Lucca
About 30 kilometers (20 or 30 minutes) from Viareggio, you can visit Lucca, one of the most important Historical Cities of Italy known all over the world for its majestic walls (15th – 17th century), with their wide and available surface, 4,450 kilometers long. Inside the walls you’ll find the city center, with all its art masterworks that you can easily discover by feet. The famous Piazza dell’Anfiteatro is born on the remains of the ancient Roman Arena, so that it has got an elliptic shape, the same of the famous cake typical of Lucca, the Buccellato. You can stroll on the ancient Via Fillungo, in order to discover the San Frediano church, with its famous mosaic, or the unique Guinigi tower, with two oaks on the top. You’ll then reach San Michele square, the same that was hosting the ancient Roman Foro, now mostly occupied by the beautiful San Michele church in Romanesque style. A few minutes and you’ll find the Cathedral of Lucca, San Martino, with its particular asymmetric façade, all decorated with columns, statues and sculptures; inside you can see the chapel of the Holy Face, a crucifix in dark wood venerated in the city and linked to an ancient legend; every year on the 13th and 14th of September, the city is celebrating the crucifix with a festivity called Santa Croce (Holy Cross). Before leaving the church don’t miss visiting the famous sarcophagus of Ilaria del Carretto, Paolo Guinigi’s wife, that was curved by the famous sculptor Jacopo della Quercia. In Lucca also lived Elisa Bonaparte, Napoleone’s sister: Napoleone’s Square is dedicated to them. Also the Borboni, a noble family that was dominating a great part of Italy, lived in Lucca (1815). The city is also famous for its typical products like the special Extra Virgin Olive Oil and the local Wine, both produced on the hills around the city. Lucca is also hosting important events, as the Summer Festival dedicated to music, that is performed open air inside the center by national and international artists, or the Lucca Comics & Games, a fair dedicated to comics, animation and games.