The Art of Taste and Taste in Art: Lucca and its Food, History, Art – Part Two

Posted on January 24, 2017 by admin

We turn another page as we enter the cathedral. The church and its furnishings are the outcome of almost five hundred years of expansions, modifications, and restorations. Altars, sculptures, paintings, intarsia, frescoes, furnishings, and organs have been added, removed, modified or stratified in the course of the centuries that have marked the history of the building and its relationship to events in the history of Lucca. Nonetheless, the emergence of figurative art among all the modifications is substantial and was carried out between the 15th and 16th centuries. In the right transept, there is the monumental altar containing the relics of Saint Regulus and also dedicated to Saints John the Baptist and Sebastian. This work is by the Renaissance artist Matteo Civitali of Lucca, who produced the majority of the sculptures and reliefs found within the cathedral in the...

The Art of Taste and Taste in Art: Lucca and its Food, History, Art – Part One

Posted on January 17, 2017 by admin

According to a recent survey, as reported by the Italian news agency ANSA, one out of every three people like to immortalize what they are about to eat with a photo, shifting from a sensation of sight to a more intimate and personal sensation of taste. In essence, that is why I believe this itinerary is still perfectly in sync with today: a one hundred percent Lucca itinerary melded in the cultural and culinary microcosm of the many Italian cities that constitute the multi-flavoured and multi-coloured palette of multifaceted Italy. We can therefore compare iconographic elements linked to food that, wisely elaborated through time, have served as instruments to both educate the masses and entertain the wealthy of Lucca. The city has always been a commercial centre, often extremely sacred and pious, yet even very profane and at times,...

Maggie Weaver

We learned so much about your lovely, historic city…

I would like to tell you that we very much enjoyed our tour today. We learned so much about your lovely, historic city. I apologize for whatever part we played in the mix up and appreciate your efforts to fix the situation. We will bring very nice memories back to California and will recommend your tour company to anyone traveling to this area of Italy.

Thank you very much,

Treasures of Valdinievole

Posted on June 21, 2016 by admin

The protagonists of the show are various kinds of works of art – like paintings, sculptures, pottery, photographs etc. – made by great masters and their students active in Valdinievole from the Sixteenth Century to the present day. Works of great artistic quality and historical importance, some of them realized by Pietro Annigoni, Galileo Chini, Giorgio De Chirico, Guttuso and Joan Miró, other unpublished or little known. Read all →

Toscana Arcobaleno d’ estate: visit the Gothic Line with Turislucca

Posted on June 1, 2016 by admin

Between 1943 and the summer of 1944, the commanders of the German forces decided to build a formidable defensive line from the Adriatic Sea to the Tyrrhenian Sea, 320 km long: the Gothic Line. In the province of Lucca it is still almost entirely intact... Read all →

The Columbia Threadneedle Prize 2016 @ Palazzo Strozzi

Posted on June 1, 2016 by admin

The Strozzina area of Palazzo Strozzi in Florence will be hosting The Columbia Threadneedle Prize 2016 @ Palazzo Strozzi from 1 to 24 July 2016, an exhibition designed to trigger a debate on contemporary figurative art in the work of forty-six international artists selected to mark the prestigious European award known as the Columbia Threadneedle Prize... Read all →

Turislucca earns 2016 Tripadvisor Certificate of Excellence

Posted on May 31, 2016 by admin

The Certificate of Excellence accounts for the quality, quantity and recency of reviews submitted by travellers on TripAdvisor over a 12-month period. To qualify, a business must maintain an overall TripAdvisor bubble rating of at least four out of five, have a minimum number of reviews and must have been listed on TripAdvisor for at least 12 months... Read all →

Graham Nash: Summer Festival preview

Posted on May 15, 2016 by admin

Legendary singer-songwriter GRAHAM NASH is a two-time Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee-with Crosby, Stills, and Nash and with the Hollies. He was also inducted into the Songwriter's Hall of Fame twice, as a solo artist and with CSN, and he is a GRAMMY Award winner. Read all →

Debbi Nager

Thank you!

Thanks to your email communication we arrived in Pisa this past Saturday to take the special tour. My husband and I are still talking about what an impressive tour and tour guide we had. He really made Pisa so interesting. On our own we would have seen only the Field of Miracles but instead we left the city with an insight to its contributions to the world as well as its beauty. Thank you!

George Goodwin

An excellent experience…

Gabriele Calabrese is recommended as guide in the 2010 edition of “Florence & Tuscany”; our group of six booked a private tour with him in March, 2010 and had an excellent experience; he is a knowledgeable, passionate resident of Lucca, with a broad and deep grasp of its history and traditions; he took us to see places we would never have seen without him, e.g. tunnels underneath the amphitheatre, the wooden sculpture of the Annunciation in the Church of San Frediano. The tour was supposed to have lasted 2 hours, but Gabriele’s enthusiasm and our questions almost doubled its original length (at no increase in price).

We had follow-up questions for Gabriele which we sent by email and he was quick and gracious with his replies. We are very happy to support Rick’s recommendation of Gabriele as a terrific guide if you’re interested in learning more about Lucca.