Romanesque style parish church

San Romano, erected by the Dominican order in the second half of the 13th century, is today a deconsecrated Roman Catholic Church located on Piazza San Romano in the center of Lucca

Museums

Museo della Cattedrale

Orto Botanico Comunale di Lucca

Education

Since 2005, Lucca hosts IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca, a selective graduate and doctoral school which is part of the Italian superior graduate school system. Its main educational facilities are located at the San Francesco Convent Complex and Campus, and the former Renaissance-style Roman Catholic church of San Ponziano now hosts the university library.

Sports

Association football arrived in Lucca in 1905 and has its roots in Brazil, thanks to a number of fans that helped found the club who had learned the game in Brazil. The Lucchese 1905, or simply Lucchese, play in Serie C, the third tier of Italian football, having last been in top tier Serie A in 1952. The club plays their home games at Stadio Porta Elisa, just outside the northeast wall of the city.

Notable people

St. Anselm of Lucca (1036–1086), bishop of Lucca

Giovanni Arnolfini (1400–1472), merchant and patron of the arts

Pompeo Batoni (1708–1787), painter

Giovanni Antonio Bianchi (1686–1768), friar, theologian, and poet

Simone Bianchi (born 1972), comics artist

Luigi Boccherini (1743–1805), musician and composer

Elisa Bonaparte (1777–1820), ruler of Lucca

Anthony Bonvisi (1470s–1558), merchant and banker in London

Giulio Carmassi (born 1981), pop musician

Castruccio Castracani (1316–1328), ruler of Lucca

Alfredo Catalani (1854–1893), composer

Gusmano Cesaretti (born 1944), photographer and artist

Mario Cipollini (born 1967), cyclist

Alfredo Ciucci (born 1920), football player

Matteo Civitali (1436–1501), sculptor

Ivan Della Mea (1940–2009), singer-songwriter

Theodoric Borgognoni (1205–1296/8), medieval surgeon

Marco Antonio Franciotti (1592–1666), bishop of Lucca

Ernesto Filippi (born 1950), football referee

Saint Frediano (6th century), Irish prince and hermit, bishop of Lucca

St. Gemma Galgani, mystic and saint

Francesco Geminiani (1687–1762), musician and composer

Giovanni Battista Giusti (c.1624–c.1693), harpsichord maker

Gioseffo Guami (1542–1611), composer

Leo I (died 1079), saint

Pope Lucius III (1097–1185)

Vincenzo Lunardi (1754–1806), aeronautical pioneer aeronaut[41]

Ludovico Marracci (1612–1700), priest and first translator of the Qur'an into Latin

Felice Matteucci (1808–1887), engineer

Mazzino Montinari (1928–1986), germanicist and Nietzsche scholar

Italo Meschi (1887–1957), harp guitarist, poet, anarchist-pacifist

Julian Niccolini, restaurateur

Leo Nomellini (1924–2000), athlete

Mario Pannunzio (1910–1968), journalist and politician

Marcello Pera (born 1943), politician and philosopher

Giacomo Puccini (1858–1924), composer

Eros Riccio (born 1977), chess player

Marco Rossi, footballer

Daniele Rugani (born 1994), footballer

Renato Salvatori (1933–1988), actor

Carlo Sforza (1872–1952), diplomat and politician

Rinaldo and Ezilda Torre, founded the Torani syrup company in San Francisco using Luccan recipes from their hometown

Nicola Fanucchi (born 1964), actor and director

Rolando Ugolini (1924–2014), athlete

Giuseppe Ungaretti (1888–1970), poet

Antonio Vallisneri (1661–1730), scientist and physician

Alfredo Volpi (1896–1988), painter

Hugh of Lucca (1160–c.1259), medieval surgeon

Saint Zita (c.1212–1272), saint

Royan, Saint Georges de Didonne, pointe de Suzac by thierry llansades

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Royan, Meschers sur Gironde by thierry llansades

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cara delevingne hungry pizza backstage ph john meschi funny by john meschi

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cara delevingne pizza

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Talmont by thierry llansades

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Royan, Meschiers, plage des Nonnes by thierry llansades

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CARA DELEVINGNE ph by JOHN MESCHI by john meschi

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#JohnRichmond #JohnMeschiPhotographer #Moschillo #SS16 #backstage #show #sexy #breast #nude #Richmond #2016 #model #trasparency #underwear #black #blonde by john meschi

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JOHN RICHMOND backstage vip ph John Meschi SS2016

Royan, Meschers sur Gironde by thierry llansades

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Church Interior, Lucca, Italy. by PHOTOGRAPHY by DM & DBM.

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Lucca is a city and comune in Tuscany, Central Italy, on the Serchio River, in a fertile plain near the Ligurian Sea. The city has a population of about 89,000, while its province has a population of 383,957.

Lucca is known as an Italian "Città d'arte" (City of Art) from its intact Renaissance-era city walls and its very well preserved historic center, where, among other buildings and monuments, are located the Piazza dell'Anfiteatro, which has its origins in the second half of the 1st century A.D. ,the Guinigi Tower, a 45-metre-tall (150 ft) tower that dates from the 1300s and the Cathedral of San Martino.

The city is also the birthplace of numerous world-class composers, including Giacomo Puccini, Alfredo Catalani, and Luigi Boccherini.

Toponymy

By the Romans, Lucca was known as Luca. From more recent and concrete toponymic studies, the name Lucca has references that lead to "sacred grove" (Latin: lucus), "to cut" (Latin: lucare) and "luminous space" (leuk, a term used by the first European populations). The origin apparently refers to a wooded area deforested to make room for light or to a clearing located on a river island of Serchio debris, in the middle of wooded areas.

History

The territory of present-day Lucca was certainly settled by the Etruscans, having also traces of a probable earlier Ligurian presence (called Luk meaning "marsh", which has already been speculated as a possible origin for the city's name), dating from 3rd century BC. However, it was only with the arrival of the Romans, that the area took on the appearance of a real town, obtaining the status of a Roman colony in 180 BC, and transformed into a town hall in 89 BC.

The rectangular grid of its historical centre preserves the Roman street plan, and the Piazza San Michele occupies the site of the ancient forum. The outline of the Roman amphitheatre is still seen in the Piazza dell'Anfiteatro, and the outline of a Roman theater is visible in Piazza Sant'Augostino. Fragments of the Roman-era walls are incorporated into the church of Santa Maria della Rosa.

At the Lucca Conference, in 56 BC, Julius Caesar, Pompey, and Crassus reaffirmed their political alliance known as the First Triumvirate.

