Pisa and Lucca

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  Anfiteatro romano
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  Battistero di Pisa

Tuscany private tour is very important, Pisa and Lucca. These are two small but important citys. Pisa was one of four Maritime republics is the collective name of a number of city-states which flourished in Italy in the Middle Ages.The major four are the Amalfi, Pisa, Genoa and Venice. These states competed with each other both militarily and commercially. From the 10th to the 13th centuries these cities built fleets of ships both for their own protection and to support extensive trade networks across the Mediterranean, leading to an essential role in the Crusades. As they found themselves in competition, these republics engaged in shifting alliances and warfare. In Pisa, now the most visited monument and important is the Leaning Tower. To visit the tower of Pisaand climb to the tip top and the beautiful Piazza dei Miracoli with the Baptistery it takes 3 hours. During its period of greatest prestige and power, Pisa, which was a rapidly-expanding city, wanted to erect its most important church, crowned by what is now known as the Leaning Tower, the Baptistery and the Camposanto. The architecture of the four structures, their harmony, was not the fruit of a single mind. Infact, the square is the result of the work of more than one brilliant architect working over several periods on the overall structure. Reinterpreting the geometry of architecture and borrowing from Islamic Art, they invented a new style: Romanesque. Pre-dating the Florentine Renaissance this style is found in figurative art as well in the work of exceptional artists such as Nicola and his son Giovanni, who influenced artists such as Brunelleschi, Donatello and Michelangelo himself.

From Pisa in thirty minutes, our driver will take you to the medieval town of Lucca, a beautiful and ancient city ofbankers in the history of Tuscany. Lucca is built inside the walls of fortification, not unlike the major cities of the ancient Via Francigena. The city is very beautiful and there are palaces and churches to visit and most importantsquare in the center of the amphitheater. The amphitheatre, where gladiatorial shows and games were tradionally held, was built in Lucca in the second half of the 1st century A.D.. The discovery, during the demolition of some walls, of which we have news in the 19th century, of coins belonging to the reign of Emperor Claudius, suggests that work on the building was begun after the middle of the century. However, the it certainly wasn't finished before the late Flavian Age, when funds were granted by an important citizen, Quintus Vibius, whose rank was that of an "eques" or knight and who, according to an inscription in his honour, found inside the arena in 1810, donated 100.000 sestertii in ten years. Progressively, the original function of the building was lost; with its proportions and position outside the town walls it became a threat to the town itself, as it risked falling into the hands of eventual enemies. It is likely that, from the 6th century A.D., during the Gothic wars and the siege of Narsetes, the amphitheatre was fortified for military purposes and its outer arches closed. Successively, other buildings used as houses and, for a certain period, even as prisons, were added to the structures that had survived abandon and plunder. Between 1830 and 1839, following a project by the architect Lorenzo Nottolini, the buildings accupying the ancient arena were pulled down and the inner area, its profile slightly adjusted, became the present day piazza. The remains of the Roman Amphitheatre are preserved, incorporated in buildings bordering the present day "Piazza dell'Anfiteatro", in the northern part of the town. The elliptic shape of the piazza corresponding, to  great extent, to the area of the ancient arena, is the result of a 19th century restoration that permits us to appreciate the volume and the general outline of the ancient monument. Besides, on the outer perimeter, along the present day "Via dell'Anfiteatro", we can see some of the original walls, in particular in front of the "Piazza Scalpellini" and to the north, between the eastern gate, the only ancient one that remains and "Via del Portico".