May 30 Site visit #4

Today being a Saturday, I decided to take day trip to Lucca which turned out to be a very quaint walled city reminiscent of many Tuscan/Umbrian medieval cities. The major difference is you can walk on the old wall surrounding the entire old city (citta vecchia). I visited the Cattedrale di Lucca where I saw the Volto Santo. The guide book recommended seeing the Tomb of Ilaria del Carretto located in the sacristy of the cathedral. There is an admission fee to do so and for 6 Euros, one can get an all inclusive admission to 3 sites: the Tomb of Ilaria del Carretto, the Museo della Cattedrale di Lucca and the Chiesa e Battistero dei Ss. Giovanni e Reparate. The tomb of Ilaria had a card guide with detailed interesting information/interpretation of the tomb.

The museo della Cattedrale turned out to be a gem of a museum! What a pleasant surprise this little museum turned out to be. The museum displays the treasures of the Duomo & the Church of Saints Giovanni and Reparata (the former cathedral of the town). As with many other museums/tourist attractions in Italy, they had an audio tour which I think is utterly unnecessary because all the displays had labels with descriptions both in English & Italian. I really thought that the museum did a great job of displaying the objects with appropriate spot lighting. Most importantly, the museum had classical music piped in throughout the entire museum. Overall, the museum visit was a good experience although it still lacked interactivity.

Lastly, I visited the Church & Baptistery of Saints Giovanni & Reparata. This is an archeological site with access to the excavations found underneath the 12th-century church. Unfortunately, there were very few signs/labels. However, these few labels were in both English & Italian. Prior to entering the church, I was given a printed handouts in a plastic sheet. This was quite useful however, there was way too much information on these handout. I craved for the story behind these ruins under the church... where's the story/re-enactment/photos - missed interpretation opportunity...