Days Out

Benabbio and our hills: The villages around Le Mura are perfect for a leisurely day of delightful surprises. Many villages have themed festivals in the summer with local food. Highlights in the area include the church of San Cassiano or the castle of Lucchio. Wander up to the top of Benabbio and then through the wood to discover the castle and  visit the archeological site.  Puccini and Napoleon III were also visitors to Benabbio. In 1600 the population of the village reached 1500. Today full-time residents number about 300. A ceremony that has remained unchanged in Benabbio for centuries is on 15th August, the Festa in Onore della SS.Vergine or Festa dell'Assunta. There is a procession of the wooden statue of The Virgin around the village by candlelight. Benabbio has a wonderful village shop selling local produce, a news agent and two restaurant/bars, one with a wood burning pizza oven, both run by Benabbino families. In the summer there is also a club with dancing under the stars on a Saturday night. Benabbio  has a very active community with lots of young people, giving everyone a chance to practice their Italian.

Bagni di Lucca has been a popular spa since Roman times, which still functions today. The British have been very closely associated with Bagni and it was an important stop on the Grand Tour. Significant visitors include the poets Byron, Shelley and the Brownings. Other regular guests were the poets and winners of the Nobel Prize for literature Carducci and Montale, writers like Dumas, Heine and Montaigne, musicians like Strauss, Listz, Paganini and Puccini, and Popes, politicians and regents. Napoleon’s sister Elisa married the Grand Duke of Lucca and had her summer palace in Bagni di Lucca. A couple of generations later, Napoleon III stayed in a little retreat a few meters away from Le Mura. Testimony of this prestigious 18th century tradition still remains: the Anglican Church, the neo-classical temple at Villa Demidoff, numerous other beautiful villas and also the first Casino in Europe.The public swimming pool uses the thermal waters. There are also tennis courts, bars, restaurants and a supermarket. The river has splash pools for a dip in the clear waters.

Lucca has been described as the perfect city with its wall to keep it safe and has recently been declared a UNESCO world heritage site. Ride or walk  around the walls, visit the churches and museums, enjoy browsing in the elegant shops with their Art Deco fronts, or simply enjoy a famous Italian Gelato made by one of the family owned Gelateria. A meal in Lucca can be elegant and sophisticated as in the restaurant “Buca di Sant’Antonio”, frequented by Princess Margaret of Great Britain or a simple Osteria on a piazza. 

Lucca has 98 Romanesque churches to explore. St Martino, the Duomo, contains Jacopo della Quercia’s Ilaria del Carretto and Tintoretto’s Last Supper. San Michele’s church was built on the ruins of a Roman temple. Lucca’s galleries reveal unexpected masterpieces of Mediaeval and Renaissance art. The streets within the walls are closed to traffic and  bicycles can be rented. This is the  city of Puccini and Boccherini and is full of music. There are concerts every day.