Truncated silver and red. The coat of arms is surmounted by a marquis crown and is surrounded by a branch of oak and one of laurel knotted together by a red ribbon with white lines. In the ancient times, Lucca adopted the arms of the various Lords ruling the town (Pisa, Castracani, Spinola, Scaligeri etc.). When the Emperor Charles IV, in the year 1369, restored the autonomy of Lucca, the local council adopted the coat of arms. The coat of arms per fess white and red was called “balzana”, and keeps this name today.
Lucca Flag
Lucca Official Flag
The City and Province of Lucca adapted the Flag color and design from the Historic state of the Republic of Lucca, which lasted from 1160 to 1805 on the central Italian Peninsula. The Lucca flag consists of two equally broad stripes, the red one at the bottom and white one on top.The colors are of uncertain interpretation. The red is probably part Ghibelline, which Lucca joined in the first half of the eleventh century.
Ponte Della Maddalena is a beautiful bridge situated near the town of Borgo a Mozzano, Its official name in Italian means the Bridge of Mary Magdalene, nevertheless, it is better known by its satanic nickname “Devil’s Bridge”. This probably comes from its amazing shape, a feat of technology for the 11th century when it was built. It crosses 131 feet wide on the Serchio River and is 60 feet tall at the peak of its highest of the five asymmetrical arches.
Accordance with the legend, the bridge was constructed by St Julian who unable to finish the difficult project, asked the Devil for assistance, offering him return the spirit of the first living being who’d have crossed the finished bridge.
After the bridge was completed, Saint Julian threw a piece of bread on the bridge, luring a dog to cross it, cheating the Devil. There’s very little historical info regarding the building of the bridge. Nicolau Tegrimi, in the biography of Castruccio Castracani, attributes the bridge to Matilde di Canossa and mentions the restoration made by Castruccio Castracani In accordance with the hypothesis of Massimo Betti, throughout the Castruccio government the small arches were constructed from stone, replacing the preceding structure in wood. This could explain the gap between the major arch as well as the small ones. From the sixteenth century, the Hermitage of Maddalena was constructed on the left bank, providing a name for the bridge.
In the following decades, the right bank was constructed up with factories. In 1889, the structure of the bridge, on the Borgo Mozzano side, was altered to allow the passage of the railway line that runs from Lucca to Aulla. A part of the bridge was destroyed and a ramp was constructed over the railway tracks.
Don’t forget you can wander around the charming village and even visit a café, where you can admire the views of the bridge while enjoying a cup of Italian coffee.
Ponte della Maddalena Photography Flickr user: MARIO VILLA
By Car: you can drive from Lucca to the devil’s bridge by using the SS12 highway road
By Bus: Bus services: E7, E10, and E71 all stop right next to the bridge.
The Nearest Train station is the Borgo A Mozzano and from there, its 20 minutes walk to the bridge.
Information
Total length: 95 m
Opened: 1115
Province: Province of Lucca
Opening Hours
The Bridge is always open and Free to Visit.
Location
Address: Via del Brennero, 55023 Borgo a Mozzano LU, Italy
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The San Michele in Foro, is among the most beautiful and the most enchanting historic structure of the city of Lucca, it was mentioned for the very first time in 795. It’s an Ancient Rome Catholic Church that was built on the remains of the old Ancient Rome forum. Until 1370, the church was the seat of the Consiglio Maggiore, that was regarded as the most crucial assembly of the communes. The most important feature of this church is that it was initially designed to be dedicated to Archangel Michael. The mention of San Michele in Foro is found in the historical records of the period of 795.
It had been rebuilt after 1070 by the will of Pope Alexander II. The church is rightly regarded as probably the most frequented and enchanting attractions for tourist in the whole of Lucca, due to its superb detailed designing and magnificence. When the city came under the power of the Gigli, beginning in the sixteenth century, the church underwent a series of renovations, including working on altars and opening some windows. In 1866 the Architect Giuseppe Pardini restored the church, replacing several elements of the facade with modern works. The Madonna and child of Andrea Della Robbia and the four saints of Filippino Lippi on the inside of the church aren’t to be missed.
The top of the church is flanked by the sculptures of two angels, while a four-meter-tall statue of a saint. Michael the Archangel, and is positioned in center of the church structure. The statue was created and placed on the top of the church to mark it as devotion to the Archangel. The lower right corner of the façade has a statue of the Madonna salutis portus, which was fashioned by a great artist, Matteo Civitali. The statue was specially created to celebrate the end of the plague of 1476. The interior of the church has two aisles and a nave, that have been created to present beautiful pieces of artwork.
