Lucca (Days 9 and 10)

 

I associate Lucca with the romance of Italian music.  It was the birth place of the famed Italian opera composer Giacomo Puccini.  What could be better than to attend a Puccini opera in an old church in his home town?  Another famous Italian composer, Niccolò Paganini, also had ties to Lucca.  Gabrielle, our local guide, acquainted us to Paganini's intriguing life and his love interest in Lucca.  We listened to Paganini's composition while gazing up to the shuttered windows of his former home.  One cannot help but giggle when the enchantment was shattered by the fluttering of dusting rags poking through the window slats.

​

We took a few side trips from Lucca.  A few of us  attempted to straighten the leaning tower of Pisa.  We made an unforgettable and emotional visit to the American cemetery outside of Florence where World War II soldiers are memorialized.  We then sojourned to Vinci and toured the Museum of Leonardo da Vinci.  To nourish our bodies, we sampled freshly pressed green olive oil at Coop Frantoio "La Visona".