Oh, where to begin, where to begin? We have just returned from 10 days away to visit friends in Lucca and sightsee in Perugia, Assisi and other locales in the Umbria region. We began with a rather smooth and trouble free train ride down to Lucca, a lovely city in Tuscany where we were kindly invited by new friends Louise and Dom. (They are Americans from the NW who have lived part time in Italy for 8 years now). Dom and Louise own a home just outside of Lucca in a little village called Partigliano. They kindly picked us up from the train station and gave us a tour of Lucca--an incredibly charming city that has had a protective wall around it for 2000 years. It took a third of the town's income and over 100 years to build the wall but it worked! It kept out invaders over the centuries and today the wall serves as a great walking path and vista point around the small city. Lucca originally was a Roman settlement and Dom and Louise were amazing at giving us all kinds of historical tidbits as they showed us the interesting sights (and they actually have memories that work... unlike the two of us). There's a Roman amphitheater, small picturesque winding streets and, of course, many churches. No small part of Lucca's claim to fame is that it was the birthplace and hometown of the legendary opera composer Giacomo Puccini. Life size cutouts of him abound in the Fall of 2008 on this 150th anniversary of his birth.
From Lucca we drove the half hour or so that it took to arrive in Partigliano. The journey led us up very windy roads with views of mountains and fall foliage. It's olive harvest time and tree after tree is being patiently stripped of its bounty. The hills roll, the gardens, vineyards, and plots of tended land abound and we were so lucky to be surrounded by the beauty of Tuscany and in the warmth of Dom and Louise in their charming home.
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