di lucca

Little town, in a quiet village,
Every day like the one before.
Little town, full of little people,
Waking up to say, "Buongiorno!"

Even though the story is written in France, these few lines from Disney's Beauty and the Beast would dance through my head every morning as I would open the old, Italian windows and peer out into the street below. Old cobble streets, remnants of churches on every corner, sweet little cafes, and bicycles everywhere is what greeted us in the quaint walled city.

As any child does, I too wrote a paper on my heritage-- where my last name, "DeLuca," came from. Through conversations with Grandpa DeLuca, I discovered our last name came from a province in Italy called, "Lucca." In Italian, to say "of" is "di"-- so over the years the spelling was changed to its current state. Since this time, I have always wanted to travel to see this part of the country, and when I discovered Lucca is an old, walled city, I was even more excited. After checking with our "travel guide," Rick Steeves, spending hours on line and searching for a place to stay in Florence, we decided to instead stay in Lucca. So, despite our lack of Italian and our limited finances, we made reservations at Le Violette with dear sweet Anna who spoke limited English.

Lucca, originally, a Roman settlement, dated back before the 4th century, and in the center of the town stands the remnants of an old, Roman ampitheater-- now the busy, center plaza for restaurants, shops and tourists. The town at one time had almost 70 churches within its walls and a tower on every corner. So armed with our small Italian phrase book, and our "travel guide," we found our way to Lucca.

I think Lucca may be my favorite place in the world. While there is no ocean (my true love), it's beautiful ramparts, and small Italian streets truly began to feel like home after four days. Anna, our host at Le Violette, was a sweet woman serving us breakfast every morning with a smile on her face, and a hearty, "Buongiorno!" During our visit we took in a Pucchini concert at an old church, sat at cafes, and took a full course Italian meal on the Piazza San Giavanni. What a sweet place... I am even more proud of my "Luccan" heritage. Maybe someday soon, I will return with some other DeLucas-- what do you think family? :)