What to see in Lucca

Lucca is a city located in the plain of the same name, bordered by the Pizzone plateau and the Pisan Mountains. The city has become famous for its historical monuments. It is one of the few capitals to keep the sixteenth-century walls completely intact and unchanged. Born as a Ligurian settlement, it developed as a Roman colony starting from 180 BC. C. Roman Lucca still preserves the amphitheater, the forum and the church intact. The city is one of the main cities of art in Italy which also boasts suggestive urban spaces. The church of San Michele in Foro is the main place of Catholic worship located in Piazza San Michele; the facade of the church is adorned with four orders of loggias and surmounted by a marble statue of the Archangel Michael with metal wings, in the act of defeating a dragon with a spear. The interior has three naves, with a transept and a semicircular apse. Among the works of art preserved there are the Madonna with Child in glazed terracotta, the Pala Magrini with the saints Girolamo, Sebastiano, Rocco and Elena and the high relief of the Virgin sculpted by Montelupo. The cathedral of San Martino was founded by San Frediano in the sixth century and then rebuilt by Anselmo da Baggio in 1060. The interior has a Latin cross shape with a hall divided into three naves; the apse is entirely occupied by the presbyter, at the center of which is the high altar in polychrome marble. In the cathedral there is the Madonna enthroned with Child and saints from 1479. In a room near the sacristy there is the funeral monument to Ilaria del Carretto made by the sculptor Jacopo della Quercia which depicts the noblewoman who died in childbirth. The sarcophagus depicts the girl in a richly dressed sleeping pose. In the cathedral is the Mascioni opus 755 pipe organ, built in 1957-1962. The Marian botanical garden boasts several species of trees such as cedars and pines. The tower of the hours of Lucca is 50 meters high and is the highest of the 130 towers in the city; the tower dates back to the 13th century although the clock was only added in 1390.