ARCHITECTURE IN PARIS

PARIS, FRANCE

The history of Paris can be read in its stones as well as in books.

A monumental condensation of styles which will not leave the attentive stroller unmoved.

Antiquity left a heritage of its public baths and arenas to the city. 

The Middle Ages remains present with the Romanesque bell-tower of Saint-German-des-Près, and the delicacy of the Sainte Chapelle affirms the miracle of Gothic.

Paris is also the Classicism of the Grand Siècle, its domes and pediments, its dream of Antiquity already touched by the Renaissance.

You will be charmed by the eclecticism of the Second Empire, the thrust of Haussmann’s boulevards, and the metal architecture celebrated by the Eiffel Tower, which spearheaded Art Nouveau.

Art Deco did not lag far behind, and its modernity heralded the future concrete-and-glass emblems of a city in constant renewal.

--parisinfo.com

ANTONELLA MARCUCCI -- SUPERSTAR ENGLISH SPEAKING GUIDE TO LUCCA (WITH INSIGHTS INTO TRAVEL BY WHEELCHAIR)

FOR AN OUTSTANDING GUIDE TO LUCCA:

Antonella Marcucci is an outstanding and passionate guide to all the treasures of Lucca.

She is the English speaking guide that led us the Il Mecenate.

In her words:

"I got my Degree in Foreign Languages at Bari University and, after travelling the world as a Tour Leader, about 20 years ago I decided to stop in Lucca where part of my family come from.

I am a mom (my son is 14 years old), I love motorbikes (I’ve got a yellow one), I love art and ceramics, archery and walking, Middle Ages, painting and telling stories.

I am also a Licensed Lucca and surroundings Tourist Guide, a Tour Leader (worldwide) and a Licensed Disability Manager at Università Cattolica in Milano (Italy).

I have a Solid Tour Guide experience and I am very passionate and very knowledgeable about Lucca, wonderful city, and its surroundings."

http://luccaguide.wordpress.com

antonella@guidelucca.it

mobile: + 39 339 6328832

IL MECENATE -- LUCCA, ITALY -- PART 5

LOCALLY SOURCED, DIVINELY PREPARED CUISINE

IN THE FINEST LUCCHESE TRADITION

Torta di arancio e cioccolata consists of almonds pulverized into a flour the consistency of corn meal, blended with oranges and served with a dark chocolate sauce. 

The lusciously grainy texture, paired with the tartness of the citrus and sweetness of chocolate formed a union that transcends words.

 

Il Mecenate charmed this day tripper, a rich reward for stepping off the beaten path in Lucca.

IF YOU GO:

Il Mecenate is in the center of Lucca at Via del Fosso, 94.

Phone 0583512167 or 3202307408

Its website gives the old address, when the restaurant was still in the countryside, so ignore that old information and remember that Mecenate is within the walled city.

http://www.ristorantemecenate.it

LUCCA STORIES CONTINUE

TOMORROW -- SEPTEMBER 18

IL MECENATE -- LUCCA, ITALY -- PART 4

LOCALLY SOURCED, DIVINELY PREPARED CUISINE

IN THE FINEST LUCCHESE TRADITION

For secondi pasti, we selected perfectly al dente spaghetti with garlic, olive oil and more fresh prawns.

The simplicity of the dish allowed the quality of the ingredients to shine through.

We sampled more wine along with oven cooked fish and roasted, lightly seasoned potatoes.

More simple, yet spectacular dishes.

 

It’s hard to argue with chocolate as a conclusion to a great meal.

We would enjoy it in two ways: straightforward and unforgettable.

The former consisted of a luscious, moist cake.

The latter -- according to our host -- a much-treasured heirloom recipe passed down through generations. 

IL MECENATE REVIEW CONTINUES

TOMORROW -- SEPTEMBER 17

IL MECENATE -- LUCCA, ITALY -- PART 3

LOCALLY SOURCED, DIVINELY PREPARED CUISINE

IN THE FINEST LUCCHESE TRADITION

 

No English translations on the menu here.

But between our host’s decent but limited English, our very limited Italian, and some similarity of Italian to Spanish, we felt right at home.

Our host read aloud to us everything listed on the menu, plus the specials, all the while rhapsodizing about the charms of each tantalizing dish.

 

We started with Tortino di Carciofi: artichoke flan. 

This typically Tuscan dish was a soft, spongy, flavorful confection.

A tomato-based soup with locally sourced prawns and a light, citrus-y pino gris made for a lovely pairing.

We savored our primi pasti, enjoying the sight of an elegant greyhound who’d come with his master to chat a spell with the proprietor. 

