I Love Italian Travel - Western Tuscany, Part I

If you are looking for a European tourist destination, consider visiting the western part of the famous Tuscany region in central Italy. Depending on your interests, this beautiful area might be your ideal vacation spot. You can get classic Italian food, and wash it down with fine local wine. Many of the sites are very popular, especially in high season, but are well worth the visit. Be sure to read the companion articles in this series presenting eastern Tuscany and the Chianti region.

Our tour of western Tuscany starts on the Mediterranean coast at Viareggio. Then we proceed inland to Lucca. In the second part we turn southwest to Pisa and continue southwest to return to the coast at the major port of Livorno. We continue south along the coast to the town of Piombino and then cross the Golfo di Follonica to the island of Elba.

Yes, you can have Tuscany and the Riviera in the Mediterranean resort city of Viareggio. Its oldest building, Torre Matilde, was built in the mid-Sixteenth Century. This city is still a major shipbuilding center, but that probably won't influence your tourist decisions. Because of its seaside location it attracted many nobles from the nearby inland city of Lucca. The city hosts a Carnival (Carnevale in Italian) that they say is the most important one in all Europe; one that has been televised since 1954. During the offseason the Cittadella del Carnevale (Carnival Town) hosts a Jazz Festival and a Theater Festival. Other Viareggio festivals are EuropaCinema and Festival Puccini. You may also enjoy visiting the port and the marina. Its Monument to the Resistance and to Peace includes columns from the old City Hall, which was destroyed in the Second World War.

More than two thousand years ago Caesar, Pompey, and a guy called Crassus met in Lucca and agreed to rule a city in the adjacent Latium region, a city called Rome. Lucca was Tuscany's first Christian town and now hosts about 100 churches, more than one church per thousand residents. Have you ever heard of Maria Anna (Marie Anne) Elisa Bonaparte Baciocchi Levoy? This sister of Napoleon Bonaparte ruled Lucca for almost ten years in the early Nineteenth Century. Since she had a history of standing up to her famous brother, we can easily imagine how she treated ordinary Luccans.

Don't even think of bringing a car to Lucca's central area. The walls of the city have become a pedestrian promenade, but they were once used for racing automobiles. The often grass-covered promenade includes picnic tables and play structures but there is no railing. It's a long way down so be careful. Don't miss the beautiful Villa Garzoni and the Museo Nazionale di Villa Guinigi, situated in a Fifteenth Century Palace. You'll also enjoy the Piazza dell'Anfiteatro Romano whose medieval buildings are constructed over the Roman amphitheater. Of course there are several churches worth visiting including the Duomo, San Frediano, and San Michele in Foro. Lucca is famous for its olive oil.