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This cold and gloomy February day it’s been nice to remember the vibrant and warm colours of Lucca in November. Stunning architecture and stunning weather. It can’t get much better that that. Hope you enjoy! And this is especially for M who inspired me to go to Lucca!
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Today’s theme is about what we can find in Florentine shop windows. Items and displays that might differ from what we are used to at home. Above Alice’s Masks in via Faenza. A bit overwhelming just to look through the window, not sure what to expect inside.
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Here and there you find elegant shops with copies of classic sculpture. Maybe not the easiest of souvenirs to bring home.
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Neither is this perhaps. Don’t know what security check would say about these Luccan machetes. But they look beautifully rustic and handmade. And frightfully sharp.
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Leather work is one of the traditional Florentine crafts and the quality is usually excellent. Here behind you can see not only nice painted vaults but the leather workshop.
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If a bag is not your cup of tea, then maybe this shop with replicas from the Duomo will catch your attention. Via delle Studio.
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This Luccan speciality, Torta Verde, is a sweet cake made of vegetables. Swiss chard or spinach, parsley and parmesan cheese are some of the ingredients. Looks and sounds like lunch, but is dessert. 🙂
Bilingual recipe here if you get cravings!
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A typical food and wine shop. Much nicer than the supermarket.
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Not sure what the decorator’s idea was here. “The only garment you need to cover yourself is our trendy leather bag”? Masaccio’s Expulsion from the garden of Eden (in Capella Brancacci, Santa Maria del Carmine) puts poor Adam and Eve right in the fashion spotligtht.
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And finally an Oltrarno antiques shop.
Extra bonus question for the heraldically inclined: How many lions hide in these photos?
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Lucca is a town of towers. In the Middle Ages the number of privately built towers and church towers reached 170. Most private towers are long gone, but a couple still stand. The belltowers, however, dominate the skyline in all directions. Here is a selection of medieval beauties for you to marvel at:
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San Frediano
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San Martino
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Sant’ Agostino
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San Michele
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Santi Giovanni e Reparata
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Torre delle Oro
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Just kidding 😉
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San Giusto
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San Salvatore reflected
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If you would take a guess which one of these towers belongs to the Cathedral, which would it be?
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The correct answer is the second one, San Martino. Not the obvious choice perhaps.
And if you want to see the most spectacular of the Lucca towers, which I am embarrassed to say I missed shooting, have a look here at Torre Guinigi.
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Costa San Giorgo, San Niccolò.
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San Michele, Lucca.
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The jeweller shops at Via Fillungo, Lucca.
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Scottish collie guarding the butcher’s door in Lucca. Hoping…
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The city wall of Lucca is the most impressive I’ve seen. 4 km long, intact with ramparts and bastions, surrounding the whole of the old city. Come take a walk with me!
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Yes, you can walk on top of it! Or jog or bicycle or rollerblade.
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From up there we have the new city and the villas on one side…
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…and the medieval city on the other.
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And this clear November day the autumn colours are just stunning.
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There is plenty of space up on the wall. Doubled or tripled allés line the broad road in the middle and the paths on the sides.
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We meet all kinds of people up there. Kids on their bicycles, American pensioner backpackers in shorts, Italian amicas in fur collars, even the odd bishop.
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The wall is easily accessed from the inside, but from the outside only through the city gates.
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Next time I’ll make sure to shoot a couple of those. And to spend one whole day just walking and exploring the wall. Right now I’m just happy to find the right exit for the train station and go back to Firenze. Will return here soon and show you churches, churches, churches… 😉
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Coming home to grey and gloomy November, I decided to find the yellowest photos from Florence for a happy colour injection. Here they are! First one special leaf that caught my eye among many others.
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The facade of Santo Spirito can be really yellow in the right weather. I love that shape and the contrast to the belltower.
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Giardino Bardini was beautiful also on a rainy autumn day when almost all flowers were gone. I didn’t put a soft romantic filter on this, it’s just condensation on the lens!
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San Frediano in Cestello after the rains and with a fantastic matching tree next to it.
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A Lucca window seen through a Vespa rearview mirror…
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Lucca again. Fortification grassland and a very small moat. And the tree wall!
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Autumn leaves not falling onto the Demidoff monument in San Niccolò but instead creating a sunny ceiling for the marble group.
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In the hills of San Niccolò…
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The night illuminated, near Sant’Ambrogio. And time for me to say Buonanotte!
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Since I am a lion collector, not really for myself but for my friend who is the real lion hunter, I always look out for any marble or other cats I might come across. And Lucca had a few lovely kitties on display.
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First I spotted these two chums with their eagle buddy looking out over the walled city from the top of a villa. I was on the wall, so only saw them from behind. Nice curly manes on these.
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This one I found on the cathedral facade. Not quite sure what he is up to, but it does look a bit violent.
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The final two in my small selection are the ones guarding one of the main city gates. I don’t know if this one actually takes his job seriously, or if he’s just really enjoying it…
Maybe he’s just happy his tail is long enough to whisk away mosquitoes…
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… and what happened to his unlucky brother we will never know. Dropped not only his jaw but his whole face, poor sod.
More cats to come from Florence later on. Hope you enjoyed the Lucca lions!
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FLORENSICS 