Before getting to today’s main attraction, I need to indulge myself for just a moment. Today I finally dropped by il Mercato Centrale in Firenze, planning to pick up some tasty treats to bring with me on what I had intended to be a day trip, and oh. This place is a foodie’s ultimate fantasy. It has both an indoor market of all kinds of food and an outdoor set of stalls with fresh vegetables and fruits of all kinds. It is saturated, every inch of it, with the aroma of porcini mushrooms. There are more cuts of meat, more organs and viscera, than I have ever seen in one place in my entire life. There is cheese–so much cheese. There is pasta, fresh and dry, there are cured meats, there are spices, there are oils and vinegars and wines. I could have wandered it for hours, watching the butchers hack at enormous slabs of beef with knives as long as my forearm.

I bought two big green pears and two tender orange clementines, and then I went to the station to catch the next train to Lucca.

Lucca is two years shy of its 500th anniversary–it was once a Roman outpost, evidenced by the stone and earth walls that still surround the core of the city. Its character is similar to Florence, but more relaxed and intimate. It has a number of churches, and many small piazze with elegant Romanesque statues.

Near the center of the city core is Torre Guinigi, the tower of the palace belonging to one of the city’s wealthy families of yore. It’s a steep but relatively short climb to the top, from which you can see the entire city and beyond to the surrounding hills.

I was simply stunned.

I mean, seriously.

I was originally only planning on a day trip to Lucca, but it got late and I decided to find a place for the night instead of returning to Florence and trying to do the same. No complaints here! Lucca is simply beautiful.

Tomorrow: departing for Rome!