A city wall around a shopping paradise

Lucca is one of the most beautiful cities in Italy – and I have seen a few over the past fifty years. Rome, Milan, Verona, Venice, Pisa, Florence, Genoa, or Catania in Sicily: None of these famous metropolises has enchanted me as much as Lucca. Its unique charm lies in its structure around the historic city wall. It is over 500 years old, four kilometers long, and is surrounded by a massive 75-hectare (!) lawn – that's more than 110 football fields. At twelve meters high and up to 30 meters wide, it encircles the heart of the city with its approximately 80,000 inhabitants.

We hadn’t walked five minutes on the wall when Icke could no longer be restrained. The activity in the winding alleys, where one shop follows another, each window more enticing than the last, was too colorful and tempting. When we set out, I had to convince my wife: “But please not too far and not too long,” she had requested, looking at her aching hip. Three and a half hours later, I was trudging behind her with our two dogs and some heavy plastic bags.

We were barely 500 meters away from the parking spot when a regional market with jewelry and textile artisans opened up before us. Emmi, Pipo, and I found a bench – and surrendered to our fate.

Fortunately, we have already booked a parking spot outside of Lucca for tomorrow. A distance of five kilometers should suffice as a