Lucca: Partying and Picnicking Within Renascence Walls

We had a few sources strongly recommend that we spend a good few days in Lucca. When we asked why Lucca was their favourite place in Italy they said, "There's no big tourist attraction in Lucca, the walled city center, its people, and their way of life is the attraction."

One thing that you just must do in Lucca is get horribly lost in the old town center. We had no problems with that and within entering the old, narrow labyrinth that is old walled in Lucca we found ourselves hopelessly going in circles trying to find our bed and breakfast down roads that only made sense a thousand years ago.

Another thing you must know about Lucca is that the locals are unmistakably friendly and fun loving. In fact the only reason we found our guesthouse was completely by coincidence. A very old Italian man stopped to chat and after a wonderful conversation about the city we found out that he just happened to live in the same old, weather worn palace where our bed and breakfast was to be located. The place we stayed at called La Magnolia B & B and was the most interesting of the places we stayed in Italy- a bed and breakfast in an old, almost falling apart, Renascence era place- fairly cheap, very romantic, and incredibly Italian.

The locals in Lucca love to party- we found that out that first night when we went to eat in the main town square of Piazza Anfiteatro. The party pumping, bar/restaurant with a DJ spinning danceables outside in the old square was served by the local police after about an hour or two of dancing in the old Piazza. Fun time.

The we slept well that night and the next day we were eager to explore the city. We devised a brilliant plan of going to the local deli- picking up some of the local cured meats and cheeses, going to a bakery- picking up some of the local breads, going to a grocery store (or wine shop- if the grocery store was not an option or simply had a poor selection)- and picking up a local wine. Brilliant, delicious, romantic, and very cost effective! We would do this almost everyday from now until the end of our trip but our first full out experience was here in Lucca.

We packed up these supplies and simply walked on top the completely in tacked mura (ancient city walls) and walked around the grassy cannon-ball-proof hundred year old walls until we found the perfect spot for a picnic. The view was beautiful, the man at the deli paired the local creamy sheep cheese marvellously with the ultra-sweet famous local bread called buccellato. We both agreed- this was the best bread we had tried in our young lives- it was sweet with raisins and fennel... so good and matched again so perfectly with the light bodied, somewhat fruitier, Lucchesi wine we had help selecting. MMMmmm....

We spent most of the day on that wall just taking it in. After we made our way back into town, we admired another Pisa Romanesque style church, San Michele in Furo, which just happened to be visible from the window of our new bed at the nothing too special Puccini Hotel. There is a old strange looking copper-green Archangel Michael that locals claim actually flaps its wings during special occasions atop this, once Roman Arena, now cool looking Catholic Church. Guess our visit to the city wasn't that special to Michael? Haha..

That night we stumbled upon a Ben Harper show and realized that we had just missed one of our favourite singers by a few days, Amy Winehouse. We were talking of tracking her down on her tour of Italy. A few days later we would find out that she had died- so sad! We had unsuspectingly arrived during the Lucca Summer Festival- perhaps a reason for the fun loving feel of this city.

Instead of buying $50 tickets to the show we just ate at a restaurant nearby and enjoyed listening to it for free. The sight of locals dancing in the street while we ate local specialties such as Lucca's preferred pasta, tordelli (a local pasta similar to tortellini), with wild boar meat sauce and another type of noodle pasta with white truffles- of course we tried the famous local wine, Colline Lucchesi. The night couldn't have been more fun!

We love Lucca!

Pisa: Graffiti and Pisa Romanesque Architectural Style

From Florence we decided to day trip Pisa. It was the only day trip we took during our escapade through Italy. Although we day tripped Pisa, I think we still did it up pretty good- forgoing the quick bus ride to the leaning tower and going with the walk through town instead.

The first thing we really wanted to see was Keith Haring's last public work, Tottomondo, a wall of his famous graffiti art. Kieth Haring has be a curiosity of Matt's since seeing his work grace the cover of the Very Special Christmas Albums. It was fun to strike a pose in front of this funky wall of art.

We then made our way past old buildings, worn churches, and famous colleges. Alissa took a momment to once again pose infront of some student graffiti which this college town is apparently notorious for. We didn't even make it to the leaning tower before stopping at Panetteria Antiche Tradizioni, an old school Italian restaurant and bakery. We we in need of a few cold Peroni's on this hot day which were followed up with a cutting board of local cured meats and cheeses. MMMmmmm.... When we left we had a lot of food and more than enough drink in us.

Making our way to the leaning tower, we did the "pushing the tower back" pose. Then found us a chill spot on the tidy golf green lawn and just admired the unique Pisa Romanesque style of the Cathedral, Baptistery, and famous crooked tower. It is amazing how all those little pillars make these big buildings look so fragile and cute.

Florence (Part 3): Famous Art Galleries and The Perfumery of Santa Maria

The next day in Florence was a busy one. Matthew had reserved us a spot in line at both the famous Accademia (home of Michelangelo's David, the most famous sculpture in the world, among many others) and the Uffizi (the greatest collection of Italian paintings anywhere in Italy featuring all the famous artists who the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were cleverly named after).

