Why is Lucca so Lucky?

Driving through the imposing medieval walls into the small Tuscan city of Lucca, we asked ourselves three questions:

Why does everyone look so happy?
Why is everyone on a bike?
Where is all the tourist hoopla?

Over the course of our three-day break, we found answers to all our questions.

First, everyone looks happy because they live and work in one of God’s green acres. According to Forbes magazine, Lucca is the second most idyllic place to live in Europe (after Patmos, Greece) and “has all the charm of Tuscany without the crowds … This is a quiet, though classy town, with lawyers and housewives peddling the narrow cobblestone streets past thousand year old churches and made-in-Italy fashion boutiques.” OK, that explains the contentment but …

Why does everone ride a bike? Because the busses don’t fit through the walled entrance and because most of the perfectly preserved historic centre has been pedestrianized. Locals and visitors alike find it more fun and easier to wiz around on bicycles. Bike rentals are everywhere and prices are reasonable (inquire at the tourist office). A highlight for visitors is to cycle the 4 km circuit around the broad, tree-lined ramparts.

But what about the tourist hulabaloo? As Lucca is a classy town and seems to appeal to a more discerning kind of tourist, the “tour bus, fake handbag and warped post card” options you find all over Florence and Pisa are in short supply. We did find lovely and fairly priced Italian linens in a shop called Butterfly on the Piazza S. Frediano and our daughter was able to find beautiful but affordable Italian paper and notebooks at the tobacconist on Via Santa Croce. Cultural offerings including churches, museums and ‘climbable’ bell towers were equally impressive and uncrowded.

Finally, we were delighted with our hotel and the restaurants. Thanks to the suggestion of Italian friends, we stayed at the mid-priced Hotel Ilaria, which was a great recommendation. This hotel benefits from an excellent location, charming staff, and lots of freebies including parking, WiFi, bicycles and drinks and snacks. Our rooms in the annexe, a former 14th century church, were large, nicely appointed and dead quiet. Rates include a generous buffet breakfast.

The best meal we had was at the Buca di Sant Antonio. This romantic restaurant has been a Mecca for the great and the good since 1782. The food and service were excellent. Also good was the Antica Locanda dell’Angelo where we feasted on budget busting truffles. We had a tasty €10-a-head lunch at Ristorante Gli Orti di via Elisa and the Café di Simo, with its belle époque interior, is a great place to see and be seen.

All in all, our three days in Lucca was hard to fault on any count. This town is indeed lucky, and we’ll be back.

Photo from Rex Maximillian's photo stream on Flickr.

Ostia - Harbour City of Ancient Rome

I could write a book, and maybe I will, about dragging children through museums and monuments. More often than not it is a fat bribe that does the trick; the promise of something good to eat and the chance to pick out a nice gift in the shop. And so it was with real excitement that I read Nick Trend’s article in the Daily Telegraph about taking his family to Ostia Antica, the ancient port of Rome. Here I had found the description of a perfect NoCrowds adventure, a huge, totally underutilised archaeological site that had engaged and entertained a family for an entire day. Who could resist.

We ended up inviting Eloise’s godfather to join us for our excursion. In addition to being an avid historian, a fluent Italian speaker and pretty good translator of Latin graffiti, he also owns a car. The 20 mile drive from Rome was easy enough but for anyone without an Italian speaking, driving godfather, there are also good public transportation options such as the metro and even the possibility of travelling by boat. The official site of the Soprantindenza gives the most up-to-date opening times but is only available in Italian. Try http://www.ostia-antica.org/ if your Italian is not up to snuff.

After the noise and incessant activity of Rome, Ostia seemed to us to be a green, romantic haven. In its hey-dey in the 2nd century, this would not have been the case as a thriving population of 100,000 inhabitants went about the business of supplying the city of Rome with goods imported from every corner of the ancient world. Within this city devoted to trade and commerce, with a main street that runs for over a mile, one can still find the remains of apartment buildings, hotels, brothels, bars, baths, communal latrines, workshops, storage buildings, a forum, temples and more.

During our visit, we had this 10,000 acre ancient harbour city virtually to ourselves with only occasional sightings of badly behaved Italian school children. Eloise was impressed by their irreverence. One of our Italian friends who read this posting feels strongly that these children must have been French. In any event, Ostia is a completely relaxed place where children can climb happily over the ruins and no one seems to mind. I’m sure the archaeologist do, but there were none evident during our visit. While extensive, Ostia is smaller than Pompeii and one comes away with a real sense of how a Roman town was laid out and operated. But it was the connection to Caroline Lawrence’s children’s mystery story, The Thieves of Ostia, which made the site come alive for Eloise. The book opens in the Necropolis as did our visit and as we continued to uncover the locations described so accurately by Lawrence in the story, Eloise began to buy in to the idea that not all tourism promoted by her parents is boring.