The two aisles have been designed with a transept design and have a semicircular apse at its end. The spectacular nave is supported by several arcades developed on monolithic columns. The San Michele church has a bell tower, created between the 12 and fourteenth hundreds of years, which rises from the southern transept of the building. The bell tower has a series of beautiful mullioned windows in single, double and triple designs, which add charming elegance and artistic beauty to the interior of the church.
Inside San Michele in Foro Photography Flickr user:Andrew Robinson
By Train: Train is the simplest and easiest way to get to Lucca. Once you arrive you can choose to walk or rent a bike out, it will take you around 10 minutes walk to get to the San Michele in Foro.
By Car: The old centre of the city is closed off to traffic and many of the areas that do allow for cars are exclusively reserved for residents. you need to park outside the walls.
Opening Hours
During Summer Months
7:40 AM – 12:00 PM
3:00 PM – 6:00 PM
During Winter Months
9:00 AM – 12:00 PM
3:00 PM – 5:00 PM
Note: Opening hours are for Monday to Saturday, The Church is closed on Sunday’s.
Information
Architectural style: Romanesque architecture
Province: Province of Lucca
Recommended Duration: 30 minutes
Location
Address: Piazza San Michele, 55100 Lucca LU, Italy
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Lucca is the capital city of the Province of Lucca.
The City is situated on the river Serchio and has very fertile plains near the Tyrrhenian Sea.
Lucca Became a Roman village in 180 BC.
Napoleon took over the city of Lucca in 1805 and put his Sister Elisa Bonaparte Baciocchi as the “Queen of Etruria”.
Famous people born in Lucca: Gemma Galgani, Pope Lucius III, Giacomo Puccini and Leo Nomenelli.
The city of Lucca is twinned with: Abingdon, United Kingdom city; Golgolin, Poland; Colmar, France; Schongau, Germany; Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Sint-Niklaas, Germany.
Lucca means “illuminated glade”.
Lucca is surrounded by 16th-century walls, with small narrow path walks.
Until the French Revolution in 1789, Lucca was independent from Venice and Genoa.
Piazza dell’Anfiteatro is a square at north-east quadrant of the walled heart of Lucca, an area of Tuscany, Italy. The ring of buildings enclosing the sq follows the elliptical form of the prior 2nd century Ancient Rome Amphitheater of Lucca. The sq could be reached through four gateways located in the four vertices of the ellipse. A crossover is carved to the central tile of the sq with arms pointing to the four doors of the square. The Piazza dell’Anfiteatro in Lucca is today a lively place where tourists can enjoy their food and beverages, but several hundreds of years ago, it is in this very place that gladiators fought for supremacy in front of rapt audiences.
The base of the prior amphitheater is now some 3 meters beneath the center. At its summit, about 18 rows of amphitheater seats held some 10, 000 spectators. Now an urban sq, encompassed by private residences built utilizing the remaining structures of the amphitheater and inhabited by several outdoor cafes, made in 1830 by the architect Lorenzo Nottolini who razed a number of the buildings within the oval. It had been initially refurbished to be a market.
Step back in time and discover what’s behind the oldest square of Lucca.
Piazza dell’ Anfiteatro Photography by Flickr user: Deborah Guber
By Train: The nearest station is the Lucca Train Station located 1.1 km away, around 14 minutes walk, you can get to the Lucca station from Florence, in just 1 hour.
By Bus: The nearest bus service that runs to Piazza dell’ Anfiteatro is ‘LAM VERDE’.
Information
Province: Province of Lucca.
Oldest Square in Lucca.
Construction began in the 1st century during the rule of Emperor Claudius.
The Square is always open, however, shops around the square have different opening hours.
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The Lucca Cathedral also known as the San Martino Cathedral in Lucca is a beautiful marble cathedral with spectacular Romanesque sculptures on its facade and a crucifix sheltered inside. Lucca Cathedral was consecrated in 1070 by Pope Alexander II, previously the Bishop of Lucca. The impetus for substituting the Church of St. Martin with a great cathedral is traditionally the arrival of the miraculous Volto Santo. The west facade was decorated in 1204 and the portico in 1233, and the inside was rebuilt in the fourteenth and 15th centuries. Since 1995 the sacristy has been home to the funeral monument of Ilaria del Carretto, placed since 1842 from the left transept of the Cathedral and removed from here to permit consolidation work in this area of the construction.
