Rains were becoming less frequent by Saturday, April 21, when we drove to Pistoia, a small city about halfway between Lucca and Firenze (Florence). We parked just outside a remnant of the city wall and found a very soggy market-day scene toward the old city center. More startling displays of Romanesque black-and-white church facades greeted us, San Giovanni’s in particular. Inside San Domenico I drew two marble floor borders. I used the quatre-lobate one as a basis for my next border. I reduced the spacing between the elements to exaggerate its jumpy black-and-white aspect. The sky, as I was driving back west to Lucca in the late afternoon, was littered with backlit cumulus clouds that were becoming quite ragged as drier air was filling in with a promise of fairer weather ahead. This is the sky I attempted to paint the next morning at our home in the hills north of Lucca.
I lived in Lucca as a young college stduent, and was exceedingly charmed by this quaint mix of old and new. Locals from nearby cities told me Lucca is trendy, but I found it comfortable and endearing even as a young woman traveling alone and living in a hostel. I, like other posters here, loved Lucca so much that I was hesitant to go to Pisa or Rome; I so enjoyed the culture and offerings of the streets just outside my room, I found no time to leave.The coffee, the pasta, the gelato, early-morning pastries from the local bakery, the square and churches lit up during a summer-night stroll I would love to retire to Lucca one day; I recommend anyone bound for Tuscany spend a few days (if not more!) in Lucca. OP, thanks for your photos, they’re beautiful.