Page 328 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Italy

326  CENTR AL IT AL Y

Exploring Lucca

Lucca’s peaceful narrow lanes wind among the medieval cleared on the orders of Marie
buildings, opening suddenly to reveal churches, tiny piazzas, Louise, the city’s Bourbon ruler
and many other reminders of the city’s long history, including of that time. It was then that the
a Roman amphitheatre. amphitheatre’s original shape
was revealed, a graphic and
evocative reminder of Lucca’s rich
Roman heritage. Low archways
at the piazza’s cardinal points
mark the gates through which
beasts and gladiators would
once have entered the arena.
E Museo dell’Opera
del Duomo
Piazza Antelminelli 5. Tel 0583 49 05
Medieval buildings mark the outline of Lucca’s old Roman amphitheatre 30. Open daily. Closed 1 Jan, Easter
(am), 25 Dec. & 7
T Anfiteatro Romano centuries to build churches and The museum, housed in the
Piazza del Mercato. palaces, leaving only a handful of former Archbishop’s Palace
Roman Luca was founded in original fragments studded into (14th century), displays the
180 BC, and stones from the today’s arena-shaped Piazza del treasures of the Duomo of San
ancient Roman amphitheatre Mercato. Slum housing clogged Martino. These include the 11th-
have been ransacked over the the piazza until 1830, when it was century carved stone head of a
R San Martino Façade
Piazza San Martino. Tel 0583 95 70 68. Open daily. The cathedral façade
& for sacristy. is decorated with
Lucca’s cathedral was built after the campanile; Romanesque
hence the façade’s cramped and asymmetric sculptures and
appearance. The main portals contain remarkable colonnading (1204).
13th-century carvings by Nicola Pisano and
Guidetto da Como. The Tempietto inside houses
a painting by Tintoretto and the Volto Santo, The
a revered 13th-century campanile
was begun
effigy once believed in 1060 as a
to have been carved defensive
at the time of the Ghirlandaio’s tower.
Crucifixion. painting of The
Madonna and
Domed Saints (1449–94)
is in the Sacristy.
chapels
encircling
the apse

Romanesque
blind arcades and
carved capitals

Matteo Civitali’s marble
Tempietto (1184)
Tomb of Ilaria del Carretto Nicola Pisano
(1200–78) carved the
This beautiful portrait in marble by Circular clerestory windows, in the nave Journey of the Magi
Jacopo della Quercia (1405–6) is of and above the aisle roof, illuminate the and Deposition on the
the youthful bride of Paolo Guinigi. church’s unusually tall nave. left portal.
For hotels and restaurants in this region see pp569–73 and pp590–96

326-327_EW_Italy.indd 326 26/04/16 5:17 pm
Eyewitness Travel LAYERS PRINTED:
Catalogue template “UK” LAYER
(Source v2)
Date 14th November 2012
Size 125mm x 217mm