Middle Ages

Frediano, an Irish monk, was bishop of Lucca in the early sixth century.[16] At one point, Lucca was plundered by Odoacer, the first Germanic King of Italy. Lucca was an important city and fortress even in the sixth century, when Narses besieged it for several months in 553. From 576 to 797, under the Lombards, it was the capital of a duchy, known as Duchy of Tuscia, which included a large part of today's Tuscany and the province of Viterbo, during this time the city also minted its own coins. The Holy Face of Lucca (or Volto Santo), a major relic supposedly carved by Nicodemus, arrived in 742.

Among the population that inhabited Lucca in the medieval era, there was also a significant presence of Jews. The first mention of their presence in the city is from a document from the year 859. The Jewish community was led by the Kalonymos family (which later became a major component of proto-Ashkenazic Jewry).

Thanks above all to the Holy Face and to the relics of important saints, such as San Regolo and Saint Fridianus, the city was one of the main destinations of the Via Francigena, the major pilgrimage route to Rome from the north.

The Lucca cloth was a silk fabric that was woven with gold or silver threads. It was a popular type of textile in Lucca throughout the mediaeval period

Lucca became prosperous through the silk trade that began in the eleventh century, and came to rival the silks of Byzantium. During the tenth–eleventh centuries Lucca was the capital of the feudal margraviate of Tuscany, more or less independent but owing nominal allegiance to the Holy Roman Emperor.

In 1057, Anselm of Baggio (later Pope Alexander II) was appointed bishop of Lucca, a position he held also during the papacy. As bishop of Lucca he managed to rebuild the patrimony of the Church of Lucca, recovering alienated assets, obtaining numerous donations thanks to his prestige, and had the Cathedral of the city rebuilt. From 1073 to 1086, the bishop of Lucca was his nephew Anselm II, a prominent figure in the Investiture Controversy.

During the High Middle Ages, one of the most illustrious dynasties of Lucca was the noble Allucingoli family, who managed to forge strong ties with the Church. Among the family members were Ubaldo Allucingoli, who was elected to the Papacy as Pope Lucius III in 1181, and the Cardinals Gerardo Allucingoli and Uberto Allucingoli.

Republican period (12th to 19th century)

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 condottiero, 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.

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 Mastino II 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.

In 1408, Lucca hosted a convocation organized by Pope Gregory XII with his cardinals intended to end the schism in the papacy.

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.

Early modern period

Main articles: Principality of Lucca and Piombino and Duchy of Lucca

Palazzo Pfanner, garden view

Lucca had been the second largest Italian city state (after Venice) with a republican constitution ("comune") to remain independent over the centuries.

Between 1799 and 1800, it was contested by the French and Austrian armies. Finally the French prevailed and granted a democratic constitution in the 1801. However, already in 1805 the Republic of Lucca was converted into a monarchy by Napoleon, who installed his sister Elisa Bonaparte Baciocchi as "Princess of Lucca".

From 1815 to 1847, it was a Bourbon-Parma duchy. The only reigning dukes of Lucca were Maria Luisa of Spain, who was succeeded by her son Charles II, Duke of Parma in 1824. Meanwhile, the Duchy of Parma had been assigned for life to Marie Louise, Duchess of Parma, the second wife of Napoleon. In accordance with the Treaty of Vienna (1815), upon the death of Marie Louise, Duchess of Parma in 1847, Parma reverted to Charles II, Duke of Parma, while Lucca lost independence and was annexed to the Grand Duchy of Tuscany. As part of Tuscany, it became part of the Kingdom of Sardinia in 1860 and finally part of the Italian State in 1861.

World War II internment camp

In 1942, during World War II, a prisoner-of-war camp was established at the village of Colle di Compito, in the municipality of Capannori, about 11 kilometres (6.8 mi) from Lucca. Its official number was P.G. (prigionieri di guerra) 60, and it was usually referred to as PG 60 Lucca. Although it never had permanent structures and accommodation consisted of tents in an area prone to flooding, it housed more than 3,000 British and Commonwealth prisoners of war during the period of its existence. It was handed over to the Germans on 10 September 1943, not long after the signing of the Italian armistice. During the Italian Social Republic, as a puppet state of the Germans, political prisoners, foreigners, common law prisoners and Jews were interned there, and it functioned as a concentration camp. In June 1944, the prisoners were moved to Bagni di Lucca.

Culture

Lucca is the birthplace of composers Giacomo Puccini (La Bohème and Madama Butterfly), Nicolao Dorati, Francesco Geminiani, Gioseffo Guami, Luigi Boccherini, and Alfredo Catalani. It is also the birthplace of artist Benedetto Brandimarte. Since 2004, Lucca is home to IMT Lucca, a public research institution and a selective graduate school and part of the Superior Graduate Schools in Italy (Grandes écoles).

Events

Lucca hosts the annual Lucca Summer Festival. The 2006 edition featured live performances by Eric Clapton, Placebo, Massive Attack, Roger Waters, Tracy Chapman, and Santana at the Piazza Napoleone.

Lucca hosts the annual Lucca Comics and Games festival, Europe's largest festival for comics, movies, games and related subjects.

Other events include:

Lucca Film Festival

Lucca Digital Photography Fest

Procession of Santa Croce, on 13 September. Costume procession through the town's roads.

Lucca Jazz Donna

Moreover, Lucca hosts Lucca Biennale Cartasia, an international biennial contemporary art exhibition focusing solely on Paper Art.

Film and television

Mauro Bolognini's 1958 film Giovani mariti, with Sylva Koscina, is set and was filmed in Lucca.[citation needed]

Top Gear filmed the third episode of the 17th season here.

Architecture

Lucca is also known for its marble deposits. After a fire in the early 1900s, the West Wing of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario was rebuilt with marble sourced in Lucca. The floor mosaic in the West Wing was hand-laid and is constructed entirely of Italian, Lucca marble.

Main sights

Walls, streets, and squares

The walls encircling the old town remain intact, even though the city has expanded and been modernised, which is unusual for cities in this region. These walls were built initially as a defensive rampart which, after losing their military importance, became a pedestrian promenade (the Passeggiata delle Mure Urbane) atop the walls which not only links the Bastions of 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 but also passes over the gates (Porte) of San Donato, Santa Maria, San Jacopo, Elisa, San Pietro, and Sant'Anna. Each of the four principal sides of the structure is lined with a tree species different from the others.

The walled city is encircled by Piazzale Boccherini, Viale Lazzaro Papi, Viale Carlo Del Prete, Piazzale Martiri della Libertà, Via Batoni, Viale Agostino Marti, Viale G. Marconi (vide Guglielmo Marconi), Piazza Don A. Mei, Viale Pacini, Viale Giusti, Piazza Curtatone, Piazzale Ricasoli, Viale Ricasoli, Piazza Risorgimento (vide Risorgimento), and Viale Giosuè Carducci.

