Tuscany - Italy - page 150

Nature's Cathedral
The Grotta del Vento (Cave of the Winds)

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(Loc. Fornovolasco; % 0583-
722053; www.grottadelvento.com; € 6.50 for 1-hr. tour, € 11 for 2 hr., and € 15
for 3 hr., 20% discount for kids; Apr 1-Sept 30 daily 10am-6pm; Oct-Nov
Sat-Sun; Dec-Apr Sun and public holidays), an hour's drive north from Lucca, will
add a nice dash of variety to any Tuscan vacation (your kids especially will enjoy
this set of caves). The stalactites and stalagmites are equal to any Gothic church
spire, and the open caverns are as voluminous as the interior of a cathedral. In
fact, ceilings of some rooms tower over 60m (200 ft.) above visitors, with every
imaginable shape of protruding rock formations. For more wonders, there are
winding underground rivers and reflective lakes and rooms with such appropriate
names as “Giant's Abyss” and “The Hall of Wonders.”
The caves drop about 135m (450 ft.) underground through more than 8km
(5 miles) of passageways. But you don't have to be an experienced spelunker to
enjoy a trip through them; the park has created tourist-friendly concrete path-
ways with guide rails along well-lit passages. Exploration is by guided tour only.
To get there, take the SSN12 Abetone/Brennero as far as Ponte a Moriano
(8.5km/5 1 ⁄ 4 miles). Then cross the Serchio River and proceed along the main road,
through the valley, as far as Gallicano (another 28km/17 miles). After passing
Lake Trombacco, take the road for Fornovolasco at the 44km mark. Continuing
uphill, cross another three valleys, and you've reached it.

Quercia. The small dog at her feet symbolizes fidelity. Unfortunately, the famous
tomb has now been placed in a side room, where, like a peep show, you need to
pay

€

2 to see her marble figure.
On the northern edge of the city is the Church of San Frediano

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(Piazza S.
Frediano; % 0583-493627; free admission; 8:30am-noon and 3-5pm, opens
10:30am Sun and holidays) with a glittering 13th-century mosaic on its facade.
An elaborate baptismal font (dismantled and hidden away in the 18th c. and only
reassembled a few decades ago), and a magnificent fresco cycle by Amico
Aspertini (1508-09) of the history of Lucca, are the other highlights of the
church. But most fascinating to me is the mummified body of St. Zita inside a
glass case in a side chapel. This 13th-century maid was caught smuggling bread
out of her employer's house to feed beggars. To escape punishment for stealing,
she told guards that she only had flowers hidden in her apron, and when the
guards pulled her apron aside, the bread had miraculously turned into roses. (It's
unclear whether the beggars then got stuck eating the plants, but in any case Zita
was sainted for her lifetime of effort on behalf of the poor.) The body of this
patron saint of maids and ladies-in-waiting is paraded through town on her feast
day of April 26. The church itself gets its name from the wandering Irish abbot
who helped to develop Christianity in Lucca in the 6th century. Frediano is
buried beneath the altar.