IL MECENATE REVIEW CONTINUES

TOMORROW -- SEPTEMBER 16

IL MECENATE -- LUCCA, ITALY -- PART 2

LOCALLY SOURCED, DIVINELY PREPARED CUISINE

IN THE FINEST LUCCHESE TRADITION

Dapples of shadows and light played off the ochre of walls, the indigo of an awning, the vermillion of window box geraniums.

 

But tourists (as opposed to travelers – fodder for a future blog posting) were also in full bloom.

And restaurants catering to tourists were plentiful as well.

Finding a gem off the beaten path would be a challenge.

Fortunately, our guide led us through some tranquil residential streets to Il Mecenate, a restaurant specializing in frutti di mare.

In Italian, il mecenate means “the patron,” and indeed, it is all about you, the one sitting at the table.

 

We felt as though we’d been invited to dine with long-lost cousins at their country house in the rolling hills of Toscano. 

 

IL MECENATE REVIEW CONTINUES

TOMORROW -- SEPTEMBER 15

IL MECENATE -- LUCCA, ITALY -- PART 1

LOCALLY SOURCED, DIVINELY PREPARED CUISINE

IN THE FINEST LUCCHESE TRADITION

By Heidi Johnson-Wright

Travel brings many pleasures, perhaps the best of those being a treasured experience one did not expect.

During a fortnight spent in Tuscany, we took a day trip to Lucca, a delightful little town just a short train ride from Florence.

 

Upon arrival, we took a cab into the old heart of the town, still encircled by a centuries’ old, amazingly well-preserved stone wall.

We met up with a guide, who took us on a walking tour of various cathedrals, piazzas and landmarks.

After several overcast days in Florence, we were entranced by the sunlight bathing everything in a golden glow. 

IL MECENATE REVIEW CONTINUES

TOMORROW -- SEPTEMBER 14

THE WANDERER'S GUIDE TO LUCCA -- PART 8

THE BEST "STORY BEHIND THE BEAUTY 

AND HISTORY" GUIDEBOOK WE'VE SEEN

Lucca without walls would be like Florence without the Duomo.

The reinforced walls enclosing Lucca's historic center are some of the best preserved ramparts in Italy.

While many cities tore down their ancient walls in the name of progress, the Lucchese were wise enough to preserve theirs.

Defensive walls were first built by the Romans, who fled to safety in Lucca when Hannibal invaded Italy and defeated the Roman army in the Po valley in 218 BC.

A new, larger, medieval era wall was substantially completed by 1265.

It almost doubled the size of the city from about 90 acres to roughly 180, according to Lindquist.

The author estimates the population increased from about 10,000 to 15,000.

"In 1453, the Turks assaulted Constantinople with a barrage of cannon fire. The strongest walls in Eurpoe fell and at long last the Roman Empire fell with them," Lindquist writes. "The lesson of the effectiveness of artillery was transported to Italy when King Charles VIII of France invaded in 1494. His cannons easily dispatched any medieval wall they encountered."

Lucca started preliminary work on its Renaissance-era walls in 1513.

The new walls were completed in 1650 and they increased the size of the protected city within them to 270 acres.

"The new wall was a massive earthen structure, 100 feet wide at its base, 60 feet at the top, 23 in height," reports Lindquist, who notes there were only three gates into the city at that time.

He also reports that by the time of the Napoleonic wars, the walls no longer provided a viable military defense.

In the 1800's, the top of the thick wall was planted with trees and grass, turning it into a huge park.

Visitors and locals love to walk the perimeter of Lucca on top of the wall.

There are more than four kilometers of walls with six gates.

Order the book at www.lindquistguides.com

 For $31.40, including shipping by U.S. Mail, the guide comes with a huge, fold-out, full-color map that lists hundreds of sites detailed in The Wanderer's Guide to Lucca.

THE WANDERER'S GUIDE TO LUCCA -- PART 7

THE BEST "STORY BEHIND THE BEAUTY 

AND HISTORY" GUIDEBOOK WE'VE SEEN

Whether one is visiting for a day, or staying for a month, one of the best things to do in Lucca is to walk its narrow streets and get lost in their beauty.

Lucca is an ancient place, but it is very much alive and breathing -- and not just with tourists.

Lucca is a functioning town of some 85,000 -- not a Tuscan Disneyland with a train stop.

The birthplace of Giacomo Puccini, of La Boheme and Madame Butterfly fame, has beloved music fests (we saw more posters for pop/rock shows than classics during our 2012 visit.)

Cool shoe stores, bakeries and artisanal shops abound.

Bookstalls still exist.

Lindquist dedicates only a half dozen pages to Lucca's streets -- but only because they are dominated by the more than 100 combined churches and palaces that he explores in the other sections of his 370-page guidebook.

