History & Beauty in the Five Lands, Lucca, & Fiesole - matthewramage.commatthewramage.com

This post is eclectic, much like our travels over the past week. In the past several days, we took day trips from to the beautiful walled city of Lucca as well as to the ancient Etruscan and Roman city of Fiesole, just north of Florence. Over the weekend we Ramages celebrated our 5th-anniversary in Italy’s lovely Cinque Terre (“Five Lands”). These are five picturesque port towns on Italy’s west coast, once hidden gems but now widely known for great hiking and beautiful panoramas. While the first two towns I mentioned unveiled alot of history to us, the Cinque Terre are unabashedly all about the beauty of the small Italian sea towns.

Highlights of the week:

Fiesole’s surprisingly well-preserved Roman and Etruscan ruins, some dating back to the 8th century B.C. From a fairly short bus ride from our villa, you can go here to see a Roman amphitheater, Roman baths, a Roman/Etruscan temple, and a great museum with Etruscan urns, votive offerings, and more. I am currently fascinated by the Etruscan civilization, as its origin remains somewhat a mystery to scholars
Great anniversary dinner in Fiesole with kids at the babysitter
Lucca’s San Giovanni church with magnificent excavations underneath. You can literally walk through about 6 layers of history in this place–from the Roman to later Roman to early Christian to early medieval Christian to later medieval Christian to somewhat modern Christian
Lucca’s beautiful streets and churches, with a wonderful walk one can take atop the medieval walls still intact around the entire city
Walking the beautiful towns and coastline of the Cinque Terre and nearby Porto Venere. We saw 5 small towns in two days, all of which are connected by a combination of boats, paths, and trains.
A wonderful 5th anniversary dinner in the Cinque Terre in which we feasted on wine and fresh seafood with a toddler who behaved the best I’ve ever seen her at a meal and an infant who slept through it–thanks be to God!

Then there were two “dark” sides to the trip from which we thankfully emerged victorious. First was a typical, unannounced Italian train strike that almost left us stranded for an extra day in the Cinque Terre. By the grace of God, we managed to get out of our town of Riomaggiore and landed at Porto Venere on the only boat leaving that day. We subsequently catch a couple trains connecting us from Porto Venere to La Spezia to Pisa and finally to Florence (these were some of the few trains that happened to not be on the strike that day, and again we caught them by the grace of God). We arrived in Florence’s Santa Maria Station, caught a mass at the church of the same name outside the station, and then two buses back to our villa for Sunday dinner. Alot of work at the end of our weekend trip, but a bigger blunder avoided. Typical Italian travel story.

The second “dark” side to our week? Finishing our lovely pre-anniverary dinner in Fiesole on Thursday, we came down to the town center at about 9 pm to catch our bus, only to find the piazza closed. Closed. Why were there a bunch of EMTs and police offers out there? There happened to be an unpublicized pro bike race that night, and it literally blocked the only street that leads from Florence to Fiesole. Thus the bus we needed to return home to relieve our babysitter–as well as all potential taxis–were blocked from town until the race was over. Long story short, after asking a bunch of people what to do and ending up empty-handed, we started walking in the rainy black night down the road to Florence with bikers and their chase cars on whizzing by us in the opposite direction. After a while, we passed by the last bike, and we hailed a taxi which by the grace of God passed us. We ended up back to the babysitter about 1.5 hours late and 20 euros poorer, but at least we made it–and the kids were asleep.

So to conclude: traveling in Italy is great, but it is also work that builds virtue or at least can. Until next time, continue to enjoy the history and beauty in the photos below.

