Bastion of Freedom

In an effort to reinforce what the kids are learning at school, we ventured out to Lucca--- to see the walled city that Napoleon fell in love with when he stormed Italy in 1799. Once inside the 2,000 year old walls, we stopped in Piazza Napoleone to try to get our bearings with one of the posted city maps. I was charmed immediately as everyone was on foot or bicycle (even elegantly dressed woman with furs and jewels pedaled by with a waft of perfume in their wake) I tried, but failed, to capture on camera several of the intriguing bikers spinning past, like one cute man with an arm full of flowers for his special signorina.

Of course, as guys never ask directions, I found this maze on the side of a church very amusing. This engraving is to represent our mortal existence, and the struggle and challenge we face to make our way back to heaven. We didn't come close to making this many loops around the medieval city, but only meandered a bit before Steve got his bearings and led us

past this bright wall to our destination of San Martino Cathedral. Ray and Natalie paused a moment to play lizard and soak up the warmth of the sun.

San Martino is an ornate Pisan-Romanesque church named after a Roman military officer, Martin, who was from Hungary. Martin was approached by a beggar one day and instead of ignoring or shooing him off, he practiced his new found religion of Christianity and gave the beggar the cloak off his back

We were so cold from our stay at the villa that I doubt we would have been able to follow Martin's example and give our coats to a homeless man.

San Martino church and bell tower are asymmetrical. The clock tower (built 1060)was already in place; so, when they built the cathedral, the builders skewed the facade to incorporate the tower. (Pete captured its unusual angle in this cool picture he took.) Inside the church there is a wooden crucifix that Nicodemus carved and set sail from Jerusalem and it landed on the coast of Tuscany in 782. But my favorite object was the marble tomb of Ilaria, nicknamed "sleeping beauty." Apparently, single woman come in and rub her nose in the hopes to find true love. (Her nose is nearly rubbed off now) In life she was happily married to silk baron Paolo Guinigi, who in the 1500's employed 25,000 workers at 3,000 silk looms.

We strolled and poked around until we found San Michele in Foro, the site of an ancient Roman forum, where there was a big clothing market. We tried to buy Ray a hat and scarf but got screamed at by a middle east vendor for TOUCHING. This is the only market stall I've come across where you are expected to buy something without ever picking it up and inspecting it. No sale there. And surprisingly we didn't find any great silk deals despite Guinigi presence, his giant tower looming over the city. (His tower is one of the few remaining from the 160 that used to be in Lucca during the booming silk business)

It was so unusual to see these oak trees growing on the top of the tower... reminded me of a chia pet. The Lucchesi used to plant their vegetable gardens on the tower tops and the trees made shade for the hot kitchens right beneath. There are no steep spiral staircases inside to trip and fall down, like we used to as kids on Ridgewood, these tower roofs were reached by exterior wooden staircases.

So since we didn't buy silk, we bought the next best thing-- an Italian dessert called a frate. It's like a similar to a donut but tastes of lemon.

They melted in your mouth...Crispy creme has some competition.

While we were scarfing down frate, I noticed this old bank building that is now a flower stand. Long ago Europeans on pilgrimages to the Holy Land stopped in Lucca and deposited their money in this bank for safe keeping and then many never came back to collect it.

At the top of the bank building was a pretty Swiss clock. As I stood looking at it and the pretty architecture, I was reminded by my posse that we didn't have all day and we needed to get going.

As we moved on we found this old Roman amphitheater....well at least the remaining arena shape of it from 180 BC. None of the stones of the old theater survived, except those over the archway entries. When the people of Lucca started building their medieval homes, they built them literally right up against the theater and over time the theater stones were taken and remade into something else. So a perfect circle remains with homes and business standing where the ancient walls used to be that held 10,000 spectators. It was really fascinating.

We finished up the day ambling along the top of the city walls, the ramparts, that are as wide as streets. Napoleon gave the city of Lucca to his sister Marie Louise, and she in turn gave it to Napoleon's widow. She is the one responsible for preserving these amazing old walls, from the time of Christ, that were fortified in 1504 . In fact, Lucca's walls are considered the best-preserved Renaissance defences in Europe. Tolstoy in his novel War and Peace memorializes Miss Bonaparte and her walled city.

Because of the advent of the cannon, the Lucchese built these walls by making 100 ft wide mounds of dirt and then faced them with brick, added 130 cannons on the ramparts and made 10 heart shaped bastions, the well fortified projecting part of a fortification, to minimize exposure to cannon balls. These walls kept them safe from the Florentine and Pisans who were trying to take over Italy one city at a time.

Steve fortified this Bastian with a few kisses on those heart shaped bastions as everyone was mutinying and wanted to head back to the villa and relax instead of strolling along the tree lined, pollution free, pedestrian friendly wall.

So we headed back to the car and on the way I learned it took the town a century and a third of their income to complete the wall and after all that work---nobody ever attempted to attack the wall. The only time the wall came into play was during the 1812 flood when it kept the water out. I left feeling glad that Napoleon had a hand in doing something good for Italy via his sister, keeping alive this treasure. As for the most part he is guilty of shipping many of Italy's treasures to Paris where they sit in the Louvre.

As I got in the car I thought about the origin of the word bastion (the English major part of me can't help myself). I remember being a child and learning that the word "bastion," similar to my maiden name Bastian, meant a 'defensive stronghold,' derived from the Italian word "bastire" to build or construct. I have always liked to think of my family as a bastion of Bastians....a mighty fortress against the storms. So it was fun as a grownup to stand on actual bastions at Lucca and get a visual.
Well, my bubble just burst yesterday as I learned the word "Bastian" is a slang term used in England for a person who is CONTRARY. Taah---the stubborn, headstrong side of me bristled ... I liked it better when I thought of myself as a stronghold. Dang it, now I gotta go rebrick my self-image wall.