Lucca is the beautiful walled city in Tuscany, only 1hr from Florence and 30 mins from Pisa, that we called home for the months of April and May. Our first apartment was large and modern but in an ancient building. It's roof top terrace overlooked the eclectic rooftops and towers of the city. It's 4.5km wall provided a tranquil safe and beautiful place to walk, run and cycle daily.
Lucca was the birthplace of the famous composer, Puccini. You can climb two of its towers, tower Giusti and Torre dell orologio. Forno Giusti stands out as our favourite bakery while di coltelli is definitely our favourite gelato store in Italy.
Ruby was introduced to the medieval crossbow team by a lovely girl we met who works as a tour guide. Ruby had weekly archery lessons that started at 9:30pm and ended at 11:30pm. They were so patient and kind with her, even though most could not speak any English. They accepted her as part of the team by the end of her training.
Our visit to De coltelli in Pisa to see how they make their natural gelati and granita was delicious and fantastic.
Nearby lucca is a tiny village called Bagni di lucca with it's tranquil river beds and medieval bridges. Also nearby in the mountains is Grotto del Vento, caves 80m deep. We also regularly visited Florence (1hr20mins by train), Pisa, Viareggio by the sea and Forte di Marmi, a dazzling seaside resort village.
Lucca was an amazing experience for us. We enjoyed daily shops at Forno Giusti, Frutta e verdure, the lovely man at the macelleria (meat store) and all the little specialty stores selling organic specialty products. We enjoyed eating bucellato, their fruit bread, all the provelone cheeses and salamis, prosciuttos, focaccia. We loved the simple restaurant Gli Orti and the lovely little aperitivo bars. Our apartments were beautiful and the people we met, Michela, Tiziano, Paola, Debra are people we will cherish.
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