Adventures in Musica…

Arriving in Lucca this time, we can benefit from the lessons previously learned such as… which entrance to take to the wall if you want to use the ramp and not the stairs,( difficult to maneuver with suitcases) … 

We returned to Lucca as it was the small livable city we visited in 2019. A place we could settle into and “live Italian”. The wall, a dramatic feature of Luca, provides an ever changing landscape of vibrancy, people walking, running, cycling. Changing color, the daylight filtering through the various stretches of trees and parks, light and dark, shadows and sunbursts, provides visual interest.

Social exchange, the views from above on the wall into the playgrounds and schoolyards, the friends meeting along the path, or the visitors and families trying out the bikes and the cafe and the grassy areas to run and play are inviting and inspiring. The nightly passagiata with a community of strangers and friends coming together brings a peace and a connection that is sorely needed today. 2022- there is still a vibrancy in Lucca.

We try to take part in things that are integral to the community(and when it is accessible with our language limits… all the better). This week, The Lucca Classico Musica festival is taking place. We embrace it fully to deepen our experience feeling music is the universal language.

The first very cool concert we attend is a Silent WiFi concert. The program is performed in the garden of the Palazzo Pfanner, a garden filled with lemon trees, eucalyptus, marble statues, magnolias, all illuminated at night. The theme of this concert is the night.

Nocturnes by Chopin, Debussy, Beethoven, will be played in the center of the garden, at 11 pm ( 23.00) on a grand piano that the audience will only hear with the Wi-Fi headphones that glow an eery blue light in the dark.

What we did not see coming, was the pairing of art mediums. The concert also allowed for guests to wander the gardens taking in the night while listening, a very dramatic recitation of poems regarding the night, the moon, the light and the death, and an artist who transformed a canvas from 4 columns of painted stripes to a story that expressed the emotion of the music. We questioned the start time and the format, but enjoyed it all nonetheless.

The next day, the festival sponsored many small concerts on various places through out the day. Again, trying to embrace the local experience, yet still challenge our comfort level, we decide to go outside the walls of Lucca to the Villa Reale where the Madrigal Singers will perform. 

The trek to the Villa requires a ride on the bus. Challenge accepted! The bus station itself has closed during Covid. Busses still run, but the automated ( and less than clear) ticket system has replaced the ticket booth.

We do find someone who fills us in on the route, the bus, etc… he just leaves out the part about pre- buying your ticket. Armed with various combinations of exact change, we confidently board the bus. With Covid precautions, the driver motions to the middle door of the bus and we hop on. The new “moveit” app is highly advertised but only provides schedules of busses.

The phone app does not work ( we soon find out) if you have a SIM card and we soon realize we are riding a bus that will not allow us to pay on board… sure that the polizia will be waiting to arrest us, we get off the bus ready to throw ourselves at the mercy of the bus driver ( Google translate has helped provide support for communicating in sticky situations). As we walk to the front door to explain our plight, the bus speeds away.

We are in a temporary reprise. Glad we have made it to our destination, yet too far from Lucca to walk back. 

We enjoy a lovely day at the Villa Reale. It is the former home of Pope Leo Xlll and of Napoleon’s sister. It is an expansive estate of gardens and palaces. The outdoor gardens are the best.

When the day nears the end… the concert that drew us here is about to begin, we realize the artistic pairing for this concert is by a botanist who impassionedly discusses the flora and fauna of the Villa grounds ( in Italian of course) for nearly an hour, only to give way to 2 brief selections by the Madrigal singers…

In the end, we figure out our bus paying fiasco, purchase tickets home and find the correct bus stop. Feeling a little like super hero’s we ride into Lucca, through the wall! Home at last. Conquering heroes! What a great day.

Coat of Arms or glass of wine…. Hmmm