: Kilns behind the 5th-century church now under San Giovanni in Lucca; they had to mix the materials to build the church somewhere close–and in this case we happen to see precisely where it was done (right out back)

: Looking from the back of the 5th-century church underneath San Giovanni in Lucca. (floor visible on right) towards its apse and altar (rear)

: Beautiful sample of a 1st-century Roman mosaic at the bottom level of San Giovanni in Lucca. Other levels above this include a 2nd-century Roman bath and gym, a 5th century paleo-Christian church, and a medieval church built in several phases

: Several layers of baptistery sitting under the current baptistery in San Giovanni in Lucca

: The current church of San Giovanni in Lucca

: Julia trying to climb the bell tower of San Giovanni in Lucca

: Another simple but cool church facade in Lucca

: Cool Pisan-Romanesque church of S. Michele in Lucca. The coolest thing about this for me was the presence of many unmatching pillars across the facade

: Piazza where Lucca’s amphitheater used to lie–you can still see its outline in the buildings’ curvature

: Famous Luccan tower with little park on top

: Cool Pisan-Romanesque church facade in Lucca

: Franciscan convent atop Fiesole

: Entrance to the baths in Fiesole

: Plan of the Roman baths in Fiesole

: Marvelously preserved “small” 3,000-person amphitheater in Fiesole

: Side view of the temples in Fiesole

: Plan of the temples in Fiesole

: Remains of the Etruscan and Roman temple in Fiesole. In the very front, a Roman altar; behind it, the older etruscan one; in the rear, steps which led up to the temple

: Plan of the amphitheater in Fiesole

: Famous votive offering to the owl–symbolizing the goddness of wisdom, Minerva. The owl was used b/c it was believed to possess all-encompassing vision (it could turn its head 360 degrees, has huge eyes, and can see at night)

: This votive offering is famous–can’t remember why

: Remains of Fiesole’s temple facade, now safely stored in its museum

: Skeleton of a Lombard man (invader of the Roman empire from the North) found in Fiesole and featured along with its Etruscan and Roman artifacts.

: Candle holder featuring the god Helios (sun god)

: Votive offerings of legs found in the temple at Fiesole; the people apparently had alot of maladies affecting the legs

: Votive offering with an arm cut off. This was not by accident; rather, people would place these offerings in temples and pray that an illness (or a missing arm, in this case) would be healed.

: Greek vases numbering among the many great artifcats in Fiesole’s museum

: One of countless mini votive offerings unearthed at the Etruscan temple site in Fiesole. This one is characteristic with the man holding a pomegranate (left hand) and having his other hand facing down toward the underworld. The goddess Persephone, linked in mythology with this fruit, was worshiped here alongside many other deities–first by Etruscans and later by Romans

: Unique Etruscan writing on an urn in Fiesole’s museum

: I love it when the wine menu (left) is much bigger than the dinner menu (right). Gotta love Italy.

: The duomo of Florence at night from our restaurant overlooking town

: Dinner at Reggio degli Etruschi, overlooking Florence from Fiesole

: Dinner at Reggio degli Etruschi, overlooking Florence from Fiesole

: Beautiful presentation of our pre-anniversary dinner for which he had a babysitter for the first time in I don’t know when

: Pre-anniversary dinner in Fiesole, doing the traditional dip of biscotti in vinsanto (“holy wine”)

: Card showing the 6 layers of history excavated under the current church of San Giovanni in Lucca

: Altar of the 5th-century church of S. Reparata below the current church of San Giovanni in Lucca

: Vernazza harbor

: Looking back at Riomaggiore on our way to catch a boat that transfers people from town to town in the 5 Terre

: Little church right outside our hotel lobby’s entrance

: View outside our hotel room

: Cool galleria running from Riomaggiore’s train station to our hotel area on the marina

: Looking down on the city of Vernazza after climbing up to its tower (right) with 2 babies and a stroller. We were rightly called both brave and crazy by passers-by.

: Marina of Vernazza

: Intimate marina of Riomaggiore at dusk

: 5th Anniversary Dinner next to our hotel looking out on the marina of Riomaggiore

: Walking along the sea in Monterosso

: Facade of St. John the Baptist Church in Monterosso

: St. John the Baptist Church in Monterosso

: Facade of Monterosso’s Oratory of the Confraternity of Death and Prayer

: Monterosso Oratory of the “Confraternity of Death and Prayer,” a lay movement begun after the Reformation dedicated to burial and prayer for the dead