This will be short because it’s been a long day.  After our unforgettable view of the divine sculpture of David in the Accademia Gallery this morning, we took off by bus for Lucca, a positive gem of a town.  It is small, contained inside a 2000 year old wall and has four very large churches, including a Cathedral. Roman remains have been discovered under one of the churches and it is said that the whole city is built over Roman remains. 

If I had it to do over again, we would have stayed there overnight.  It the birthplace of Giacomo Puccini, the composer of Madame Butterfly, La Boheme, Tosca and many other classic operas, and they perform his arias in a huge stone church every night. However we caught the latest bus back to Florence and didn’t have time to hear the performance!  I could have cried!  I nearly did.  To console me, David put opera on his iPhone and I listened to it on the bus on the way back to Florence.  The funniest part was that he forgot to turn it off when he put it in his pocket.  In the cab, we suddenly heard opera and didn’t know where it was coming from.  Then we both looked at his pocket and burst out laughing.

Lucca is the silk capital of Italy—so of course I purchased some.  David’s pictures will convey the charm of this place that I may retire to after he’s gone.  (Still hoping I go first).

The pictures are of two church interiors, both Catholic, of course.  The first is the church Puccini attended as a child and where he said he was “baptized into music.”  There are also photos of two street scenes.  The first includes a statue of Puccini.  This older part of Lucca is built inside walls that were in existence when Christ was living in mortality and some of the streets would be too narrow to be alleys in the United States.

I found some period Puccini opera posters and inserted them at the end.  Click on the photos for larger versions.