European Adventure 2013


Advertisement
Italy's flag
Europe » Italy » Tuscany » Viareggio
October 22nd 2013
Published: October 24th 2013
Edit Blog Post

ViareggioViareggioViareggio

Symbol of the Carnivale held in Viareggio each year hovers over Viareggio beach
Our Scottish family had asked when they arrived in Lucca if they could borrow our car to go to Barga ("the most Scottish town in Italy") tonight. The Barga Celtic Supporters' Club was getting together to watch Celtic play Ajax in a Barga bar and as keen Celtic supporters themselves, they were keen to take part. Ced and I decided we'd have an outing in the morning so that we could be back by 4pm when the others wanted to leave. Viareggio, a coastal town quite close to Lucca and nearby Torre del Lago, where Puccini spent a large part of his life, sounded like attractive propositions. We headed first for Torre del Lago where wind had whipped up the lake to form waves. Most of the streets there were named after Puccini's operas or characters and it was quite a pretty town but not much was happening there on a cloudy, late October day so after checking out the exterior of Puccini's lakeside home (it was closed), we made for Viareggio. We had a filling Fritto di Pesce lunch then visited the beachfront, largely fenced off for private use, with named gateways apparently allowing admittance to people staying in particular
ViareggioViareggioViareggio

Mountains around Viareggio (taken from car)
establishments...we would need to come back and check if this is in fact the case in the summer season!

In the late afternoon after we returned to Lucca, we went in search of the Museo della Citta. It turned out to be very close by in the Villa Guinigi and was offering free admission! The first floor, with lovely ceilings and frescoes housed really interesting material about Lucca's history, ongoing archaeological investigations and models & videos of the succession of walls around the town. On the second floor we saw 300 Instagram photos grouped according to their theme colours, that had been chosen as winners from a massive competition. Floor 3 housed the Walt Disney section of the Cartoon & Comics Museum we'd visited previously...Italian versions of many famous old Disney characters with original drawings and posters, all done in Lucca...fascinating!

By the end of all this we were pretty exhausted but after dinner we managed to drag ourselves to what turned out to be a brilliant performance of Bruckner's Symphony in D Minor No 9 by the Symphony Orchestra of Lucca. At the Puccini/Mozart Concert last night we had been given free tickets to this performance and
Torre del LagoTorre del LagoTorre del Lago

Waves sweep across the lake
weren't sure what to expect. The concert was held in a lovely old church with loads of marble and a superb ceiling of carved wood. The orchestra played brilliantly and the whole show was quite inspirational. It was one of a series of orchestral concerts, free for the people of Lucca, forming part of the ongoing Festival of Puccini.

Tomorrow is our last day in Lucca and we're all heading for Florence in the 9.30am train so...no rest for the wicked!!


Additional photos below
Photos: 8, Displayed: 8


Advertisement

Lucca Cartoon MuseumLucca Cartoon Museum
Lucca Cartoon Museum

Donald Duck Italian style (Papero or Paperino)
Lucca Cartoon MuseumLucca Cartoon Museum
Lucca Cartoon Museum

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Italian style
LuccaLucca
Lucca

Chiesa dei Servi - place where the Lucca Symphony Orchestra played Bruckner's Symphony in D Minor No 9
LuccaLucca
Lucca

Lucca Symphony Orchestra warms up
LuccaLucca
Lucca

Carved wood ceiling of the Chiesa dei Servi


Tot: 0.108s; Tpl: 0.01s; cc: 11; qc: 49; dbt: 0.0745s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1; ; mem: 1.1mb