"Via Fillungo -- this is Lucca's Main Street, the shopping center and the thoroughfare for Sunday passeggiata," the author writes of the best place to take an evening stroll to socialize with neighbors and friends.

"In Roman times, Via Fillungo was the Cardus Maximus, the central north-south street. It ran straight north from its intersection with the Decumanus Maximus to the north gate and then angled northeasterly up to the bridge across the Serchio," he writes (Decumanus Maximus being the major east-west road in a town laid out by the Romans.

Lindquist says Via Fillungo gives a glimpse into the medieval world with "an array of high, wide, ground floor archways, today filled with glass storefronts, but which in the Middle Ages were open to the street."

"Do not pass by Caffe di Simo without going in," the author says of #58, Via Fillungo. "Puccini liked to spend time there with his friends and it is still the most pleasant place for afternoon tea. The hot chocolate is famous; it provides a remarkable jolt of energy."

Order the book at www.lindquistguides.com

The Wanderer's Guide to Lucca review 

continues tomorrow -- September4

THE WANDERER'S GUIDE TO LUCCA -- PART 6

THE BEST "STORY BEHIND THE BEAUTY 

AND HISTORY" GUIDEBOOK WE'VE SEEN

Lindquist dedicates about 30 pages to the stories of 40 prominent Lucca families.

"The patricians of Lucca valued ancient roots even more than wealth; the most prized status was to be declared an original citizen," the author writes.

The face of Lucca, powerful silk-trading city-state with trade partners all over Europe and suppliers in Asia, changed with a 1308 law that banned most of the old guard from serving in government.

Although the rules changes down the road and wealthy families ran the republic, the 1308 decree sent prominent families packing -- many settling in Venice.

"It was the end of Lucca's monopoly on the silk trade," the author observes.

Lindquist profiles the Fatinelli family as being most famous for having been the employers of Santa Zita in the 1200s.

Zita became a servant for the Fatinellis at age 12 and served them until she died at age 60. 

The patron saint of maids and domestic servants, her biographers have said the diminutive servant was unjustly despised, overburdened, reviled, and often beaten by her employers and fellow servants for her hard work and obvious goodness.

She eventually was put in charge of all affairs at the house and is portrayed holding keys (that is why she is invoked when someone loses keys.)

Her body was exhumed in 1580, discovered to be incorrupt but since become mummified. 

St. Zita's body is on display for public veneration in the Basilica di San Frediano in Lucca.

As for the Fatinellis, they tried to make amends to their miracle-performing maid by paying for her tomb and building a chapel around it.

Order the book at www.lindquistguides.com

The Wanderer's Guide to Lucca review 

continues tomorrow -- September 3

THE WANDERER'S GUIDE TO LUCCA -- PART 5

THE BEST "STORY BEHIND THE BEAUTY 

AND HISTORY" GUIDEBOOK WE'VE SEEN

Palazzi (palaces in Italian) are as remarkable as the food in central Italy.

Some evolved out of Medieval towers that were constructed for protection, not status.

Most palazzi, though, are status symbols that have stood the test of time.

While Americans tear down buildings barely a quarter century old, the Lucchese preserve centuries-old palaces.

Some become museums, others converted into offices but many still serving as residential showplaces for wealthy merchant families.

Lindquist's book details nearly 100 palazzi, including the Palazzi Guinigi, a pair of gothic palaces.

One even features a 130-foot-tall tower with oak trees growing on top of it, the Torre Guinigi, which you can climb for a bird's eye view of the city.

"Both palazzi were built about 1375. The one on the east probably was built first, by Francesco Guinigi, 'padre della patria,' on the foundations of medieval buildigns and the Roman wall," the author writes of the palace-owner honored as "father of the fatherland."

The palazzo with the tower remained in one branch of the Guinigi family all the way to 1956, when it was purchased by the town.

Order the book at www.lindquistguides.com

The Wanderer's Guide to Lucca review 

continues tomorrow -- September 2

THE WANDERER'S GUIDE TO LUCCA -- PART 4

THE BEST "STORY BEHIND THE BEAUTY 

AND HISTORY" GUIDEBOOK WE'VE SEEN

Churches dominate Lucca and the 200-plus pages about still standing and former churches dominate Lindquist's guidebook.

"Every Lucchese knows that at one time there were precisely one hundred churches in town," the author writes.

"It is a somewhat mythical number (in fact, the official website calls it "the city of ninety-nine churches") but in the Middle Ages it was not far from the truth, if we count every oratorio, chapel, and those churches which lay just outside the walls."

