Fighting the War on Swine Flu One Pig at at Time

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We have left the coast and Liguria behind and have now entered Tuscany, to spend four days in the lovely little town of Lucca - a BIG thank you to Brendan for alerting us to this gem. It is not a particularly touristy town, and there aren't lots of must-do sights to see, however we are enjoying the opportunity to drop back a couple of gears after Rome and the Cinque Terre to just simply be for a short while. So we find ourselves wandering Lucca's little winding streets which hold surprises, not as grand as those of Rome, but still delightful in their own way.

Lucca boasts Italy's best preserved city walls, four kilometres in length and up to 30 metres wide in parts, with a walking/cycling path and extensive plantings of plane and chestnut trees. As spring is in full flush at present the plane trees have almost completely leafed out and the chestnut trees are resplendent with the big white clumps of flowers, making a wall top passeggiata a sheer joy any time of the day. From the wall tops in the distance it is possible to see the menacingly craggy peaks of the Cararra mountains that glow white not with snow but the scars of the fine marble that has been cut from them.

Despite its rather staid nature, Lucca is not without its little oddities - no, let's call them idiosyncracies, for we all have some. The first derives from another of its claims to fame; it is the birthplace and boyhood home of the composer Giacomo Puccini. In fact his house lies only a few paces away from our hotel, the Piccolo Hotel Puccini, and is complete with a statue tribute to him. Granted our hotel probably has some claim to use his name, but it seems that the whole town has jumped on the Puccini bandwagon, with cafe called Turandot, a decorative ceramics store called Vissi D'Arte, a record store called Puccini Memories, Cafe and Restaurant Puccini, and the list goes on. I have been tempted to go into a cafe and ask for a Ca-puccini-o, although they would probably put this down to my bad italian; however I would not be surprised to find that some cafe in town serves one.

Another of the rather quirky things about the town is its abhorrence of architectural similarity. In moderation this can be a good thing, but Lucca seems to take this to extremes. At the other end of our street is the Church of San Michele in Foro, which has a very impressive facade of multiple tiers of columns and crowned with a bronze St Michael vanquishing a satanic dragon. All good so far but on closer inspection the variety in the styles and colours of the columns becomes dizzying, an architectural crazy tea set. And this is not just limited to San Michele, but is a recurrent theme in several other churches around town. Well I suppose if Nick Cave in his role as Sailor in the movie Wild at Heart could wear his snakeskin jacket as a symbol of individuality and belief in personal freedom why can't Lucca have its mix of columns on its churches for the same reason.

Something about the town that is neither quirky or taken lightly is food. A difference that is immediately apparent when moving from the sea at Riomaggiore to the field and mountain in Lucca is the food. While fish, seafood and pesto were king in the Cinque Terre, here in Lucca it is the fruits of the field and forest that rule - pig (in all its manifestations), rabbit, beans and mushrooms, and of course great Tuscan wines. And we have done our best to enter fully into the local spirit with our eating which so far has included delights such as the local lardo - yes lard that is matured in marble vats with aromatic herbs, and spread thinly on bread, or roasted together with white beans - gently roasted rabbit filled with eggplant, grilled pork and baked baby pork (the local cinta senese breed), grilled witlof with gorgonzola, and a pear and pecorino risotto, and of course the local dessert specialty of the sweet Vin Santo wine accompanied by the crisp little almond biscuits known locally as cantucci that are softened for eating by dunking them into the Vin Santo, holy wine indeed.

So as you can see we have declared war, not on tourist menus like our friends in Rome, but on the swine flu, and one pig at a time are moving toward being able to declare “Mission Accomplished” with the full support of our fellow Lucchese here in town.

And tomorrow after our brief respite here in Lucca we pack our bags and make tracks to spend a few days in Florence. Drop by again soon to hear of our adventures there.

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Photos

Room with a View #2
View from our room at Piccolo Puccini onto San Michele

Take a Walk on the Walled Side
Part of Lucca's impressive walls and ramparts

'Jack' Lives Here
Giacomo Puccini looks on just near his boyhood home

Spot the Odd One Out
Detail of the facade of San Michele

Eating is Serious in Licca
The passion for food is both eclectic and universal in Lucca

Comments

[Jackie Rawlings]

we miss you!!!
Hey Pete, it looks like "postcards" are officially dead - from now on, we will have to do "blogs" in rehearsals. You are amazing, your travel writing takes me straight there - of course we would expect nothing less from "Pete The Poet". How on earth do you find time amidst the travelling to download your pictures, caption them and write a travel guide as well???? You really are unbelievable - there's simply no half measures with you is there... I can see you are both having a fantastic time - i hope there is time for some relaxation as well. We need you back at playback fit and well and raring to go!!!! lotsaluv JRx

[Ruth Mc]

Hey Peter and Dianne, Fabulous Blog! Fabulous trip! Your descriptions reflect an Italy moving at a different pace. I like the sound of it. Hope the experience is being as good for your soul as for your tummies! Ruth Mc