Trips

Fri., 9/30/16 – Parma to Lucca

        This was the last day of our pre-trip. On the way from Parma to Lucca we had an interesting stop in Pontremoli, a small medieval town between two rivers – Magra (means slim) and Verdi (means green).  It was a town all Pilgrims and merchants had to go through to cross the Apennines.  As a result, “taxes” were collected at the Porta Parma, which acted as a tollbooth and was the gate through which we entered.  Along the narrow street are houses that originally had shops on the first floor (and many are still shops), offices on the second story, and living space above that.  There is a restored castle on the hill (Castle Piagnaro).      

Pontremoli - Street scene	Church doors
Street scene	Street scene
Cigarette machine	Street scene
Pontremoli Cathedral or Cathedral of Santa Maria del Popolo	Pontremoli Cathedral
Mushroom shop	Mushrooms
Town square	Bell tower
Path up to Castle Piagnaro	View from Castle Piagnaro
View from Castle Piagnaro	Our local tour guide showed us a stone “table”, which was given to a merchant to sell things from his home.  If the business were to fail, the stone (like a shelf) was broken as a sign that he was bankrupt.  The word bankrupt may have come from the Italian for “stone broken.”
Pinocchio statue	After a quick picture with a cute statue of Pinocchio, our bus took us to Macrone to the home of a woman who makes testaroli as her business.  A mix of wheat flour and water is poured into a hot! cast iron pan, cooked with the heat off, flipped briefly, and cooled on a cloth.  The circle is then cut with scissors into squares the size of raviolis.  These are then cooked for three minutes in boiling water, but the heat is turned off.  We watched her make them and then ate them as she served us lunch.  Some had just olive oil and Parmesan cheese, some had basil pesto, and some tomato sauce.  Then she served us two things like quiches and then an apple cake.  We took home leftovers to snack on later today.
Package of Testeroli	Making Testeroli
Making Testeroli	Making Testeroli
Testeroli with pesto	Testeroli with tomato sauce
Quiches

 

Sat., 10/1/16 – Lucca

        Friday ended and Saturday began with walks to look at St. Michael’s Church (1086).  The statue of St. Michael at the top has large bronze wings that flapped in the wind so they are now tied down in back.
        Our next church was the Basilica of St. Martin where the “Holy Countenance” is displayed.  Jesus is black with a long beard, open eyes, and is dressed in a Syrian robe.  It is a very different crucifixion.  Tintoretto's Last Supper, an unusual portrayal, is found on one wall.  The table is vertical to the observer instead of horizontal across the picture.  The plates on the table are like those used in Lucca in the 1590’s.   Judas is identified by his purple robe and the cat in the basket at his feet – both are symbols of evil and betrayal. 

	St. Michael’s Church
St. Michael’s Church	St. Michael’s Church
St. Michael’s Church - with the angle's wings anchored	St. Michael’s Church- bell tower
Basilica of St. Martin	Basilica of St. Martin
Basilica of St. Martin	Basilica of St. Martin
Basilica of St. Martin - The Holy Countenance	Basilica of St. Martin - Tintoretto’s Last Supper
Basilica of St. Martin	There are two statues of St. Martin of Tours on a horse, one inside the Basilica and the other outside, cutting off part of his robe to give to a peasant or pilgrim.
St. Martin of Tours (inside)	St. Martin of Tours (outside)
With our Lucca local guide, Stefano, another art historian, we spent three hours walking around inside the walls of Lucca.  The original Roman 6th c. walls, orthogonal streets, forum and amphitheater were expanded and enlarged in the 13th c.  The current 13th c. walls completely surround the old town and form a walking and biking path 2.7 miles long. The inner moat was filled in in the 18th c. The moat outside the walls could be flooded in three hours to defend the city mainly from invasions from Florence and Pisa.         We continued walking around the old streets and alleys with shops and restaurants and many people.  Tommaso bought us Buccellato to taste.  It is made only here in Lucca and is like raisin bread with anise flavor and very good.  We also noticed a defibrillator on a corner wall.  Evidently Italy is beginning to add them in tourist towns.         We looked at the mosaics on the outside of the Church of Frediano where the Sept. 13th procession to the Holy Countenance begins and then went to the Piazzo Anfiteatro.  In the 1800’s houses where built on the foundations of the Roman amphitheater.  This created a large piazzo that is now ringed by outdoor cafes.	City wall
Statue of Puccini	Puccini’s birthplace
Very old Plane trees	Opera House
Street scene	Buccellato
Defibrillator and instructions on a wall	Outdoor cafe
Church of Frediano	Church of Frediano - beautiful mosaics
Piazza dell’ Anfiteatro	When our tour was over, we walked back toward our hotel, pausing at an MS booth in St. Michael’s Square.  They were selling bags of apples to raise money for MS.  Marge took my picture there.         After lunch in our room, we went out and walked on the city walls from which we watched construction of some temporary structure. It was a very interesting process.
MS Fund Raiser	Gale at the MS booth
Building a temporary structure - very interesting process	Carousel

        Dinner was included tonight.  We ate at Buca di Santanio.  It was a 5-star meal and far too much food again.

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