352 Route 52.
LI CCA.
From Pisa
fortifications, and many interesting churches. '■Lucca Vindustriosd!
is noted for its silk-factories, a branch of industry introduced from
Sicily in the 14th cent., and also for its woollen goods. The
Oriental fez is largely manufactured here and exported to the Le¬
vant. Lucca is one of the pleasantest provincial towns in Italy.
Lucca (Roman Luca) was founded at a very remote period. It
first belonged to Liguria, afterwards to Etruria, and became an im¬
portant municipium. In B.C. 56, Julius Caesar, who was then governor
of Gaul, held a conference here with Pompey and Crassus, with whom
he had been associated since B. C. 60, in order to discuss a plan for the ad¬
ministration of the Roman empire for the ensuing five years. The splen¬
dour of Lucca at that period is still indicated by the remains of the Ro¬
man "Amphitheatre near S. Frediano. After the fall of the Roman Empire
Lucca belonged successively to the Goths, Lombards, and Franks, then
became a duchy, and in the 12th cent, a republic. The feuds of the
Guelphs and Ghibellines impaired the strength of the place so seriously
that in 1314 it was compelled to succumb to Ugucione della Faggiuola
of Arezzo, the warlike governor of Pisa. Dante resided with his friend
Uguccione at Lucca in 1314, and there became enamoured of the youth¬
ful Gentucca (Purgatorio xxiv. 23), but he does not describe the inhabitants
in very flattering terms (Inferno xxi. 41). After the expulsion of Uguc¬
cione , Lucca fell in 1325 into the hands of the powerful Castruccio
Castrani degli Interminelli of Lucca, who was also master of Pisa and
Pistoja. On 23rd Sept. 1325 he defeated the Florentines at Altopascio, and
in 1327 was nominated imperial governor of Tuscany by Emp. Lewis the
Bavarian. On his death in 1328 the power of Lucca declined; its next
master was Martino della Scala; it subsequently came into the possession
of Pisa, but in 1369 purchased its own freedom from Charles IV. for
300,000 fl., and remained independent till the invasion of the French in
1799. In 1805 Napoleon gave Lucca as- a principality to his sister Elisa
Bacciocchi; in 1814 it came into the possession of the dukes of Parma
of the house of Bourbon, who in 1847 ceded it to Tuscany.
In the History of Medieval Architecture, Lucca, like Pisa, occu¬
pied an important position at a very early period. The churches of
S. Frediano and S. Michele were both founded upwards of a thousand
years ago, though probably little now remains of the original edifices.
The columns in S. Frediano, like those of the early Christian basilicas
of Rome, are antique. The taste for building, probably stimulated by
rivalry with Pisa, was again revived in the 12th cent., when the older
churches were altered and restored, doubtless in accordance with Pisan
models. — Towards the end of the 15th cent., Matteo Civitali (1435-1501),
one of the most pleasing sculptors of the early Renaissance, resided,
and produced numerous works, at Lucca. His style somewhat resembles
the best pictures of that period, and, though full of life, is of a graceful
and gentle character, contrasting especially with Donatello. — The
pictures of Fra Bartolommeo in the cathedral and S. Romano (the latter
now removed to the Palazzo Pubblico) are also worthy of notice.
Immediately on quitting the station, we perceive within the
ramparts, to the right, the handsome —
^'Cathedral of S. Martino (PL 1 ; J), 3), erected in 1060-70
in the Romanesque style by Bishop \i^Umo Bodagio (aiterwards
Pope Alexander II.), but afterwards frequently restored, with a
sumptuous facade. The vestibule was added in 1233 and the choir
was begun in 1308. The vestibule contains sculptures of the be¬
ginning of the 13th cent, representing the history of St. Martin.
Over the small door is St. Regulus on the right, and a *Descent
from the Cross on the left by Niccolb Pisano; below, Adoration of
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