I had been looking forward to returning to Lucca having great memories of a trip John and I took there maybe 12 years ago. A sales rep friend of mine from Atlanta moved there with her husband a year after I moved to Florence and we were excited to catch up. I decided to book Zoe and I into the same place I stayed with John. HOTEL PALAZZO ALEXANDER we loved this hotel, its small and family owned  on a little side street and comfortably elegant. You are always opening yourself to disappointment when you go back to some place you had good memories of but I wanted to take the chance.

I was not disappointed. The son is now working with his father and they were so pleased I came back,

My friend Lola picked me up from the hotel and we went for a three-hour catch up lunch.So fun to compare our experiences with our “nuova vita.” We use to spend down time at trade shows day dreaming about moving to Italy. At that time it was just a daydream for both of us.She couldn’t wait to show me her city.

Tbe beautiful Piazza San Michele.

 

Piazza dell’Anfiteastro had a collection of sculptures by JIMENEZ DEREDIA. Born in Costa Rica where he started sculpting at 13. At 22 After graduating from the Academy of Fine Arts in Carrara, he spent the early 1980s attending Florence University’s Faculty of Architecture.You can find his work all over Italy.

Lucca has many large  piazzas. This is Piazza San Frediano with the beautiful Romanesque Basilica that has a gorgeous golden mosque on the facade.

There is no limit to shopping here. There is every high-end Italian label you can think of. My preference thou are the stores that cater to the locals. 

 

 

 

Not sure what era this bar is from but I love it  

There are many green areas throughout Lucca that I would like to bring back to Florence 

It was a beautiful evening perfect to dine out side. I wandered around and found LOCANDA di BACCO. Perfect choice.

Very nice outdoor patio.

My favorite first course, smoked salmon and buratta.

This was a very tasty ravioli with truffles 

This is Thomas S. England husband of my friend Lola. He is a retired highly respected photo journalist. Wanting to stay active and share what he’s learned from years of shooting photo assignments and teaching photography he started  THE LUCCA PHOTO EXPERIENCE 

If you live in Italy or coming to visit you would be giving yourself a real treat to spend 3 hours letting Tom show you how to achieve optimal results using the features of your specific camera or smart phone.

I found this picture of a John taken on our trip to aLucca about 10-12 years ago.  It’s always been one of my favorites. The next morning when we left it was snowing  

I Now have double the memories of Lucca.