Lucca

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Today we were treated to a private tour of Lucca, a town dating back to Roman times. We were able to make out parts of the wall around the town with some more modern gates that were added in 1789 and 1870's.
A special sight was a convent that had a dome with a cupola. We were taken up the spiral staircase (70 steps) to the top where we could see how it had been constructed. The top of the cupola is a separate curved piece with a painting that gives suggestion of a completely solid top, but sides are open to let in light--a sort of "trompe l'oeil". We are so lucky to be staying with a friend of R's with whom he travelled in 1973! They had not seen each other since then, but recognized one another at the airport. He and his wife live in a villa near Lucca. So, we go from a villa in Italy to a villa in Greece!

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