Turislucca

Piazza Napoleone

The Art of Taste and Taste in Art – Part 3

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Another interesting aspect, from a historical point of view, is to find the places in town where commercial activity in regard to food and foodstuffs took place over the centuries beginning in medieval times through to the 19th century and compare it to today. Starting off at the Cathedral, we can stroll along the network of narrow streets that connected to the main axes of the city road system dating back to Roman times, the Cardo, that ran north – south, and the Decumanus, that ran east – west. Beyond Piazza Antelminelli, we enter Via San Donnino and then turn onto the charming Via del Battistero. Today, Via del Battistero is a succession of antique shops where an astute collector can find pieces of undisputed quality from any time period, be it furniture or figurative art, historically tied to...

Lucca - Duomo interior

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

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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...

Lucca -San Martino

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

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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,...

The Columbia Threadneedle Prize

The Columbia Threadneedle Prize 2016 @ Palazzo Strozzi

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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

San Regolo: detail

Art Itineraries for Tourists

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I present you with, not a treatise on art history in regards to the two artists, but an opportunity to compare two altars, both superb works of art, one located in the cathedral of Pisa, and the other in the cathedral of Lucca.  The two altars are respectively, that of San Biagio by Stagio Stagi situated on the east wall of the left transept in the cathedral of Pisa, and that of San Regolo by Matteo Civitali Read all