"Walls and an open heart" a Lucca Travel Page by SPW

Arriving by train from Venice, we were greeted at the station by our landlady, Violetta and whisked away to her apartment within the walls of this wonderful city. There we found a welcome bottle of wine and some snacks to revive us as she showed us around and explained how things worked. Leaving us to settle in, Violetta then arrived back 2 hours later to take us to the supermarket to stock up, although the apartment was already well equipped with basic provisions. With her guidance we purchased several local specialities: Tuscan bread, local prosciutto, salami and cheese as well as fruit and vegetables enough to last for the next few days.

In Lucca we found a city, encased within medieval walls, with a remnant of the old Roman wall, known since ancient times and well preserved. It appears to be a prosperous city, with a strong local identity; a religious city with many churches and votives on many walls; a private city with the outside wall excluded by the city alls and the high walls and shutters of the city buildings.
We were there at the time of the annual feast of Santa Croce when the Volta Santo is carried through the streets during a candlelit procession, culminating in fireworks. As we were unable to work out the best vantage point to view the fireworks we missed their colour but heard their noise, but we did watch the procession, which seemed a cross between festival and solemnity, hymns and prayers punctuated by joyful reunions as people with Lucchese roots returned to join their home parishes as they marched; with bands and marching girls, and people in folk costume and medieval garb.
After our week of climbing up and down bridges in Venice, Lucca was blessedly flat and easy to navigate, especially once we started to get the routes of the local buses sorted.