The town includes a number of public squares, most notably the Piazza dell'Anfiteatro, (site of the ancient Roman amphitheater), the Piazzale Verdi, the Piazza Napoleone, and the Piazza San Michele.

Palaces, villas, houses, offices, and museums

Ducal Palace: built on the site of Castruccio Castracani's fortress. Construction was begun by Ammannati in 1577–1582 and continued by Juvarra in the eighteenth century

Pfanner Palace

Villa Garzoni, noted for its water gardens

Casa di Puccini: House of the opera composer, at the nearby Torre del Lago, where the composer spent his summers. A Puccini opera festival takes place every July–August

Torre delle Ore: ("The Clock Tower")

Guinigi Tower and House: Panoramic view from tower-top balcony with oak trees

National Museum of Villa Guinigi

National Museum of Palazzo Mansi

Orto Botanico Comunale di Lucca: botanical garden dating from 1820

Academy of Sciences (1584)

Palazzo Cenami: Renaissance palace once owned by the Arnolfini family

Teatro del Giglio: nineteenth-century opera house

Churches

There are many medieval, a few as old as the eighth century, basilica-form churches with richly arcaded façades and campaniles

Duomo di San Martino: St Martin's Cathedral

San Michele in Foro: Romanesque church

San Giusto: Romanesque church

Basilica di San Frediano

SanSan Romano, Luccat'Alessandro an example of medieval classicism

Santa Giulia: Lombard church rebuilt in thirteenth century

San Michele: church at Antraccoli, founded in 777, it was enlarged and rebuilt in the twelfth century with the introduction of a sixteenth-century portico

San Giorgio church in the locality of Brancoli, built in the late twelfth century has a bell tower in Lombard-Romanesque style, the interior houses a massive ambo (1194) with four columns mounted on lion sculptures, a highly decorated Romanesque octagonal baptismal fount, and the altar is supported by six small columns with human figures

San Lorenzo di Moriano, a 12th century Romanesque style parish church

San Romano, erected by the Dominican order in the second half of the 13th century, is today a deconsecrated Roman Catholic Church located on Piazza San Romano in the center of Lucca

Museums

Museo della Cattedrale

Orto Botanico Comunale di Lucca

Education

Since 2005, Lucca hosts IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca, a selective graduate and doctoral school which is part of the Italian superior graduate school system. Its main educational facilities are located at the San Francesco Convent Complex and Campus, and the former Renaissance-style Roman Catholic church of San Ponziano now hosts the university library.

Sports

Association football arrived in Lucca in 1905 and has its roots in Brazil, thanks to a number of fans that helped found the club who had learned the game in Brazil. The Lucchese 1905, or simply Lucchese, play in Serie C, the third tier of Italian football, having last been in top tier Serie A in 1952. The club plays their home games at Stadio Porta Elisa, just outside the northeast wall of the city.

Notable people

St. Anselm of Lucca (1036–1086), bishop of Lucca

Giovanni Arnolfini (1400–1472), merchant and patron of the arts

Pompeo Batoni (1708–1787), painter

Giovanni Antonio Bianchi (1686–1768), friar, theologian, and poet

Simone Bianchi (born 1972), comics artist

Luigi Boccherini (1743–1805), musician and composer

Elisa Bonaparte (1777–1820), ruler of Lucca

Anthony Bonvisi (1470s–1558), merchant and banker in London

Giulio Carmassi (born 1981), pop musician

Castruccio Castracani (1316–1328), ruler of Lucca

Alfredo Catalani (1854–1893), composer

Gusmano Cesaretti (born 1944), photographer and artist

Mario Cipollini (born 1967), cyclist

Alfredo Ciucci (born 1920), football player

Matteo Civitali (1436–1501), sculptor

Ivan Della Mea (1940–2009), singer-songwriter

Theodoric Borgognoni (1205–1296/8), medieval surgeon

Marco Antonio Franciotti (1592–1666), bishop of Lucca

Ernesto Filippi (born 1950), football referee

Saint Frediano (6th century), Irish prince and hermit, bishop of Lucca

St. Gemma Galgani, mystic and saint

Francesco Geminiani (1687–1762), musician and composer

Giovanni Battista Giusti (c.1624–c.1693), harpsichord maker

Gioseffo Guami (1542–1611), composer

Leo I (died 1079), saint

Pope Lucius III (1097–1185)

Vincenzo Lunardi (1754–1806), aeronautical pioneer aeronaut[41]

Ludovico Marracci (1612–1700), priest and first translator of the Qur'an into Latin

Felice Matteucci (1808–1887), engineer

Mazzino Montinari (1928–1986), germanicist and Nietzsche scholar

Italo Meschi (1887–1957), harp guitarist, poet, anarchist-pacifist

Julian Niccolini, restaurateur

Leo Nomellini (1924–2000), athlete

Mario Pannunzio (1910–1968), journalist and politician

Marcello Pera (born 1943), politician and philosopher

Giacomo Puccini (1858–1924), composer

Eros Riccio (born 1977), chess player

Marco Rossi, footballer

Daniele Rugani (born 1994), footballer

Renato Salvatori (1933–1988), actor

Carlo Sforza (1872–1952), diplomat and politician

Rinaldo and Ezilda Torre, founded the Torani syrup company in San Francisco using Luccan recipes from their hometown

Nicola Fanucchi (born 1964), actor and director

Rolando Ugolini (1924–2014), athlete

Giuseppe Ungaretti (1888–1970), poet

Antonio Vallisneri (1661–1730), scientist and physician

Alfredo Volpi (1896–1988), painter

Hugh of Lucca (1160–c.1259), medieval surgeon

Saint Zita (c.1212–1272), saint

Torre Guinigi, Lucca, Italy. by PHOTOGRAPHY by DM & DBM.

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The Guinigi Tower is the most important tower in Lucca , as well as one of the few remaining within the city, which can be visited with access from via Sant'Andrea 45.

History

The tower, built in stone and brick , is one of the most representative and famous monuments of Lucca; its main feature is the presence of some holm oaks on its top.

At the beginning of the fourteenth century, Lucca was proud of the over 250 towers and numerous bell towers that enriched the city in medieval times , within a much narrower circle of walls than today . The Guinigi , now masters of the city, wanted to refine their severe residences with a tree-lined tower, common to other palaces, which became a symbol of rebirth, on top of the simulacrum of their lordship.

By will of the last descendant of the family, the tree-lined tower and the palace in via Sant'Andrea passed to the municipality of Lucca.

Among the medieval towers, which belonged to private families, it is the only one that was not removed or demolished during the 16th century.

