Italy: Pisa and Lucca
For the New Year vacation, Nada, Bronco and me decided to have a trip to Tuscany, Italy. Pisa and Lucca are both quintessentially Tuscan cities, known for their stunning architecture, rich history, and vibrant culture. Today we decided to give them a visit.
We drove from our cosy village home to the Leaning Tower of Pisa.
That's us, tourists. Tower of Pisa is the campanile, or freestanding bell tower, of Pisa Cathedral. It is known for its nearly four-degree lean, the result of an unstable foundation. The height of the tower is 55.86 metres from the ground on the low side and 56.67 m on the high side. The width of the walls at the base is 2.44 m. Its weight is estimated at 14,500 tonnes. The tower has 296 or 294 steps; the seventh floor has two fewer steps on the north-facing staircase. The tower began to lean during construction in the 12th century, due to soft ground which could not properly support the structure's weight. It worsened through the completion of construction in the 14th century. By 1990, the tilt had reached 5.5 degrees. The structure was stabilized by remedial work between 1993 and 2001, which reduced the tilt to 3.97 degrees.
After we explored the area around Pisa Cathedral (Garmin Connect), we headed for the city centre.
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| Piazza dei Cavalieri (Knights Square) and Palazzo della Carovana, presently housing the main building of the Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa. |
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| Arno river is 241 km long, but we walked only 5 km near it in the Pisa centre - Garmin Connect. |
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| Our last stop was Lucca, where we walked all around the famous walls of Lucca. |
Walls of Lucca are among the best preserved Renaissance fortifications in Europe, and at 4 kilometers and 223 meters in circumference they are the second largest intact example of a fully walled Renaissance city after walls of Nicosia. The current walls of Lucca, which replaced earlier medieval and Roman fortifications, are the result of a construction campaign that started on May 7, 1504 and ended a century and a half later in 1648, with additional structural updates in the second half of the seventeenth century based on new knowledge and construction techniques. The only occasion in which the walls were put to the test was during the disastrous flood of the Serchio River in November 18, 1812.
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| The structure was converted into a pedestrian promenade and public park in the 1820s under the rule of Maria Luisa de Borbón of Spain. The new use of the walls also affected the spaces outside the walls, which were converted from smaller fortifications into large lawns. This public use persists to the present day: the path above the walls remains heavily trafficked for recreation, and in the summer it also acts as a natural stage for shows and events. It is a major tourist attraction in the city of Lucca. |
Even fresh water didn't help Bronco. Walks in Pisa and on the walls of Lucca (Garmin Connect) totally exhausted Bronco.
- Lean on Me, Virtual, GC8C7D
- Torre di Santa Maria, GC2720Z, where I retrieved trackable item "M70B's Germany TB 🇮🇹", TB84YEY and it stayed with me for the rest of the day
- CATULLO, GC9FZ8N
- Le Mura di Lucca, Multi, GC4MGAM
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