The Holy Face
Precisely in the middle of the left nave the Templet of the Holy Face is nicely visible. An intriguing legend tells that it was Nicodemus, a disciple of Jesus, who made the Crucifix, drawing inspiration from the dead Christ, but the face of the statue modeled itself, or maybe it was the angels who created it. Transported through an unpiloted ship at the port of Luni, it attained the center of Lucca on a mysterious cart drawn by tameless horses. The holy face became a pilgrim destination along with the symbol of Lucca, his cult was already well established in the 11th century.
Nevertheless, today, in Sept every year, it’s taken from S. Martino to S. Frediano. In spite of its oriental features, the statue isn’t of Syriac origins, like the iconography of the crucifix didn’t, but exists in the early Christian art of the Orient, little is therefore known of its source. It can be a copy of a missing eighth century first, but it’s definitely mentioned by resources of the 1100 s. The excellent wooden statue indeed represents the Crucifix, but alive and successful, dressed in a tunic, the ‘colobium’ as it’s described in the Apocalypse, and sporting the gold belt typical of kings.
The first coloring has been conserved rather nicely: the red of the lips, the dark hair, and the garment, now blue, that was nevertheless initially red and symbolized martyrdom. The statue was made using 3 different kinds of wood and its own function, initially, was a reliquary which comprised ampoules of the blood of Christ in the void behind the shoulders. The cross bearing the statue was added later. The symmetrical lines remembering drapery give a feeling of motion to the wooden statue. The sculpture is actually flat as a bass relief, excluding the head, which endeavors markedly forward when seen in profile. Apparently, the statue was sculpted with an exact idea in your mind as to its own collocation, which has to be in a raised position.
Cathedral Museum
The Museum of the Cathedral was established in 1992 to preserve the furniture made in the Middle Ages for the performance of the solemn liturgical functions of the cathedral and the sculptural and pictorial works which have been removed from their original location for many reasons or replaced by much more up-to-date writers, they lay, perhaps not quite accessible to view, in sediments or in a sacristy. The distribution of the works inside the architectural complex that houses the museum follows a chronological criterion in order to enable the visitor to comprehend globally the artistic taste of the epochs represented, excluding the room devoted to the codices and lit chorales, collected in one environment to better control the resources of lighting.
The Lucchese figurative civilization between the fourteenth and the sixteenth hundreds of years is documented by some plutei of the enclosure of the presbytery made by Matteo Civitali, by the paintings of Vincenzo Frediani along with the refined silverware of Francesco Marti, the pastoral with the equestrian group of San Martino that donates the mantle into the inferior and the reliquary of San Sebastiano in the kind of a round temple. The Museum presents a broad sampling of lace hangings and planets, embellished with geometric and floral embroidery motifs, which bears witness to the top qualitative quality preserved by the Lucca cloth manufactures till the late eighteenth century.
The exhibition comprises the apparent core of silverware made in Lucca between the fifteenth and nineteenth hundreds of years, chiefly attributable with safety due to the presence of the punches. The visit carries on in the room reserved for sculptures coming from the Cathedral – among which we point from the head of the bishop of the eleventh century, the Apostle of Jacopo della Quercia and also the statue of Fra Fazio, allegory of the contributor into the expense of constructing the church – and also at the nineteenth century oratory of San Giuseppe, improved from the next century by paintings and carved and gilded wooden device. In the end, in a special room, the ornaments of the Holy Face are gathered, still used today on May 3rd and Sept fourteenth to groom the revered simulacrum of Christ is preserved from the Cathedral. Amongst these, we remember the fourteenth-century frieze positioned above the robe of Christ.
St. Martin Cathedral Photography Flickr user: rrm998
By Train: Train is the simplest and easiest way to get to Lucca. Once you arrive you can choose to walk or rent a bike out, it will take you around 10 minutes walk to get to the Lucca cathedral.
By Car: The old center of the city is closed off to traffic and many of the areas that do allow for cars are exclusively reserved for residents. you need to park outside the walls.
