Villa Torrigiani, Capannori, Lucca, Tuscany, Italy

North of Lucca there are many fancy villas dating from hundreds of years ago. This one,Villa Torrigiani, is from the mid-1500's and it's current owners open the grounds and house for public tours (7 Euro grounds only, 12 Euro house and grounds).

The south facing front of the house.

A pleasant way to spend a few hours on a beautiful day - wandering around the pastoral calm amid birdsong and sunshine.

A side yard garden.

The view to the north through a back gate.

Let the sleeping dog lie.....

Random Sights, Lucca Area, Lucca, Tuscany, Italy

Sunset from atop the wall. (Lucca).

A spring butterfly. (Pieve Santo Stefano).

Wisteria in full bloom.  (Monte San Quirico)

A lone bicycle parked in the colonnade. (Lucca).

Shadows in glassware. (Provence, France).

San Gimignano, Tuscany, Italy

The medieval hilltop town of San Gimignano still has more than a dozen towers standing. In it's storied past, there were more than 70 towers during the heyday of this two-thousand plus year old town. In the modern era, the town is a very popular tourist destination. 

On the day of my visit, there were buses full of both school-age folks and of seniors roaming the streets enjoying the summer-like warmth. In that warm weather, what could be better than...........

... a cone or dish of gelato! This shop claims to be the Gelato World Champion.

While a few doors away, this shop claims to have the best gelato in the world.

These are probably the best people to judge the winner.

A random group portrait of tourists.

A countryside view from town.

Playing in one of the piazzas. (All color removed in post-processing except the red sweater).

Tuscan Countryside, Volterra, Tuscany, Italy

The drive from Lucca to Volterra took us toward Pisa and then south along the E80 highway/tollway until joining the rural road SR68 to drive eastward. This view and the following scenic images were taken somewhere along that rural route.

Springtime green in the Tuscan countryside. (Panorama - click on image to view full width).

It was hazy skies but the close green fields were stunning.

Looking for a fixer-upper?

Look ma, no hands! In Volterra, an unusually wide street in this old Etruscan hillside town.

Local pizza delivery by motorcycle! My kind of town.

A long and winding road.

Odd  place to nurture, protect, and preserve a lone tree on a steep hillside.

Volterra is located on the distant hilltop.

Another of the gazillion vineyards. Looks like the plan is to plant something else between the vines on alternate rows.

Around Town, Lucca, Tuscany, Italy

The bicycle seems to be the most common form of transportation in Lucca - for young, old, and in-between. In the background is a section of the centuries-old wall that encircles the city. On top of the wall is a wide path for walking or cycling.

One of the many sidewalk cafes. This one is just off Via Fillungo.

A bicycle renting business next to the wall in Piazza Santa Maria. (3 euro/hr)

A long line of plane trees just outside the walls through Porta Santa Maria.

One of the eleven ramparts on the wall around Lucca.

A section of the 4km/2.5mi path on top of the wall.

A full color image - everything is black, white, or gray.

A woman tends her balcony garden and laundry room.

A pretty special place - Lucca. 

Pisa, Tuscany, Italy

Yes, the Leaning Tower of Pisa is still leaning and, yes, the tourists still throng there by the thousands even in early April on a weekday. (You can see the outside for free but must pay to climb the marble steps to the top). Construction began in 1173 and the lean began barely five years later.

Here's a view of the not-Leaning Tower of Pisa.

A local horse carriage driver using hand gestures to help accent his phone conversation.

Downtown Pisa along the Arno River.

This may be why the tower is still standing - thousands of tourists daily holding it up and pushing it ever closer to vertical.

It is an interesting comment on human behavior that hundreds of folks daily perform this very same act - myself included - of holding the tower from falling. It must be effective, the tower hasn't fallen yet.

Market Day, Lucca, Tuscany, Italy

On Wednesdays and Saturdays, a long street by the east wall of town is closed off and vendors set up their stands - clothing, shoes, produce, jewelry, trinkets, bread, cheese, sweets, ..........

The pointing finger (whose owner shall not be identified) likes those! (But no, she didn't buy them - wrong size).

The bread man was doing a brisk business.

Elsewhere, on Via Fillungo, a reflection in the glass cover on an advertisement.

Three pals enter one of the four arches into Piazza Anfiteatro.

Sunlight washes the Piazza Anfiteatro.

Children play without any helicopter parent to nag them to stay close.

A bicycle built for two - well, sort of.

A typical shop with not-so-typical cured hams hanging from the ceiling.

Lots of different types of biscotti for sale in this baker's shop.

A local woman walks home along the narrow Lucca streets with her daily shopping.

Just outside the city walls on the north side, this bicyclist cruises along the plane tree-lined path in the late afternoon sun.

It is a common sight around here to see well-dressed businessmen and women on bicycles.

Lucca holds a popular summer musical festival each year and they attract well known names.