Tom`s travels: Pisa, Calci & Lucca (28/05/2021)

After coming back to Italy from Germany, I had decided to do a long pilgrimage tour of Italy, this time the longest I had ever taken. My brother though had asked if I also wished to do a couple of days with him as well on the Via Francigena from Lucca to Siena. We had in fact done the last, from Siena to Rome, and first, from Gran San Bernardo to Santhia, parts together and so were planning to walk this middle part together again. With us were joining our friend Marco, who had walked the last part as well, and Tiziana and Giacomo, both first time on a pilgrimage. So on a Thursday evening, we got in the car, left Vicenza, and several hours later reached the beautiful city of Lucca, which I had seen two years prior with Ania. After check-in in our Airbnb in the city center, right next to Piazza Napoleone, we decided then to have something for dinner. I stayed at home and cooked myself some food I had brought with, while the others headed in the city for dinner. After finishing I then met up with them as they were nearly done and then we strolled a little around town.

The following day, both Marco and Will had decided to work as it was still a Friday, while Giacomo and I decided to take the car and head towards Pisa, as he had never been there. We parked the car at the supermarket lot right next to the medieval walls on the northwestern corner of the city and then continued on foot. We passed through the beautiful Piazza Dei Miracoli. where the city's most famous landmarks are located, the Baptistery of St John, the Camposanto, the Cathedral, and the Leaning Tower. Here we took a free ticket to see the interior of the Cathedral with its white marble Romanesque exterior and mix of Romanesque and Baroque interior with the impressive pulpit by Giovanni Pisano dated 1310. After a quick stroll through the city center admiring the rest of what Pisa has to offer we then stopped for lunch at a place I had visited previously, We Love Pasta. We had a tasty fast food kind of meal with local typical products, pasta with boar meat sauce. After that, we got back in the car and drove to the nearby beach town of Tirrenia, a favorite of mine when I was a child. In fact, together with our grandma on our father's side, my brother and I would come every summer for about a month in July. We parked the car and then headed to visit the places I hadn't seen in such a long time. We stopped by the Grand Hotel Continental where we used to stay at, which brought me back so many good memories, and then headed down to see the beach. The sun was shining and the weather was perfect, but unfortunately, we had not brought a swimsuit with us so we just walked along the shore and enjoyed the view and the nearly complete absence of people. Once we had walked long enough we headed back to the car and drove on to our next stop, the Certosa di Calci. After parking our car on the parking lot in front we headed in to visit the place. Luckily we had just arrived in time as a tour was starting right at that hour, 3pm, and so we quickly bought our tickets and joined the other three people waiting there. Located at the foothills of the Pisan mountains, about 10km east of Pisa, this monumental Carthusian monastery is one of the largest and known in Italy. Founded in 1366, the monastery grew in importance reaching its peak during the 17th and 18th centuries when it received its current Baroque appearance. After entering through the main gate we reached a large courtyard surrounded by the buildings of the complex. Right in front was the monumental church with its nice Baroque facade and the elegant symmetrical double-flighted staircase leading up to the entrance. Once inside we then admired the single nave with beautiful frescoes and wooden choir stalls. A marble low walls separates the area intended for converts, those who lived and worked in the monastery but weren't actually priests or monks. Most of the frescoes were executed by the Bolognese artists Antonio and Giuseppe Rolli and detail the Old Testament while the frescoes of the cupola and behind the main altar are by the Lucchese Stefano Cassiani. To the right of the main altar, we then passed through a door and entered the Sacristy, the chapel of the Relics, and other smaller chapels where the monks celebrated their daily private mass. Particularly interesting were the beautiful marble floor inlays which were different for every room and with an incredible 3-d perspective. We then passed through the small cloister with a nice wellhead and a long hallway that was once used by the monks to organize their day. In fact, as the rule stated no conversation was to take place outside of pre-fixed moments, they had invented a system where the responsible monk would pull out wooden tablets signaling what and who must do a certain task, such as doing the laundry, cleaning the floors, arranging the table, etc. After that, we walked around the large and main closer set at the back of the monastery with a nice yet unkempt garden and all around the cells of the monks. We were able to visit the one belonging to the Abbot which was rather large and nice. In fact, each monk had his own cell, private little chapel, and even a small garden. From there we then continued on and visited the nice and large Refectory, with 18th-century frescoes detailing the daily life of the monks. On the upper level, we then visited the rooms of the guesthouse, known as the Foresteria Granducale, as it was once used by the sovereigns of the Granduchy of Tuscany. Our visit was then over, we thanked the kind guide and exited through the west wing of the Charterhouse which now houses the Museum of Natural History and Territory of the University of Pisa. In fact, the monastery was abandoned when the last monks left in 1972, and from then on it was partly taken over by the University of Pisa and partly by the Italian Ministry of Culture which organizes the tours for the main parts which we had just seen. After the visit, we headed back to the car and eventually drove back to Lucca. Once there we met back up with my brother and Marco as they were now done working and wished to see a bit of the city. They decided to head up the Torre Guinigi, which I had already seen and instead wished to see something else. I headed then to the Cathedral which I did not get the chance to see last time I was in the city as it was paid. This time, with the excuse of the pilgrimage, I was finally able to get in for free. The beautiful church features an elegant and lavish Romanesque marble facade with three arches creating a portico. Embedded in the right pier of the portico, at about eye level, there is a labyrinth dating from the 12th or 13th century symbolizing the long winding path towards salvation. The interior of the church, remade in a Gothic style features an interesting octagonal temple that contains one of the most precious relics of the city, the Volto Santo. It is a 2.4m tall wooden carving of Christ on the cross which is said to have been made by a contemporary of Jesus, Nicodemus, and miraculously conveyed to Lucca in 782. After exiting the church I then decided to head up the bell tower to admire the view. The tower, like the church's facade, dates to the 12th century and was built in a Romanesque style with the most part featuring brick while the top in white limestone. After paying the 3 euro ticket, I climbed the 217 steps to reach the top of the 59.5m high bell tower. From here I had an amazing view of the city and thought it was even better than when I had climbed the Guinigi Tower as I could now actually see it instead of standing directly on it. At one point right before closing, I noticed down the square below my friends and brother, whom I had previously called, trying to get up the tower too. The lady downstairs told them it was too late so they had to then wait for me to come down. Then together we headed back to our Airbnb and then later to have dinner at the Trattoria da Leo, where I had spaghetti with ragù sauce. Finally, back home, Tiziana finally arrived, and we then all got ready for the following day when we would start our pilgrimage towards Siena.