9 April - Il Fine Settimana

It is Saturday morning and we are conflicted.  Outside lie yet to be explored parts of Lucca yet inside is the homely sound of British radio and a sense of calm after the last week of intensive Italian.  Looking down on the street everybody is wrapped up for the cold and we can try and convince ourselves that this is reason to stay in a little longer but of course, as we know after my run earlier in the week, their attire is probably no indication of the cold to us British. 

In the afternoon we wandered round the corner to the nearby Piazza and see the church of St Michael in the Forum, so called because it is built on the site of the Forum in the old Roman city of Lucca.  In fact, if you were to look at a map of the old city you would see the main streets following a distinct grid pattern; these follow the lines of the old Roman streets.  Of course the Roman history is now heavily masked and the Piazza with the church of St Michael is now a picture of white marble and 13^th century architecture.  Walk just north of us you would find the Piazza del Antifero, once a market square and now a classic Italian piazza of cafes and restaurants aimed at tourists with prices (high) and quality (low) to match.  But the striking thing about the piazza is its shape.  It is oval rather than square as it has been built directly upon the site of the old Roman amphitheatre:  the Roman history of this city is here to see if you only know what to look for.

Each year at this time Lucca runs a major film festival and last night selected bars around town were decorated in the style of different films: James Bond, Frozen, Grease, Shrek and many others.  We headed out early into buzzing streets to see a few prior to a night at the opera with the school to see ‘Mephistopheles’ by Italian composer Arrigo Boito.  The cultural link is that he wrote the lyrics for two of Verdi’s operas and Verdi is a son of Lucca but we were as much attracted by the 7 Euro ticket price…..