Lindquist goes on to chronicle the history, significance, art works and other details of 41 still existing churches, plus 37 that have been demolished or radically altered.

The author goes into great detail about the Cathedral of San Martino, founded in the 580s and greatly expanded in the 700s -- which was a boom time for wealthy Lucca.

Our favorite exterior decoration is the Labyrinth, which dates to the 1100s.

The inscription reads "Here is the labyrinth built by Daedalus of Crete, from which no one who entered could escape, except Theseus who was helped by the thread of Ariande."

Lindquist describes the famed equestrian statue of St. Martin giving his cloak to a pauper as "one of the earliest examples of Tuscan sculpture," which he dates back to about 1200.

San Martino has many treasures inside, but our favorite is Jacapo della Quercia's Sarcophagus of Ilaria del Carretto.

Ilaria, wife of mega-wealthy merchant Paolo Guinigi, died in childbrith at age 26.

Della Quercia's early 1400s artistic tomb features the young Ilaria with a dog at her feet, a symbol of conjugate fidelity.

Order the book at www.lindquistguides.com

The Wanderer's Guide to Lucca review 

continues tomorrow -- September 1

THE WANDERER'S GUIDE TO LUCCA -- PART 3

THE BEST "STORY BEHIND THE BEAUTY 

AND HISTORY" GUIDEBOOK WE'VE SEEN

"Lucca has always been a border town, with a sense of independence and self-identity common to such places, perched as they are between two worlds," writes Lindquist, in the opening of his 30 pages of history about the fabled walled city.

"It lies on the northern edge of Tuscany, the first town you encounter when you descend the mountains from the north, the last when you leave for the Po valley and northern Europe."

Lindquist goes on to cite crucial dates, such as:

• 218 BC when Hannibal invades the Po valley and drives the Roman army across the Apennines to Lucca, a military outpost.

• 56 BC Julius Caesar meets in Lucca with Pompey and Crassus to patch up their Triumvirate.

• 1002 First war between Lucca and Pisa. The dreaded rivals battled and sacked each other for centuries.

• Philip, Marquis of Tuscany, renounces all claims to the title; Lucca becomes a republic.

• 1308 New popular statutes enacted, banning noble families from office; exodus of important citizens ends Lucca's monopoly over the silk trade. 

• 1348 The great plague kills off a huge chunk of Lucca's population.

• 1796 Josephine, Napoleon's wife, is welcomed to Lucca. For the next 20-plus years, Lucca becomes a pawn between France and Austria.

• 1847 Lucca absorbed into Grand Duchy of Tuscany.

• 1865 Lucca joins Kingdom of Italy.

Order the book at www.lindquistguides.com

 

The Wanderer's Guide to Lucca review 

continues tomorrow -- August 31

THE WANDERER'S GUIDE TO LUCCA -- PART 2

THE BEST "STORY BEHIND THE BEAUTY 

AND HISTORY" GUIDEBOOK WE'VE SEEN

Author Lindquist has dug deep into Lucca's mysteries and divided his definitive guide into six sections:

·      

•            The History: The two thousand years that made Lucca what it is today.

•         The Churches: A comprehensive guide to the history, art and architecture of 78 churches, present and past, with 30 floor plans and 16 numbered walking tours.

•         The Palazzi: An architectural and historical introduction to 85 Medieval and Renaissance mansions and palaces.

•         The Families: The stories of 40 of Lucca's greatest families.

•         The Streets: Their origins and curiosities.

•        The Walls: The Roman, Medieval, and Renaissance fortifications.

Order the book at www.lindquistguides.com

The Wanderer's Guide to Lucca review 

continues tomorrow -- August 30

THE WANDERER'S GUIDE TO LUCCA -- PART 1

 

THE BEST "STORY BEHIND THE BEAUTY 

AND HISTORY" GUIDEBOOK WE'VE SEEN

We usually like guidebooks that are full of colorful photos and splashy graphics.

Brian Lindquist's The Wanderer's Guide to Lucca is neither and that's why we love it.

Less famous than its Tuscan cousins of Florence, Pisa and Chianti country, Lucca is one of Italy's most historic, intriguing, haunting and beautiful ancient cities.

Calling Lucca a city is in itself a slight.

Because long before Italy was unified in the mid 19th century, Lucca was for centuries its own nation.

Lucca was a Republic, so city-state is more accurate that simply calling it an old walled town about 20 kilometers from Pisa's leaning tower or Viareggio's vista of the Mediterranean.

"This is the book I wish I'd had the first time I went to Lucca," Lindquist says on the back jacket of his publication.

Order the book at www.lindquistguides.com

The Wanderer's Guide to Lucca review 

continues tomorrow -- August 29