Description

The tower, located on the corner between via Sant'Andrea and via delle Chiavi D'Oro, rises 44.25 meters, distinguishing itself from all the buildings in the historic center. Reaching the top is made possible by 25 flights of stairs - for a total of 241 steps - quite easy in the first part but not in the last one, where you can continue to climb only thanks to small metal ramps. Hanging on the internal walls, it is possible to admire numerous paintings depicting scenes of medieval life. From the top you can admire the city centre, Piazza Anfiteatro and the landscape of the surrounding mountains, the Apuan Alps to the north-west, the Apennines to the north-east and Mount Pisano to the south.

The hanging garden

On the top of the tower is the hanging garden, consisting of a walled box filled with earth, in which seven holm oak trees have been planted.

It is not known exactly when the garden was built, but in an image contained in the Croniche by Giovanni Sercambi (15th century), it can be seen that among the many towers of Lucca there was one crowned with trees. It is therefore assumed that the structure on the Guinigi tower is very ancient, even if the holm oaks present today have certainly been replanted over time

Lucca is a city and comune in Tuscany, Central Italy, on the Serchio River, in a fertile plain near the Ligurian Sea. The city has a population of about 89,000, while its province has a population of 383,957.

Lucca is known as an Italian "Città d'arte" (City of Art) from its intact Renaissance-era city walls and its very well preserved historic center, where, among other buildings and monuments, are located the Piazza dell'Anfiteatro, which has its origins in the second half of the 1st century A.D. ,the Guinigi Tower, a 45-metre-tall (150 ft) tower that dates from the 1300s and the Cathedral of San Martino.

The city is also the birthplace of numerous world-class composers, including Giacomo Puccini, Alfredo Catalani, and Luigi Boccherini.

Toponymy

By the Romans, Lucca was known as Luca. From more recent and concrete toponymic studies, the name Lucca has references that lead to "sacred grove" (Latin: lucus), "to cut" (Latin: lucare) and "luminous space" (leuk, a term used by the first European populations). The origin apparently refers to a wooded area deforested to make room for light or to a clearing located on a river island of Serchio debris, in the middle of wooded areas.

History

The territory of present-day Lucca was certainly settled by the Etruscans, having also traces of a probable earlier Ligurian presence (called Luk meaning "marsh", which has already been speculated as a possible origin for the city's name), dating from 3rd century BC. However, it was only with the arrival of the Romans, that the area took on the appearance of a real town, obtaining the status of a Roman colony in 180 BC, and transformed into a town hall in 89 BC.

The rectangular grid of its historical centre preserves the Roman street plan, and the Piazza San Michele occupies the site of the ancient forum. The outline of the Roman amphitheatre is still seen in the Piazza dell'Anfiteatro, and the outline of a Roman theater is visible in Piazza Sant'Augostino. Fragments of the Roman-era walls are incorporated into the church of Santa Maria della Rosa.

At the Lucca Conference, in 56 BC, Julius Caesar, Pompey, and Crassus reaffirmed their political alliance known as the First Triumvirate.

Middle Ages

Frediano, an Irish monk, was bishop of Lucca in the early sixth century.[16] At one point, Lucca was plundered by Odoacer, the first Germanic King of Italy. Lucca was an important city and fortress even in the sixth century, when Narses besieged it for several months in 553. From 576 to 797, under the Lombards, it was the capital of a duchy, known as Duchy of Tuscia, which included a large part of today's Tuscany and the province of Viterbo, during this time the city also minted its own coins. The Holy Face of Lucca (or Volto Santo), a major relic supposedly carved by Nicodemus, arrived in 742.

Among the population that inhabited Lucca in the medieval era, there was also a significant presence of Jews. The first mention of their presence in the city is from a document from the year 859. The Jewish community was led by the Kalonymos family (which later became a major component of proto-Ashkenazic Jewry).

Thanks above all to the Holy Face and to the relics of important saints, such as San Regolo and Saint Fridianus, the city was one of the main destinations of the Via Francigena, the major pilgrimage route to Rome from the north.

The Lucca cloth was a silk fabric that was woven with gold or silver threads. It was a popular type of textile in Lucca throughout the mediaeval period

Lucca became prosperous through the silk trade that began in the eleventh century, and came to rival the silks of Byzantium. During the tenth–eleventh centuries Lucca was the capital of the feudal margraviate of Tuscany, more or less independent but owing nominal allegiance to the Holy Roman Emperor.

In 1057, Anselm of Baggio (later Pope Alexander II) was appointed bishop of Lucca, a position he held also during the papacy. As bishop of Lucca he managed to rebuild the patrimony of the Church of Lucca, recovering alienated assets, obtaining numerous donations thanks to his prestige, and had the Cathedral of the city rebuilt. From 1073 to 1086, the bishop of Lucca was his nephew Anselm II, a prominent figure in the Investiture Controversy.

During the High Middle Ages, one of the most illustrious dynasties of Lucca was the noble Allucingoli family, who managed to forge strong ties with the Church. Among the family members were Ubaldo Allucingoli, who was elected to the Papacy as Pope Lucius III in 1181, and the Cardinals Gerardo Allucingoli and Uberto Allucingoli.

Republican period (12th to 19th century)

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 condottiero, 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.

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 Mastino II 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.

In 1408, Lucca hosted a convocation organized by Pope Gregory XII with his cardinals intended to end the schism in the papacy.

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.

Early modern period

Main articles: Principality of Lucca and Piombino and Duchy of Lucca

Palazzo Pfanner, garden view

Lucca had been the second largest Italian city state (after Venice) with a republican constitution ("comune") to remain independent over the centuries.

Between 1799 and 1800, it was contested by the French and Austrian armies. Finally the French prevailed and granted a democratic constitution in the 1801. However, already in 1805 the Republic of Lucca was converted into a monarchy by Napoleon, who installed his sister Elisa Bonaparte Baciocchi as "Princess of Lucca".

From 1815 to 1847, it was a Bourbon-Parma duchy. The only reigning dukes of Lucca were Maria Luisa of Spain, who was succeeded by her son Charles II, Duke of Parma in 1824. Meanwhile, the Duchy of Parma had been assigned for life to Marie Louise, Duchess of Parma, the second wife of Napoleon. In accordance with the Treaty of Vienna (1815), upon the death of Marie Louise, Duchess of Parma in 1847, Parma reverted to Charles II, Duke of Parma, while Lucca lost independence and was annexed to the Grand Duchy of Tuscany. As part of Tuscany, it became part of the Kingdom of Sardinia in 1860 and finally part of the Italian State in 1861.

