Lucca and Barga (most Scottish town in Italy)

Sunday 15^th June

We had driven up to Lucca yesterday and were at Il Serchio a camper stop for camping cars only. Again it was very close to town so worth the slightly high price! After breakfast we walked into the walled town centre. It has been a Roman colony, briefly under the control of Pisa then independent for 500 years. Napoleon ended all of this in 1805 when he placed his sister in charge! It escaped any damage in WW2 so has remained unchanged for centuries.

classic fiat 500s

We entered through Porta San Donato which was huge and complete with portcullis still in place, and immediately heard lots of car horns – a procession of classic Fiat 500’s were driving along the top of the city wall  (normally for pedestrians only) . Lots of little “Topolinis” zooming along with typical Italian flair.  Made us smile.

incredible exterior 

ornate doors

The streets were busy but very peaceful with a lovely relaxed atmosphere after the bustle of Pisa. There were several piazzas with small cafes dotted around them. We made our way to the Catterdrale di san Martino. The exterior was lavishly detailed in different coloured marbles. The stautes above the doors depicted the months of the year.

months of the year

Piazza Napoleone and Giglio had a huge antiques market with some very interesting items for sale. Some very beautiful tables with very detailed marquetry were a bit big to bring home!

antiques market

The Torre  with a tree growing out of the top entirely made out of rather crumbly looking bricks. Apparently the tree has been replaced / replanted several times.

tree on a tower!

Next stop was the Piazza Anfiteatro which is located where there used to be a Roman Amphitheatre. Some remnants are visible if you look closely above the existing buildings.  It was lovely just to sit and people watch over an ice cream. The picture below is a 360 deg panoramic view.

amphitheatre 360 view

Lucca was a very enjoyable and relaxed place to visit the cooler weather helped too!  (only 29 deg )

We left Lucca after the compulsory cup of tea at 5pm and moved the short distance north to Barga on the edge of the Garfagnana  valley. We found the camping car sosta after squeezing round a tight corner and the inevitably badly parked cars. It appeared to have caravans & motorhomes stored there and one permanent scruffy caravan?  We parked up and were told that if we didn’t want to use electric no need to pay! Bargain.

Barga sosta

We went for a stroll into the old town up the steep streets to the church (best view point naturally). I could hear Scottish accents?  This was confirmed when an old lady stopped and chatted to us – in English with a definite Scottish accent. Turns out we were in “Italy’s most Scottish town” – see pic of plaque. 

view from church

plaque says it all!

In the 50’s lots of people from the town emigrated to Glasgow and its surrounding area for work. Nowadays their families return for holidays and some have second homes. Nice quiet place with great views but again scruffy round the edges with a lack of maintenance of public amenities. Below us was a great walk down into a valley. It had a really nice water feature built out of granite blocks running down the valley to a pool. Completely overgrown , no running water and a frog infested, stagnant pool at the bottom! What a waste.

Barga - old bridge

water feature