Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
gical area comprising five building levels going back to the Roman period. Don't miss the
hike up the red-brick
bell tower
- what a view!
WORTH A TRIP
A VILLA TOUR
Between the 15th and 19th centuries, successful Lucchesi merchants flouted their success to the world
by building opulent summer residences in the hills around the city, and though a few have crumbled
away or been abandoned, many are still inhabited.
Elisa Bonaparte, Napoleon's sister and short-lived ruler of Tuscany, once lived in handsome
Villa
Reale
(
www.parcovillareale.it
; Via Fraga Alta, Marlia; garden tours €7; 10am-1pm & 2-6pm Tue-
Sun summer), 7km north of Lucca in Marlia. The house isn't open to the public, but the statuary-filled
gardens can be visited by hourly guided tour.
Neoclassical
Villa Grabau
(
www.villagrabau.it
;
Via di Matraia 269, San Pancrazio; 10am-1pm
& 3-7pm Tue-Sun Jul-Aug, shorter hr rest of year, Sun only winter), just north of Lucca in San Pan-
crazio, sits amid a vast parkland with sweeping traditional English- and Italian-styled gardens, splash-
ing fountains, more than 100 terracotta pots with lemon trees and a postcard-pretty lemon house - host
to fashion shows, concerts and the like - dating from the 17th century. It even has a clutch of self-ca-
tering properties to rent in its grounds should you happen to fall in love with the estate.
In the same village, the gardens of
Villa Oliva
(
www.villaoliva.it
; San Pancrazio;
9.30am-12.30pm & 2-6pm summer), a 15th-century country residence designed by Lucchesi architect
Matteo Civitali, demand a springtime stroll. Retaining its original design, the fountain-rich park stag-
gers across three levels and includes a romantic cypress alley and stables reckoned to be even more
beautiful that those at Versailles. Watch out for concerts held here.
To reach these villas, take the SS12 northeast from Lucca (direction Abetone) and exit onto the
SP29 to Marlia. From Marlia, San Pancrazio is a mere 1.2km north.
Chiesa di San Michele in Foro
MAP
CHURCH
GOOGLE MAP
(Piazza San Michele; 7.40am-noon & 3-6pm summer, 9am-noon & 3-5pm winter)
One of Lucca's
many architecturally significant churches, this lovely Romanesque edifice marks the spot
where the city's Roman forum once was. The present building with exquisite wedding-
cake facade was constructed on the site of its 8th-century precursor over a period of nearly
300 years, beginning in the 11th century.
Crowning the structure is a figure of the archangel Michael slaying a dragon. Inside,
don't miss Filippino Lippi's 1479 painting of Sts Helen, Jerome, Sebastian and Roch
(complete with plague sore) in the south transept.