World War II internment camp

In 1942, during World War II, a prisoner-of-war camp was established at the village of Colle di Compito, in the municipality of Capannori, about 11 kilometres (6.8 mi) from Lucca. Its official number was P.G. (prigionieri di guerra) 60, and it was usually referred to as PG 60 Lucca. Although it never had permanent structures and accommodation consisted of tents in an area prone to flooding, it housed more than 3,000 British and Commonwealth prisoners of war during the period of its existence. It was handed over to the Germans on 10 September 1943, not long after the signing of the Italian armistice. During the Italian Social Republic, as a puppet state of the Germans, political prisoners, foreigners, common law prisoners and Jews were interned there, and it functioned as a concentration camp. In June 1944, the prisoners were moved to Bagni di Lucca.

Culture

Lucca is the birthplace of composers Giacomo Puccini (La Bohème and Madama Butterfly), Nicolao Dorati, Francesco Geminiani, Gioseffo Guami, Luigi Boccherini, and Alfredo Catalani. It is also the birthplace of artist Benedetto Brandimarte. Since 2004, Lucca is home to IMT Lucca, a public research institution and a selective graduate school and part of the Superior Graduate Schools in Italy (Grandes écoles).

Events

Lucca hosts the annual Lucca Summer Festival. The 2006 edition featured live performances by Eric Clapton, Placebo, Massive Attack, Roger Waters, Tracy Chapman, and Santana at the Piazza Napoleone.

Lucca hosts the annual Lucca Comics and Games festival, Europe's largest festival for comics, movies, games and related subjects.

Other events include:

Lucca Film Festival

Lucca Digital Photography Fest

Procession of Santa Croce, on 13 September. Costume procession through the town's roads.

Lucca Jazz Donna

Moreover, Lucca hosts Lucca Biennale Cartasia, an international biennial contemporary art exhibition focusing solely on Paper Art.

Film and television

Mauro Bolognini's 1958 film Giovani mariti, with Sylva Koscina, is set and was filmed in Lucca.[citation needed]

Top Gear filmed the third episode of the 17th season here.

Architecture

Lucca is also known for its marble deposits. After a fire in the early 1900s, the West Wing of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario was rebuilt with marble sourced in Lucca. The floor mosaic in the West Wing was hand-laid and is constructed entirely of Italian, Lucca marble.

Main sights

Walls, streets, and squares

The walls encircling the old town remain intact, even though the city has expanded and been modernised, which is unusual for cities in this region. These walls were built initially as a defensive rampart which, after losing their military importance, became a pedestrian promenade (the Passeggiata delle Mure Urbane) atop the walls which not only links the Bastions of 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 but also passes over the gates (Porte) of San Donato, Santa Maria, San Jacopo, Elisa, San Pietro, and Sant'Anna. Each of the four principal sides of the structure is lined with a tree species different from the others.

The walled city is encircled by Piazzale Boccherini, Viale Lazzaro Papi, Viale Carlo Del Prete, Piazzale Martiri della Libertà, Via Batoni, Viale Agostino Marti, Viale G. Marconi (vide Guglielmo Marconi), Piazza Don A. Mei, Viale Pacini, Viale Giusti, Piazza Curtatone, Piazzale Ricasoli, Viale Ricasoli, Piazza Risorgimento (vide Risorgimento), and Viale Giosuè Carducci.

The town includes a number of public squares, most notably the Piazza dell'Anfiteatro, (site of the ancient Roman amphitheater), the Piazzale Verdi, the Piazza Napoleone, and the Piazza San Michele.

Palaces, villas, houses, offices, and museums

Ducal Palace: built on the site of Castruccio Castracani's fortress. Construction was begun by Ammannati in 1577–1582 and continued by Juvarra in the eighteenth century

Pfanner Palace

Villa Garzoni, noted for its water gardens

Casa di Puccini: House of the opera composer, at the nearby Torre del Lago, where the composer spent his summers. A Puccini opera festival takes place every July–August

Torre delle Ore: ("The Clock Tower")

Guinigi Tower and House: Panoramic view from tower-top balcony with oak trees

National Museum of Villa Guinigi

National Museum of Palazzo Mansi

Orto Botanico Comunale di Lucca: botanical garden dating from 1820

Academy of Sciences (1584)

Palazzo Cenami: Renaissance palace once owned by the Arnolfini family

Teatro del Giglio: nineteenth-century opera house

Churches

There are many medieval, a few as old as the eighth century, basilica-form churches with richly arcaded façades and campaniles

Duomo di San Martino: St Martin's Cathedral

San Michele in Foro: Romanesque church

San Giusto: Romanesque church

Basilica di San Frediano

SanSan Romano, Luccat'Alessandro an example of medieval classicism

Santa Giulia: Lombard church rebuilt in thirteenth century

San Michele: church at Antraccoli, founded in 777, it was enlarged and rebuilt in the twelfth century with the introduction of a sixteenth-century portico

San Giorgio church in the locality of Brancoli, built in the late twelfth century has a bell tower in Lombard-Romanesque style, the interior houses a massive ambo (1194) with four columns mounted on lion sculptures, a highly decorated Romanesque octagonal baptismal fount, and the altar is supported by six small columns with human figures

San Lorenzo di Moriano, a 12th century Romanesque style parish church

San Romano, erected by the Dominican order in the second half of the 13th century, is today a deconsecrated Roman Catholic Church located on Piazza San Romano in the center of Lucca

Museums

Museo della Cattedrale

Orto Botanico Comunale di Lucca

Education

Since 2005, Lucca hosts IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca, a selective graduate and doctoral school which is part of the Italian superior graduate school system. Its main educational facilities are located at the San Francesco Convent Complex and Campus, and the former Renaissance-style Roman Catholic church of San Ponziano now hosts the university library.

Sports

Association football arrived in Lucca in 1905 and has its roots in Brazil, thanks to a number of fans that helped found the club who had learned the game in Brazil. The Lucchese 1905, or simply Lucchese, play in Serie C, the third tier of Italian football, having last been in top tier Serie A in 1952. The club plays their home games at Stadio Porta Elisa, just outside the northeast wall of the city.

