Underground Lucca

Posted on February 13, 2021 by admin

Underground Lucca is a journey between two parallel worlds that may, at first, appear different and distant from one another. However, the everyday world of light intertwines with the dark world of a more reserved and inner life. In the concealed dimension of the city’s underground, history and archeology and the sacred and the profane often overlap. With this video, we look to discover hidden but fascinating realities: ancient areas of worship, such as the intriguing baptistery of San Giovanni and original crypt of San Michele, and the underground world of the city walls that attests to the evolution of the defensive system in the days of the independent and proud Republic of Lucca. …and this is just one of the videos we are preparing in order to share the marvels of Lucca with you… Please continue to follow...

The tombstone dedicated to Adele in the cloister of the convent of the Church of San Francesco (Saint Francis)

Posted on February 28, 2020 by admin

The three cloisters of the Convent of the Church of San Francesco (Saint Francis) were recently restored and are part of the IMT University campus. They are open to the public. The entrance is on the left hand side of the church. Along the walls of the cloisters are many 19th-century tombstones of the upper middle class of Lucca. It is interesting to read the epitaphs engraved on the stones commemorating those buried. Many of the deceased were in their twenties and many others were children. After the twentieth stone, there is a very particular inscription. Those that battle for gender equality will either be filled with indignation or have a good chuckle. AGNESE RAGGHIANTI BORN LUCCHESI TO HER MOST BELOVED SISTER ADELE SHE POSSESSED ALL THE BEST MORAL QUALITIES AND WAS MORE INTELLIGENT THAN OTHERS OF HER GENDER...

A curious story regarding the tomb of the merchant Tignosini

Posted on January 23, 2020 by admin

Just a few steps away from the tombstone commemorating Adele, at the corner of the second cloister near the entrance to the Church of San Francesco, visitors will note an old medieval tombstone with a lunette overhead that has one of the oldest frescoes in Lucca. The tomb dates 1274 and contains the remains of a merchant of Lucca, who was named Tignosini. In the chronicles of San Francesco, compiled in the 17th century by the archivist of the convent, there is a lot of information and news regarding the foundation of the convent, much of which is unpublished, strange, and sometimes, quite disturbing. The rich merchant Tignosini, who was a resident in the parish of San Frediano, died in 1286. He had expressed the desire of being buried in the Church of San Francesco in his will, probably...