We’re just back from an excellent week in Lucca, a beautiful town in Tuscany, just north of Pisa, birthplace of Puccini. As usual, Elaine found us an excellent apartment in the middle of the old town, within the 16th century ramparts, just around the corner from its famous Piazza Anfiteatro, the site of a Roman amphitheatre.
It proved to be an excellent base from where we would drive west to the beaches, north into the mountains, west towards Florence and south to visit Pisa and the coast down to Livorno.
Planned as a recce trip ahead of Simon and Jane’s marriage next year, it was a fun-packed, fact-finding week which included visiting the wedding villa and gardens, experiencing an excellent 9-course food and wine sampling from the caterers, and taking in an Elton John concert in the town’s main square. Of course, we also had to sample much of the local food and wine, then work it off with miles of footwork and cycling.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t until our last night that I discovered cafe corretto – coffee with alcohol, sambucca preferably – very more-ish!
