Last Dance - Italy

We went to Italy for a week and stayed in a town called Lucca (as in Little Lucca?), which is in the Tuscany region. It is a 4.5 hour drive from Antibes, about a half hour from Pisa. The old city center still has its walls, which have been turned into walking and bike paths and parks. It is a nice place. Really enjoyed it. It has a couple of pretty good museums, several good restaurants, and lots of shopping.


Outside the Lucca city walls


Nearby Roman aqueduct


Tuscan countryside


Villa Torrigiani - we did the tour, very cool

We did a few day trips using Lucca as our base. One day we took the train to Florence (Firenza in Italian). We were not ecstatic about Florence. Had heard quite a few good things about it, but maybe we just hit it on a bad day. It seemed drab a bit expensive to us. The cathedral is pretty spectacular, as are all the cathedrals that we have seen on our journeys. We went to a couple of museums which were pretty good. But Florence was just okay to us. Have a visit and decide for yourself though, don't let our review put you off.


The duomo in Florence


Brunelleschi's dome


Florence

One day we drove to Siena. Siena wasn't bad, liked it a bit more than Florence. Walked through the town, checked out the cathedral and its museums (there is a combined ticket for the cathedral, the two related museums , baptistry, and crypt for 10Euros, which we thought was a very good bargain). They do a horse race in the town, the Palio, twice a year, around the Piazza del Campo. They throw down some dirt, the riders race around, trying to knock the other riders off (there are apparently minimal rules). Looking at the plaza (it is not that big), trying to imagine 10+ horses going around it, it must be a mad race.


Il Campo at Siena


The duomo at Siena


Inside the duomo

We also drove around Lucca and checked out some Roman ruins. One of the things about Italy that we find a wee bit frustrating, other than the mad drivers, is that there are a lot of Roman ruins that have no information at the site. I guess the Italians are so used to them, it is like the Golden Gate Bridge or Golden Gate Park to us.


Our 10th wedding anniversary at the Roman ruins