Lucca
The stunning city of Lucca, full of Art and monuments
and surrounded by its imposing city walls dating from the 1500’s which are still
intact, is at the foothills of the Appennino range, the mountains that separate
Tuscany from Emilia-Romagnola. The city became rich and powerful around
1200/1300 when, with the development of the “via Francigena”, all the
commercial traffic travelling between Rome and France found that their route
took them through Lucca rather than Florence. Lucca became the important centre for silk production that was sold all through Europe,
also with the support of a sound banking
system, created for this purpose by the enterprising merchants of Lucca.
Lucca, the only city in Tuscany not to fall under
the patronage of Florence remained independent and flourished until Napoleon’s
defeat. The French Emperor, after conquering half of Italy, decided to give
Lucca to his sister, Elisa Bonaparte Baciocchi
The stunning city of Lucca, full of Art and monuments and surrounded by its imposing city walls dating from the 1500’s which are still intact, is at the foothills of the Appennino range, the mountains that separate Tuscany from Emilia-Romagnola. The city became rich and powerful around 1200/1300 when, with the development of the “via Francigena”, all the commercial traffic travelling between Rome and France found that their route took them through Lucca rather than Florence. Lucca became the important centre for silk production that was sold all through Europe, also with the support of a sound banking system, created for this purpose by the enterprising merchants of Lucca.
Lucca, the only city in Tuscany not to fall under the patronage of Florence remained independent and flourished until Napoleon’s defeat. The French Emperor, after conquering half of Italy, decided to give Lucca to his sister, Elisa Bonaparte Baciocchi
