Lucca
Famous for its historical monuments, officially, of Roman origins, Lucca is one of the main cities of Italy known also outside of national borders for its intact boundary wall of XV - Seventeenth century , which describes a perimeter of 4,223 m about around the historical core of the city and makes it one of 4 Italian provincial capitals to have intact Renaissance walls, together with Ferrara Grosseto Bergamo .The same circle, transformed as early as the second half of the nineteenth century in pleasant pedestrian walk, results to date as one of the best preserved in Europe because never before used in past centuries for defensive purposes. Thus the historical city center of town remained intact in its original appearance, and can therefore count on a variety of architectures, like many medieval churches of great architectural richness (Lucca is has even been dubbed the "city of 100 churches"), towers and steeples , and monumental buildings of the Renaissance .
The city also boasts beautiful urban spaces: the most famous is surely Piazza dell'Anfiteatro , born on the ruins of the ancient amphitheatre romano; quaint eateries and boutiques overlook here from the authentic taste of Lucca.
Piazza dell'Anfiteatro
Other suggestive squares are then piazza San Michele the city's historic heart and piazza San Martino religious hub where there is the main Cathedral .
The Cathedral of St. Martin is rich in works of art, primarily the impressive funeral monument of Ilaria del Carretto by Jacopo Della Quercia, placed in the sacristy, where it’s possible to admire a painting by Domenico Ghirlandaio. Thanks to the presence of the Holy face venerated relic, which represents Christ crucified, Lucca became in the middle ages a main stop on the pilgrimage from Rome to Canterbury on the via Francigena.
The Church of San Michele in foro is an interesting example of Romanesque architecture typical of Lucca. Its façade, with the use of blind arches on columns, attributed to Diotisalvi, author of the Baptistry of Pisa, makes explicit reference to the Pisan architecture.
Among the numerous towers, Guinigi Tower, built in stone and brick, is one of the most representative monuments and famous of Lucca; its main feature is the presence of some Oaks on its Summit.
Torre Guinigi
Cattedrale di San Martino