It was a long day of ogling priceless masterpieces- think Alissa almost lost it and vowed not to set foot in another gallery on this trip. And yes, Michelangelo's David is truly amazing- totally worth it! Besides, he has such a nice bum. Alissa spent a good 10 minutes staring at it and Matthew pointed out that it looked a lot like his.

After hitting both galleries and getting our fill of renascence art we headed to something we were both eager to check out, a thousands year old, Dominican monk ran perfumery. It is called Farmacia di Santa Maria and is located on the grounds of the famous 13th century Church of Santa Maria Novella. The building and grounds where they grow the herbs for the products were brilliantly preserved. The odour in the place was hypnotic and waifed out the large wood door, down the old street, and into the night...

Florence (Part 2): Wondering the Streets of Florence At Night

After filling up on food we loved just wondering the streets of Florence. Although it was quite touristy it still retained a beautiful local feel to it, not lost in the bustle of camera toting tourists like us... Hahaha

Watching a tight group of white shirted Italian teenage boys trailing a group of sundressed-out-on-the-town teenage girls on the streets was like being in an Italian movie. The set was these narrow streets with enormous oversized wood doorways and street cafes. The girls would glace back at the boys and the boys would whistle and cat call them in return. This young romantic dance played out for a few blocks before the girls slipped into a cafe.

We were lucky enough to have a few of these wonderful nights in Florence, which was always capped off by a gelato at Grom. We, with the local Italians and some tourists, waited in line which tailed down the street for what would turn out to be the best gelato of our trip.

Florence (Part 1): Back to the Renascence

We got out of Rome the next day and headed on a breathtakingly scenic train through Tuscany to its most famous city- Florence.

We nailed a cheap room with a gorous view (this is key when traveling in Italy). It was on the third floor and overlooked Florence's Famous Cathedral Dome which is considered one of three of Italy's most famous bulidings (the other being the Colleseum in Rome and the Leaning Tower in Pisa). Also supplied a close view of the famous Medici tower and Cathedral which the window was directly above.

We got in at a good time and immediately got dressed up for a nice lunch. We landed by recommendation into the tiny little wine cellar/ bakery/ cafe of a place a few blocks from the old cathedral called Cantinetta dei Verrazzano. The food exploded our minds- we ordered the tagliere di focacce, a sampler platter of many local focaccia sandwiches, as well as a cutting board of cheeses and cured meats from the Florence region. We were well taken care of by maybe one of the most famous servers in the city named "Johnathan". He set us up good.

The wine we had there was also our first Chianti Classico. Can't remember the name of the estate but it was in the Castellina in Chianti area. The 2004 Reserva was a delectable glass of wine all for less then a glass of "house red" back in Canada- ahhh... we were here and living the life in Italy.

After gorging we just spent the afternoon wondering the Florentine streets gocking at the famous cathedral, looking at all the old artisan shops throughout the narrow streets. When turning the corner before facing the cathedral, Alissa literally let out a gasp because it is so utterly beautiful (this in compete contrast to her giggle when seeing the replica David statue in Piazza della Singoria).

Wonderful day capped by a delicious authentic Tuscany style minestrone soup and a walnut and cream sauce, hand made ravioli at a tiny restaurant called Resturante Le Fonticine. We had a bottle of Chianti Gallo Nego- wine, wine, wine, food, food, food.

After the meal we made a pact to never eat two sit down resturants in one day and to always drink at least one bottle of wine per day- a pact which we maintained throughout our Italian trip.

Rome: The Sun Setting Over the Colosseum and Getting Stuck in a Political Fundraiser

We probably had the best trans continental flight of our lives on our flight to Rome. We arrived early afternoon, took the train from the airport, found a cheap place, got all dressed up, and ready for our first night of our honeymoon. Rome was a hot place that night.

We wondered almost instictually to the Colosseum. When we turned the corner the setting sun was throwing hues of pink and orange behind the old Roman staple. We stood in awe, hand in hand, walking around the ancient structure, our minds raced to images of Gladiators battling tigers and slaughtering early Christians. It was romantic as is was mystical and surreal.

Our bellies soon grumbled and we were on the hunt for some "real" Italian food.

We found it in an unlikely place- in a large park near the Colosseum. On a stage there were tables with the typical red and white check pattern, most were filled with satisfied Italians and the food looked great!

We ordered our first Italian pastas Matt's was Mezzi bombardoni (needed the pasta list to remember that one) with a very pungent cheese and red cabbage- sounds simple but, in reality the taste defied space and time- it tasted like nothing I've ever tasted before making the taste incomparable. We can assure you that it was amazing! Alissa had a similarly mind blowing pasta with chopped octopus in it. We washed it down with a mixed varietal wine that was inexpensive but extremly good.

After dinner we found out that we were actually at a fundraiser for the Partito Democratico!

That pretty much set the tone for the trip.

The Wedding and the Honeymoon

Before we start bombarding you with posts from our Italian honeymoon, we just wanted to say that our wedding rocked.

For a nice synopsis see Jolean's posts here and here.

So how was our honeymoon you ask...