Notable people

St. Anselm of Lucca (1036–1086), bishop of Lucca

Giovanni Arnolfini (1400–1472), merchant and patron of the arts

Pompeo Batoni (1708–1787), painter

Giovanni Antonio Bianchi (1686–1768), friar, theologian, and poet

Simone Bianchi (born 1972), comics artist

Luigi Boccherini (1743–1805), musician and composer

Elisa Bonaparte (1777–1820), ruler of Lucca

Anthony Bonvisi (1470s–1558), merchant and banker in London

Giulio Carmassi (born 1981), pop musician

Castruccio Castracani (1316–1328), ruler of Lucca

Alfredo Catalani (1854–1893), composer

Gusmano Cesaretti (born 1944), photographer and artist

Mario Cipollini (born 1967), cyclist

Alfredo Ciucci (born 1920), football player

Matteo Civitali (1436–1501), sculptor

Ivan Della Mea (1940–2009), singer-songwriter

Theodoric Borgognoni (1205–1296/8), medieval surgeon

Marco Antonio Franciotti (1592–1666), bishop of Lucca

Ernesto Filippi (born 1950), football referee

Saint Frediano (6th century), Irish prince and hermit, bishop of Lucca

St. Gemma Galgani, mystic and saint

Francesco Geminiani (1687–1762), musician and composer

Giovanni Battista Giusti (c.1624–c.1693), harpsichord maker

Gioseffo Guami (1542–1611), composer

Leo I (died 1079), saint

Pope Lucius III (1097–1185)

Vincenzo Lunardi (1754–1806), aeronautical pioneer aeronaut[41]

Ludovico Marracci (1612–1700), priest and first translator of the Qur'an into Latin

Felice Matteucci (1808–1887), engineer

Mazzino Montinari (1928–1986), germanicist and Nietzsche scholar

Italo Meschi (1887–1957), harp guitarist, poet, anarchist-pacifist

Julian Niccolini, restaurateur

Leo Nomellini (1924–2000), athlete

Mario Pannunzio (1910–1968), journalist and politician

Marcello Pera (born 1943), politician and philosopher

Giacomo Puccini (1858–1924), composer

Eros Riccio (born 1977), chess player

Marco Rossi, footballer

Daniele Rugani (born 1994), footballer

Renato Salvatori (1933–1988), actor

Carlo Sforza (1872–1952), diplomat and politician

Rinaldo and Ezilda Torre, founded the Torani syrup company in San Francisco using Luccan recipes from their hometown

Nicola Fanucchi (born 1964), actor and director

Rolando Ugolini (1924–2014), athlete

Giuseppe Ungaretti (1888–1970), poet

Antonio Vallisneri (1661–1730), scientist and physician

Alfredo Volpi (1896–1988), painter

Hugh of Lucca (1160–c.1259), medieval surgeon

Saint Zita (c.1212–1272), saint

Chiesa Di San Pietro Somaldi, Lucca, Tuscany, Italy. by PHOTOGRAPHY by DM & DBM.

1

The church of San Pietro Somaldi is a church in Lucca located in the square of the same name.

Founded in the 8th century by Summal (hence the name) and donated by King Astolfo to the painter Auriperto, it was rebuilt at the end of the 12th century . The brick apse dates back to the 14th century . With three naves on pillars , in sandstone with sparse white stripes, it was completed in the upper part of the façade , with a sail structure, by a blind loggia , which can be dated, based on the decoration of the capitals , in the second half of the thirteenth century . The central portal is surmounted by an architrave with The Delivery of the Keys to Peter referable to Guido Bigarelli da Como , dated 1238 . Apart from two tables, the only survivors of the fifteenth - sixteenth century equipment , the furnishings consist of seventeenth-century paintings and some interesting nineteenth-century works .

Lucca is a city and comune in Tuscany, Central Italy, on the Serchio River, in a fertile plain near the Ligurian Sea. The city has a population of about 89,000, while its province has a population of 383,957.

Lucca is known as an Italian "Città d'arte" (City of Art) from its intact Renaissance-era city walls and its very well preserved historic center, where, among other buildings and monuments, are located the Piazza dell'Anfiteatro, which has its origins in the second half of the 1st century A.D. ,the Guinigi Tower, a 45-metre-tall (150 ft) tower that dates from the 1300s and the Cathedral of San Martino.

The city is also the birthplace of numerous world-class composers, including Giacomo Puccini, Alfredo Catalani, and Luigi Boccherini.

Toponymy

By the Romans, Lucca was known as Luca. From more recent and concrete toponymic studies, the name Lucca has references that lead to "sacred grove" (Latin: lucus), "to cut" (Latin: lucare) and "luminous space" (leuk, a term used by the first European populations). The origin apparently refers to a wooded area deforested to make room for light or to a clearing located on a river island of Serchio debris, in the middle of wooded areas.

History

The territory of present-day Lucca was certainly settled by the Etruscans, having also traces of a probable earlier Ligurian presence (called Luk meaning "marsh", which has already been speculated as a possible origin for the city's name), dating from 3rd century BC. However, it was only with the arrival of the Romans, that the area took on the appearance of a real town, obtaining the status of a Roman colony in 180 BC, and transformed into a town hall in 89 BC.

The rectangular grid of its historical centre preserves the Roman street plan, and the Piazza San Michele occupies the site of the ancient forum. The outline of the Roman amphitheatre is still seen in the Piazza dell'Anfiteatro, and the outline of a Roman theater is visible in Piazza Sant'Augostino. Fragments of the Roman-era walls are incorporated into the church of Santa Maria della Rosa.

At the Lucca Conference, in 56 BC, Julius Caesar, Pompey, and Crassus reaffirmed their political alliance known as the First Triumvirate.

Middle Ages

Frediano, an Irish monk, was bishop of Lucca in the early sixth century.[16] At one point, Lucca was plundered by Odoacer, the first Germanic King of Italy. Lucca was an important city and fortress even in the sixth century, when Narses besieged it for several months in 553. From 576 to 797, under the Lombards, it was the capital of a duchy, known as Duchy of Tuscia, which included a large part of today's Tuscany and the province of Viterbo, during this time the city also minted its own coins. The Holy Face of Lucca (or Volto Santo), a major relic supposedly carved by Nicodemus, arrived in 742.

Among the population that inhabited Lucca in the medieval era, there was also a significant presence of Jews. The first mention of their presence in the city is from a document from the year 859. The Jewish community was led by the Kalonymos family (which later became a major component of proto-Ashkenazic Jewry).

Thanks above all to the Holy Face and to the relics of important saints, such as San Regolo and Saint Fridianus, the city was one of the main destinations of the Via Francigena, the major pilgrimage route to Rome from the north.

The Lucca cloth was a silk fabric that was woven with gold or silver threads. It was a popular type of textile in Lucca throughout the mediaeval period

Lucca became prosperous through the silk trade that began in the eleventh century, and came to rival the silks of Byzantium. During the tenth–eleventh centuries Lucca was the capital of the feudal margraviate of Tuscany, more or less independent but owing nominal allegiance to the Holy Roman Emperor.

In 1057, Anselm of Baggio (later Pope Alexander II) was appointed bishop of Lucca, a position he held also during the papacy. As bishop of Lucca he managed to rebuild the patrimony of the Church of Lucca, recovering alienated assets, obtaining numerous donations thanks to his prestige, and had the Cathedral of the city rebuilt. From 1073 to 1086, the bishop of Lucca was his nephew Anselm II, a prominent figure in the Investiture Controversy.

