In-depth info
In this section you can find in-depth information on the topics in the single sections, i.e. Archaeological sites, Fortifications and Churches.
The main aim is to stress the continuity within the typological diversity and single out thematic lines that might help in recomposing the territorial complexity of the present day Province of Lucca.
Therefore the selection presented here stresses the historical, cultural, social and economical aspects that determined material conditions of a culture in a specific moment of its history, influencing all other aspects such as art, style, architecture (civil, military and religious), funerals and liturgical rites.
Etruscan and Roman Pisa
In recent years archaeological research has solved the long debated problem of the Ligurian or Etruscan origins of Pisa in favour of its ancient and unmistakable Etruscan character.The settlement ...
Mesolithic in north-west Tuscany
The climatic changes occurred already since 14000 years ago in the Mediterranean area and northern Europe conventionally marks the passage from Pleistocene to the Holocene, the last and present ...
Neolithic in north-west Tuscany
The Neolithic (or "new Stone Age"), i.e. the time when human groups started making instruments by polishing stone, is considered the most important stage in cultural evolution as it marks the period ...
Palaeolithic man in north-west Tuscany
The Palaeolithic (or Early Stone Age) is the historical period which began about 2,500,000 year ago when Homo habilis and all successive human species evolved in Africa (see evolution scheme) . The ...
Roman Lucca
According to the Roman historian Tito Livio and confirmed by recent archaeological finds, Lucca was founded in 180 B.C. as a Roman colony and subsequently, in 89 B.C., a Roman municipality. The town, ...
The Apuan Ligurians
In the last decades of the IVth century B.C. Ligurian peoples settled the Po valley, probably spurred by the arrival of the Celts, moved south of the Apennine and occupied the mountainous areas of ...
The Etruscans in north-western Tuscany
The Etruscan presence in the Piana di Lucca is documented since the Iron Age when small groups of Villanovans, farmers and fishermen, settled along the course of the Auser river. Merchants from ...
The fortifications in the Plain of Lucca
The Province of Lucca is divided into 34 municipalities; only 6 of them are in the plain. One of the largest in Italy is the municipality of Capannori with its 40 hamlets. The other centres are ...
The fortifications in Versilia
Closed between the Trrenian Sea and the Apuan Alps, in the northernmost corner of Toscana, Versilia is a synthesis of culture and nature. A 20 km long straight strip of coast surrounding hills with ...
The fortifications of Garfagnana
In order to sketch an outline of the events that took place in the Serchio valley since the Middle Ages we must refer in first place to the heritage left by the Lombards: the reflex of this people's ...
The Roman colony of Luni
In 177 B.C., when one of the fiercest periods of war between Rome and the Ligurians ended, two thousand Roman citizens founded the colony of Luna with the patronage of the triumviri P. Elio, M. ...
The Romanisation of north-western Tuscany
In the IIIrd century B.C., after conquering southern Etruria, Rome turned its attention towards northern Etruria and formed alliances with single towns. Pisa, in particular, was for the Romans an ...
Via Francigena
The Via Francigena developed in the course of centuries from the union of different portions of Roman roads in order to face the new political and military situation that arose in the VI-VIIth ...