Another lovely, if not cold, morning is on hand as we head out of our apartment, through the still empty streets to walk the walls of Lucca.
A brisk hour-plus later, after a gorgeous sunrise and beautiful scenes along the leaf strewn wall walkway, we return to our cute little apartment, pack up and head out into the hills of Tuscany once more. Our plans today are to tour the Villa Torrigiani, one of the 16th century summer residences of the Buonvisi Family, important silk merchants and bankers. The area here has an entire “Villa route” with multiple Renaissance and Baroque villas to be toured. This place sounded great and only 20 minutes from Lucca but I’ve not been able to figure out how to book tickets in advance, or if the villa is even open. The website is terribly lacking in precise language – Italian or English.
Arriving without incident, we sadly find the gates locked shut for the season. What we can see beyond the gates looks beautiful – and maybe someplace to put on our list for our return visit to Livorno next year. In the meantime, there is a nice bit park right outside the Villa where at least we can walk in the fresh air for some nature….and some great photos back to the Villa.
So, Plan B! Back we go, passing through Lucca, waving in the direction of our apartment, and on toward the east to the Castle of Nozzano, this fortress I just happened to find while looking preparing for just such a situation. You know, sometimes, Plan Bs turn out to be better than Plan A – and this Castle is no exception. Absolutely the best stumble upon Plan B!
After parking navigating a narrow, almost one lane cobblestone road up, up, up to the top of the hill and through the archway into the Village of Nozzano, we find a place to stuff the car and walk the rest of the way up through the village. Arriving at the entrance we are lucky enough to find Carlo, one of the volunteers who will guide us around the castle. Carlo is a dream come true – funny, knowledgeable, totally entertaining with fascinating stories. He said he was “mad” about medieval history and loved this “job” which is totally evident by his zeal for all things history and Nozzano. (Plus, he wrote all the material and pamphlets he hands us as well.)
Carlo shows us around the teeny little fortress interior, pointing out informational posters and placards for us to read – teaching us a new phrase, “Short arms,” which means cheap! Never heard that before – then leaves us to our own explorations. This place is a gem. Its history goes back as early as the year 500, with a wooden enclosure and palisade built as a lookout tower. Expanded in the 11th century to protect Lucca, which had become one of the most important cities in Tuscany, the Lord of Lucca, Castruccio Castracani, replaced everything in 1322 with the stone walled Rocca that we see here today. Small but mighty, this fortress remained a pivotal point in the protection of Lucca from Pisa for ages; the most important “sentinel” of the observation and communication network around Lucca. The soldiers garrisoned here brought their families to live in the houses around the fortress, naming the area Castello, pretty much what we see today.
The history is amazing, rivaling only the incredible fortress structure and views.
You can definitely see why this watch tower was important. Look! You can see Pisa in the distance. Totally great.
Taking our time wandering about – especially up on the narrow, single file walkway that is almost like a parapet – you completely get the feel of this little mighty fortress and the village surrounding and supporting it.
Leaving the fortress, Carlo gives us a walking tour brochure he has developed with different sights to see around the village. This guy is the best! First, we walk to the façade of a house with the remains of 2 stone catapult balls show by attackers from Pisa. Next, we find a stone carved portal created when the house was the Palace of the Family of Turrettini in 1491. In between we just enjoy the great little village vibe and scenes along the narrow cobblestone lanes.
Then following the directions, we think, we walk down what is referred to as a coverage passage with high stair steps, allegedly to see the home gardens and ruins of the eastern defense tower walls. But all we find is the back of the village with a dirt road overlooking the valley farmland below. There are some stone ruins, but we can’t tell if it is a defensive wall or just a farm building in disrepair.
Ah well – that’s ok – we’ve had a great time up here regardless. Collecting our little red VW (the one parked on the side of the lane there), we luckily find a place to turn around and return through that little narrow archway, then make a hard right onto the narrow one lane road down the hillside, all the while praying no one else is coming up the narrow one lane road.
The #1 Driver, Ed, makes it look easy as we fortunately make it all the way to the bottom without incident or opposing traffic, enjoying the views back up to the Castello Nozzano as we head back to the Autostrada and Livorno.
Back in Livorno, we thought Liberty rentals was closed on Saturday, but actually find the garage open, where can happily return our keys to a live person and not just leave the car unattended on the side of the road. Even though it is chilly, it is still a lovely day, so we decide to go ahead and walk back to the ship, finding an safer, more pedestrian friendly way to go than the way you would drive. Halfway into our walk, our Philippines girlfriend guy calls (I swear I’ll remember his name one day) telling us he was looking for us to drive us back to the ship. He even offers to come get us wherever we are to drive us the rest of the way. So sweet. But we’re so close, we can see the ship and it isn’t a bad walk at all, so onward we stroll, arriving back to the pier without incident. The rest of the afternoon and evening are the norm – gym, Living Room, dinner, balcony for sailaway as we glide past the now perfectly lit Madonna of the People statue at the end of the breakwater.
Andiamo 