During the High Middle Ages, one of the most illustrious dynasties of Lucca was the noble Allucingoli family, who managed to forge strong ties with the Church. Among the family members were Ubaldo Allucingoli, who was elected to the Papacy as Pope Lucius III in 1181, and the Cardinals Gerardo Allucingoli and Uberto Allucingoli.

Republican period (12th to 19th century)

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 condottiero, 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.

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 Mastino II 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.

In 1408, Lucca hosted a convocation organized by Pope Gregory XII with his cardinals intended to end the schism in the papacy.

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.

Early modern period

Main articles: Principality of Lucca and Piombino and Duchy of Lucca

Palazzo Pfanner, garden view

Lucca had been the second largest Italian city state (after Venice) with a republican constitution ("comune") to remain independent over the centuries.

Between 1799 and 1800, it was contested by the French and Austrian armies. Finally the French prevailed and granted a democratic constitution in the 1801. However, already in 1805 the Republic of Lucca was converted into a monarchy by Napoleon, who installed his sister Elisa Bonaparte Baciocchi as "Princess of Lucca".

From 1815 to 1847, it was a Bourbon-Parma duchy. The only reigning dukes of Lucca were Maria Luisa of Spain, who was succeeded by her son Charles II, Duke of Parma in 1824. Meanwhile, the Duchy of Parma had been assigned for life to Marie Louise, Duchess of Parma, the second wife of Napoleon. In accordance with the Treaty of Vienna (1815), upon the death of Marie Louise, Duchess of Parma in 1847, Parma reverted to Charles II, Duke of Parma, while Lucca lost independence and was annexed to the Grand Duchy of Tuscany. As part of Tuscany, it became part of the Kingdom of Sardinia in 1860 and finally part of the Italian State in 1861.

World War II internment camp

In 1942, during World War II, a prisoner-of-war camp was established at the village of Colle di Compito, in the municipality of Capannori, about 11 kilometres (6.8 mi) from Lucca. Its official number was P.G. (prigionieri di guerra) 60, and it was usually referred to as PG 60 Lucca. Although it never had permanent structures and accommodation consisted of tents in an area prone to flooding, it housed more than 3,000 British and Commonwealth prisoners of war during the period of its existence. It was handed over to the Germans on 10 September 1943, not long after the signing of the Italian armistice. During the Italian Social Republic, as a puppet state of the Germans, political prisoners, foreigners, common law prisoners and Jews were interned there, and it functioned as a concentration camp. In June 1944, the prisoners were moved to Bagni di Lucca.

Culture

Lucca is the birthplace of composers Giacomo Puccini (La Bohème and Madama Butterfly), Nicolao Dorati, Francesco Geminiani, Gioseffo Guami, Luigi Boccherini, and Alfredo Catalani. It is also the birthplace of artist Benedetto Brandimarte. Since 2004, Lucca is home to IMT Lucca, a public research institution and a selective graduate school and part of the Superior Graduate Schools in Italy (Grandes écoles).

Events

Lucca hosts the annual Lucca Summer Festival. The 2006 edition featured live performances by Eric Clapton, Placebo, Massive Attack, Roger Waters, Tracy Chapman, and Santana at the Piazza Napoleone.

Lucca hosts the annual Lucca Comics and Games festival, Europe's largest festival for comics, movies, games and related subjects.

Other events include:

Lucca Film Festival

Lucca Digital Photography Fest

Procession of Santa Croce, on 13 September. Costume procession through the town's roads.

Lucca Jazz Donna

Moreover, Lucca hosts Lucca Biennale Cartasia, an international biennial contemporary art exhibition focusing solely on Paper Art.

Film and television

Mauro Bolognini's 1958 film Giovani mariti, with Sylva Koscina, is set and was filmed in Lucca.[citation needed]

Top Gear filmed the third episode of the 17th season here.

Architecture

Lucca is also known for its marble deposits. After a fire in the early 1900s, the West Wing of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario was rebuilt with marble sourced in Lucca. The floor mosaic in the West Wing was hand-laid and is constructed entirely of Italian, Lucca marble.

Main sights

Walls, streets, and squares

The walls encircling the old town remain intact, even though the city has expanded and been modernised, which is unusual for cities in this region. These walls were built initially as a defensive rampart which, after losing their military importance, became a pedestrian promenade (the Passeggiata delle Mure Urbane) atop the walls which not only links the Bastions of 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 but also passes over the gates (Porte) of San Donato, Santa Maria, San Jacopo, Elisa, San Pietro, and Sant'Anna. Each of the four principal sides of the structure is lined with a tree species different from the others.

The walled city is encircled by Piazzale Boccherini, Viale Lazzaro Papi, Viale Carlo Del Prete, Piazzale Martiri della Libertà, Via Batoni, Viale Agostino Marti, Viale G. Marconi (vide Guglielmo Marconi), Piazza Don A. Mei, Viale Pacini, Viale Giusti, Piazza Curtatone, Piazzale Ricasoli, Viale Ricasoli, Piazza Risorgimento (vide Risorgimento), and Viale Giosuè Carducci.

The town includes a number of public squares, most notably the Piazza dell'Anfiteatro, (site of the ancient Roman amphitheater), the Piazzale Verdi, the Piazza Napoleone, and the Piazza San Michele.

Palaces, villas, houses, offices, and museums

Ducal Palace: built on the site of Castruccio Castracani's fortress. Construction was begun by Ammannati in 1577–1582 and continued by Juvarra in the eighteenth century

Pfanner Palace

Villa Garzoni, noted for its water gardens

Casa di Puccini: House of the opera composer, at the nearby Torre del Lago, where the composer spent his summers. A Puccini opera festival takes place every July–August

Torre delle Ore: ("The Clock Tower")

Guinigi Tower and House: Panoramic view from tower-top balcony with oak trees

National Museum of Villa Guinigi

National Museum of Palazzo Mansi

Orto Botanico Comunale di Lucca: botanical garden dating from 1820

Academy of Sciences (1584)

Palazzo Cenami: Renaissance palace once owned by the Arnolfini family

Teatro del Giglio: nineteenth-century opera house

Churches

There are many medieval, a few as old as the eighth century, basilica-form churches with richly arcaded façades and campaniles

Duomo di San Martino: St Martin's Cathedral

San Michele in Foro: Romanesque church

San Giusto: Romanesque church

Basilica di San Frediano

SanSan Romano, Luccat'Alessandro an example of medieval classicism

Santa Giulia: Lombard church rebuilt in thirteenth century

San Michele: church at Antraccoli, founded in 777, it was enlarged and rebuilt in the twelfth century with the introduction of a sixteenth-century portico

San Giorgio church in the locality of Brancoli, built in the late twelfth century has a bell tower in Lombard-Romanesque style, the interior houses a massive ambo (1194) with four columns mounted on lion sculptures, a highly decorated Romanesque octagonal baptismal fount, and the altar is supported by six small columns with human figures

San Lorenzo di Moriano, a 12th century Romanesque style parish church

San Romano, erected by the Dominican order in the second half of the 13th century, is today a deconsecrated Roman Catholic Church located on Piazza San Romano in the center of Lucca

Museums

Museo della Cattedrale

Orto Botanico Comunale di Lucca

Education

Since 2005, Lucca hosts IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca, a selective graduate and doctoral school which is part of the Italian superior graduate school system. Its main educational facilities are located at the San Francesco Convent Complex and Campus, and the former Renaissance-style Roman Catholic church of San Ponziano now hosts the university library.

