La Capanna (Lucca) and the delicacies of Lucca
After a long, fun, somewhat confusing day visiting Ripafratta and Pisa, we were down to our last few days in Italy and adjusting our plans on the fly as we continued to work around the impacts of Alyssa's concussion plus our own energy levels. The ongoing balance between wanting to do more and see more vs. recognizing that a little down time would be good for all. The perfect solution was already right in front of us, literally. Our "home base" in Tuscany was the walled city of Lucca. About 30 minutes northeast of Pisa and about 90 minutes due west of Florence, Lucca is an often-overlooked gem that is conveniently situated to visit a lot of the great places that Northern Tuscany and the coast offer. In its own right, it is a beautiful city full of its own character, charm, and very proud history. I love Lucca. But admittedly I chose it because my primary goal in Tuscany was to visit Ripafratta and get to know my roots better while visiting with Emanuel