As a NoCrowds experience, Ostia rates 5 stars and demonstrates that within easy reach of Rome, one can still wander alone through the skeletal remains of an ancient city and have an intellectually absorbing, bucolic and and amusing time. This is what tourism should be all about. Go there.

Ostia Antica
Viale Romagnoli 717
Tel: 06 565 00 22

The ruins of Ostia Antica are open seven days a week, from 9 in the summer and 9:30 in the winter. Admission 5 Euro. Allow at least four hours for your visit.

When in Rome

A great event in my life took place when my sister packed up and moved to Rome. That she found a fabulous, if slightly eccentric, apartment in the ancient centre is a big help to NoCrowds Europe, so thank you, Alexa, very much.

Certainly, Rome ranks in the upper echelon of crowded and complex cities. Tourists have probably been saying as much for centuries, and many of the monuments such as the Coliseum and the Trevi Fountain are examples of places that have been completely compromised by the numbers. And still, as with any great city, Rome has its share of wonderful NoCrowds experiences.

Take, for example, the Galleria Doria Pamphilj off the Via del Corso with the main entrance on the Piazza Collegia Romano. The gallery is part of the largest palazzo still in private hands where the princely family is in residence and very much present. Here you have the opportunity to view masterpieces of the 17th century by such artists as Titian, Raphael, Tintoretto, Caravaggio, and Velasquez as well as sculpture by the likes of Bernini and family furniture and artifacts. Unlike more typical museums, every effort has been made to show you exactly how the family lived with and displayed this amazing and still intact collection. And if great works of art were not enough, there is even a chapel complete with the mummified corpse of the family saint which should hold the attention of even the most museum-phobic child.

Included in your EUR 8 price of admission is an excellent audio guide where the voice guiding you is Prince Jonathon Doria Pamphilj who speaks the most beautiful English I have ever heard (Click here to find out why and to read about his legal battles with his adopted sister). The prince takes enormous pride in his family’s history, art collection and Palazzo, and tells a cracking tale of how this complicated family and their fortunes and artwork were assembled. After spending a couple of hours with his irresistible, velvety voice, I was reluctant to give back my audio guide.

According to Pamela Keech, sculptor, installation artist, historian and contributor to one of my favourite guidebooks, City Secrets Rome, edited by Robert Kahn, “ for a very simple, yet utterly breathtaking effect, visit in winter at dusk and contrive to be in the galleries when the turn the lights on … with endless crystal chandeliers and sparkling wall sconces.”

Certainly one of the big benefits of your visit is the chance to view one of the most important paintings in all of Rome, the Velasquez portrait of Pope Innocent X, a key figures in the family’s history, in a room specially designed to showcase the painting. Spending time with this portrait in relative peace and quiet is a great gift. During my entire time in the Galleria, I saw not one single tour group, no one prattling on with a raised umbrella, which is remarkable considering the fabulous artwork and the fabulous setting. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that the Galleria is not that easy to find. And as a final word of caution, do not make the mistake of heading for the Villa Doria Pamphilj which is in a different part of the city or for the Palazzo Pamphilj on the Piazza Navona which also belonged to the family.

What you should head for either before or after your visit to the Galleria is the Portico D’Ottavia in the ancient Jewish quarter (about a 10 to 15 minute walk) and the restaurant Hostaria Giggetto, a favourite of Roman and tourists alike. The same family has been serving up classic Hebraic roman cuisine for 3 generations. The atmosphere is lively, family oriented and fun. Don’t miss the mouth watering and memorable Jewish specialty “carciofi alla giudia” which are whole artichokes flattened and fried. Giggetto’s is always full but also seems to have an endless series of room. On the weekends or if you want a table on the outdoor terrace, it’s important to book. A meal should set you back somewhere between 40 – 60 Euros.

Galleria Doria Pamphilj
P.zza del Collegio Romano, 2 – Rome
Phone +39 0606797323
FAX +39 066780939
arti.rm@doriapamphilj.it

http://www.doriapamphilj.it/

Opening hours
Friday - Wednesday 10.00 - 17.00
Closed on Thursdays, 1 November, 25 December, 1 January, Easter Sunday, 1 May, 15 August

Entry
Full price: Euros 8 Reduced (over 65, students, groups): Euros 5.70

Hostaria Giggetto
At the Portico D’Ottavia
Via del Portico d’Ottavia, 21/A

Phone + 39 06 6861105
Fax + 39 06 6832106
Closed Mondays
Price Euro 40 - 60 a head including wine