Sports

Association football arrived in Lucca in 1905 and has its roots in Brazil, thanks to a number of fans that helped found the club who had learned the game in Brazil. The Lucchese 1905, or simply Lucchese, play in Serie C, the third tier of Italian football, having last been in top tier Serie A in 1952. The club plays their home games at Stadio Porta Elisa, just outside the northeast wall of the city.

Notable people

St. Anselm of Lucca (1036–1086), bishop of Lucca

Giovanni Arnolfini (1400–1472), merchant and patron of the arts

Pompeo Batoni (1708–1787), painter

Giovanni Antonio Bianchi (1686–1768), friar, theologian, and poet

Simone Bianchi (born 1972), comics artist

Luigi Boccherini (1743–1805), musician and composer

Elisa Bonaparte (1777–1820), ruler of Lucca

Anthony Bonvisi (1470s–1558), merchant and banker in London

Giulio Carmassi (born 1981), pop musician

Castruccio Castracani (1316–1328), ruler of Lucca

Alfredo Catalani (1854–1893), composer

Gusmano Cesaretti (born 1944), photographer and artist

Mario Cipollini (born 1967), cyclist

Alfredo Ciucci (born 1920), football player

Matteo Civitali (1436–1501), sculptor

Ivan Della Mea (1940–2009), singer-songwriter

Theodoric Borgognoni (1205–1296/8), medieval surgeon

Marco Antonio Franciotti (1592–1666), bishop of Lucca

Ernesto Filippi (born 1950), football referee

Saint Frediano (6th century), Irish prince and hermit, bishop of Lucca

St. Gemma Galgani, mystic and saint

Francesco Geminiani (1687–1762), musician and composer

Giovanni Battista Giusti (c.1624–c.1693), harpsichord maker

Gioseffo Guami (1542–1611), composer

Leo I (died 1079), saint

Pope Lucius III (1097–1185)

Vincenzo Lunardi (1754–1806), aeronautical pioneer aeronaut[41]

Ludovico Marracci (1612–1700), priest and first translator of the Qur'an into Latin

Felice Matteucci (1808–1887), engineer

Mazzino Montinari (1928–1986), germanicist and Nietzsche scholar

Italo Meschi (1887–1957), harp guitarist, poet, anarchist-pacifist

Julian Niccolini, restaurateur

Leo Nomellini (1924–2000), athlete

Mario Pannunzio (1910–1968), journalist and politician

Marcello Pera (born 1943), politician and philosopher

Giacomo Puccini (1858–1924), composer

Eros Riccio (born 1977), chess player

Marco Rossi, footballer

Daniele Rugani (born 1994), footballer

Renato Salvatori (1933–1988), actor

Carlo Sforza (1872–1952), diplomat and politician

Rinaldo and Ezilda Torre, founded the Torani syrup company in San Francisco using Luccan recipes from their hometown

Nicola Fanucchi (born 1964), actor and director

Rolando Ugolini (1924–2014), athlete

Giuseppe Ungaretti (1888–1970), poet

Antonio Vallisneri (1661–1730), scientist and physician

Alfredo Volpi (1896–1988), painter

Hugh of Lucca (1160–c.1259), medieval surgeon

Saint Zita (c.1212–1272), saint

Royan, Meschiers, plage des Nonnes by thierry llansades

4

Royan, Saint Georges de Didonne, pointe de Suzac by thierry llansades

4

Royan, Saint Georges de Didonne, pointe de Suzac by thierry llansades

4

Royan, Meschers, plage des Vergnes by thierry llansades

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magdalena frackowiak ph john meschi #supermodel #topmodel #shot #photo #exclusive #fashion #luxury #chic by john meschi

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cara delevingne model top photographer john meschi fashion top model155155_436765066381771_288928804_n by john meschi

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CARA DELEVINGNE ph by JOHN MESCHI by john meschi

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aw1314Iceberg

cara delevingne pizza hungry model top photographer john meschi fashion top model296522_418818654843079_495828145_n by john meschi

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Royan, plage de Saint Georges de Didonne by thierry llansades

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Royan, Saint Georges de Didonne, pointe de Suzac by thierry llansades

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joan smalls#john meschi#photo#supermodel#model#ph#fashion#photographer#beauty# by john meschi

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ad Alberto Meschi, Anarchico e Sindacalista by Bretello

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Monumento ad Alberto Meschi, in Piazza d’armi a Carrara

"To Alberto Meschi, anarchist and trade unionist" - Found in Piazza d'Armi in Carrara, Italy

Royan, Saint Georges de Didonne, pointe de Suzac by thierry llansades

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PERREO GOTICO by NASTY NAST

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Oscurito Presenta:

ESTE JUEVES 02 DESDE LAS 11.30PM.

PERREO GOTICO // DUB OR DIE

PAPAGAYOs CLUB // ALAMEDA 240.

VASKULAR

YOUNG NAST

MATENLO (ANABATIC)

DIEGORS (COMEME)

Produce: Oscurito

Colaboran: Fluorg, Beats Collective,

Miopek, Gitanos de la Luna, Bruno Torres Meschi,

Rod.

Concepto: Nast.

PAPAGAYOs CLUB // ALAMEDA 240.

$2000 Hasta 1AM

$3000 General

Taller de Entrevista [ene 14] by Javier Ignacio Acuña Ditzel

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Último día del Taller de Entrevista impartido por el Dr. Florenzano.

Esta es la típica foto posera que algún día encontrarán mis nietos en un "baúl" perdido.

De izquierda a derecha:

María de los Ángeles "Angie" Pardo, Andrea "La Reina del Hospital" Valenzuela (atrás), Alejandra "Alecito" Köhnenkamp, Olivia "Oblivius" Larraín (atrás), Dr. Florenzano, Su Servidor (abajo), Catherina "Nina" Keim, Patricio "Pato" Meneses, Carlos "Charlie" Astete, Elisa Meschi, Dr. Middleton.

Policlínico Psiquiatría, Hospital del Salvador, Providencia, Santiago de Chile [?]

Royan, Saint Georges de Didonne, blockhaus pointe de Suzac by thierry llansades