Welcome back. Dinner on Monday night, after spending the day in Pisa, was one of the best meals I’ve had since arriving in Italy. We went to a small trattoria (generally, a small restaurant with simple décor and service, featuring very local dishes and lower prices although it has become a sort of generic, marketing term over time), again in the center of the Center that was crammed by the time we arrived. Another charming thing (Another? I’m not sure what the other ones are but there must be some) I’ve noticed about restaurants here is for the most part, once you’ve confirmed your reservation for the evening, the table is held for you whether you arrive on-time (which would be late in the US) or late (on-time in Italy), there’s no waiting to be seated until your whole party arrives (because the whole party will never arrive at the same time and thus no one would ever be seated) and even if other customers are waiting, your table is still available and is yours for the night with no pressure to leave no matter how long you choose to let dinner last and how many other people are hoping to be seated. Back to dinner.
We decided to start with Zuppa di fagioli alla toscana (Tuscan white bean soup), local to the region. There were three versions available so we ordered one of each, one with some sort of ham, the second with seasonal vegetables and the third with barley. Although once I tasted the one with ham I claimed it for myself and only grudgingly shared. Back when we were planning the trip, I’d been told that while in Tuscany I had to have Bistecca alla fiorentina (the US equivalent of a t-bone or porterhouse steak) at least once on the trip which is why Valentina had selected this restaurant (she had selected all our restaurants on the trip and made the reservations well in advance) as it supposedly had a well-deserved reputation for the dish. We ordered it family style, for the whole table knowing Valentina and Miki weren’t that hungry meaning a serving for four was likely to be split by two, me and Giordano.
The steak, this beautiful steak, came on a platter, the same kind of platter Vikings used to use to carry their dead kings to the funeral pyre; it was substantial, thick, elemental, charred from the grill, pink in the center and sliced thin ready to be drizzled with olive oil, brutally stabbed with a fork and demolished. It came buried in rucola and thick-chunked Grana (a hard-cheese similar to Parmiggiano Reggiano). Tender and flavorful but substantial enough on the tooth to remind you that you were eating meat, not porridge. A total experience in all senses of the word. Big plates of french fries and sautéed spinach were delicious but a bit beside the point really and Giordano and I kept pushing them on the other two to distract them from the main attraction. There was no logical reason to keep going after that delightful wallow in a puddle of indulgence, but crème caramel and coffee and limoncello somehow made sense so we just went right ahead. Except for the chef’s family we were the last to leave and they had to unlock the security gate at the front door to let us out. Stars were shining and a night-time walk along the top of the city walls helped ease the weight of the past three hours.
Tuesday morning started even warmer and sunnier than the day before, ideal for the Adventure!™ planned for the day before driving back to Ancona in the evening. Amazingly, I wasn’t that hungry at breakfast so limited myself to just two pastries (one with cream and one with marzipan) a cappuccino and no pizza. Our next stop was at a bike shop to rent bikes for a wheeled tour of Lucca and we were excited to see it during the day and without torrential rain. With a gently warming sun, slight breeze and light crowds conditions were perfect.
As mentioned sometime before, Lucca is a city that as it expanded beyond its medieval boundaries, in a stroke of brilliant urban planning, the original 16th century walls were kept intact and the newer city grew-up around them preserving the ancient and historical center. The walls are some 5 km in length with a paved walkway about 10 m wide on the top that used to host car races but now is reserved for non-motorized users and canoodling couples (who, while revved up must also be non-motorized). From inside the city it’s hard to see the walls as such but from outside they rise to a height of about 12 m out of big fields of grass and flowers.
It’s a quiet town that is often overlooked because of the proximity of the “more popular” Pisa and Florence and you’re more likely to be run down by a bike than a car or giant bus loaded with day-tripping tourists. I know because I was almost the run downee as well as the run downer on more than one occasion. That aside, there’s a lot to see in Lucca and on a bike it’s possible to see a lot more of the lot.
The best part is that the city really hasn’t changed since it was built in medieval times and so it’s possible to see how people lived in the 16th century, that is it’s possible if they had souvenir shops outside every church, pizza places near all the piazzas, a Benetton and an endless number of boutiques selling variations of the same shoes and dress. One great place to visit is the Torre Guinigi which at only 44 meters hardly puts it in the same category as the giants in Bologna but in spite of its dwarfish stature it does boast live larch trees growing on the terrace at the top and stupendous, panoramic views of the city and surrounding hills.
I give you this next bit so you have something to fill your next awkward silence – the towers were originally built by the wealthy families of Lucca to conspicuously demonstrate their wealth and in the tower heyday there were over 170 in the city. I wonder if they were like the corvettes of their time?
One of my other favorites was the Piazza Anfiteatro. In olden times (that’s the word archeologists use for stuff that happened before you were born) when Romans walked the streets of Lucca in their skirts and leather sandals, this space was an amphitheatre. But after Season 18 of Lucca’s Got Talent! confirmed that Lucca most certainly did not have talent, the amphitheatre was knocked over in favor of multi-modal townhouses for nouveau riche icon merchants. Not really. It became a quarry for the town’s churches and palaces. Houses were built over it in Middle Ages and then in the 19th century an architect redesigned the space featuring new buildings around the outside of the original amphitheatre and an open piazza in the center so that today the area retains the original shape and residents of the buildings have spectacular views down the fronts of the shirts of tourists eating at the restaurants below and of the musical acts during the many festivals which regularly occur in the piazza. It's a very interesting space to have in the middle of a city and without a lot of people around ideal for pursuit races on bike around the border.
Giacomo Puccini (creator of La bohème, Tosca, Madama Butterfly) was born in Lucca. Here he is looking nonplussed as an annoying tourist perches on his distinguished lap.
To be fair there is a precedent for this happening to statues.
Once we had seen all we cared to see, and a few things that we didn’t care to see (like a dog pooing in the middle of the street) we returned the bikes and loaded into the car to return Miki to Bologna, me to Ancona and Valentina and Giordano to Osimo.
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