Opening Hours
Cathedral
Monday
9:30 AM – 5:00 PM
Tuesday
9:30 AM – 5:00 PM
Wednesday
9:30 AM – 5:00 PM
Thursday
9:30 AM – 5:00 PM
Friday
9:30 AM – 5:00 PM
Saturday
9:300 AM – 6:45 PM
Sunday
12:00 PM – 6:00 PM
During the holiday’s the opening times are 12:00 PM – 6:00 PM.
Cathedral Museum
Monday
10:00 AM – 2:00 PM
Tuesday
10:00 AM – 2:00 PM
Wednesday
10:00 AM – 2:00 PM
Thursday
10:00 AM – 2:00 PM
Friday
10:00 AM – 2:00 PM
Saturday
10:00 AM – 4:00 PM
Sunday
10:00 AM – 4:00 PM
During the holiday’s the opening times are 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM.
Admission
Combined Tickets
Prices
General
€9.00
Reduced
€6.00
Children Under 6 years old
Free Entry
Disabled with a companion
Free Entry
Note: Combined tickets include the Cathedral, Bell Tow, Museum, Baptistery, and Church of Saints John and Reparata
Cathedral Tickets
Prices
General
€3.00
children under 6 years
Free Entry
Campanile Di San Martino
€3.00
Note: disabled with a companion; residents of Lucca and Province, No Entry Fee’s
Cathedral Museum Tickets
Prices
General
€4.00
Children under 6 years old
Free Entry
Disabled with a companion.
Free Entry
All Admission prices may vary, please see the official website for latest updated prices.
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The Guinigi Tower is the most important tower in Lucca and one of the few remaining towers around the city walls, the Guinigi is an impressive 44.25 meters high tower that used to be the residence of one of the most powerful and wealthy families in Tuscany during 1300’s. The Towers was used for protection and defensive purposes, Lucca had around 170 towers during the middle Ages however only a few towers survived the last 700 years. The Guinigi Tower is a typical example of local Romanesque-Gothic architecture.
The Tower stands at 44.25 meters high and at the top of the tower you will see a hanging garden where large centuries-old holm oaks have been planted, you can reach the top of the tower after climbing 230 steps, however, the panorama view of Lucca from the top of the tower is well worth the trip. The ancient trees are holm oaks symbolizing rebirth and renewal.
From the 13th Century the Guinigi Family, who were rich merchants and a leading family of the town, concentrated their mansions between Sant’Andrea and via Guinigi, which preserved its medieval appearance intact. The Tower of Guinigi was built out of brick with mullioned three lights and four light windows, and coat of arms, cornices, and plaques of the family was decorated on to the tower. The Tower was restored and reopened in the 1980’s.
The Guinigi Tower was donated to the local government, Lucca Town Council, by the descendants of the Guinigi Family.
By Train: The nearest train station is the Lucca Station, situated on Piazzale Bettino Ricasoli Road, 900-meter, 11 minutes walk from the Guinigi Tower.
By Bus: the nearest bus stop is situated on via Santa Croce, bus service: LAM ROSSA, then a 3-minute walk up to Via Angelo Custode and left on to Via Sant’Andrea.
By Foot: The Guinigi Tower is located only 5 minutes away from the St Martin Cathedral and 5 minutes away from Villa Bottini.
Opening Hours
Monday
9:30 AM – 4:30 PM
Tuesday
9:30 AM – 4:30 PM
Wednesday
9:30 AM – 4:30 PM
Thursday
9:30 AM – 4:30 PM
Friday
9:30 AM – 4:30 PM
Saturday
9:30 AM – 4:30 PM
Sunday
9:30 AM – 4:30 PM
Admission
Ticket Type
Full Price
Reduced Price
Single Ticket
€4.00
€3.00
Cumulative ticket
€6.00
€4.00
Children under 6 years old
Free Entry
Note: Tickets reduced for groups over 10 people accompanied by a guide, Children between the age of 6 and 14 years old and students, required to provide a suitable card.
Free Entry to Disabled with a guide, schools of the Municipality of Lucca and students for study reasons with Authorization.
Animals are not allowed.
Information
Architectural style: Romanesque architecture
Province: Province of Lucca
44.5 meter high
Recommended Duration: 30 minutes
More Photography’s
Guinigi Tower Photography by flickr user:orkomedixGuinigi Tower Photography by flickr user:leiris202
Location
Address: Via Sant’Andrea, 55100 Lucca LU, Italy
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Lucca is located on the apuan alps, its part of the Tuscany Region, on the serchio river, the city is known for its Renaissance walls encircling the city.
