Verde Mura Is Where Spring Gardens Begin

Some recurring events serve to mark time, shepherding in a new year or a new season.  One such event in Lucca is the annual spring garden show, Verde Mura. 

Each April, Verde Mura takes place atop the walls that surround Lucca.  Just about anything one wants for a garden – whether garden means a small herb patch, several long rows of vegetables, a bed full of flowers, or a small stand of fruit trees – is available.  

With garden art and assorted crafts on display, there is little need to look elsewhere for spring garden inspiration.

This year - surprise - there were chickens and one very loud rooster !

Readers of this blog may recognize scenes from Verde Mura because I’ve written about it in past years.   But the event always seems to bring something new, not to mention it really does mark the beginning of spring for me, and so each year I go, camera in hand, learning about everything from heirloom beans to new varieties of tulips and daffodils.  

Sadly, I don’t have space for a garden in my tiny Lucca apartment. I can sometimes manage a few potted herbs, but that’s about all.  Despite that, I always come home with at least a gorgeous bunch of flowers, some treats from the food vendors (this year delicious black pepper and almond taralli), and the joy of having spent a few hours on a spring morning up on Lucca’s walls immersed in the colors and scents of the Verde Mura. 

Carnevale 2025

Corso Garibaldi is the street where the Magnolias bloom in Lucca.

We are on the cusp of a change of seasons in Italy.  No, not winter into spring quite yet (though here in Lucca the Magnolias are just beginning to bloom).  I mean the shift from the season of Carnevale into the season of Lent. 

The last Carnevale events in Lucca and Viareggio are scheduled for the first week of March, a last bit of fun and folly just before the seriousness of Lent begins on the 5th. 

In Lucca, the biggest Carnival event was the Sfilata delle Maschere (Parade of Masks) on February 23rd.  The procession began along Lucca’s historic walls and slowly worked its way to the center of town, ending in a big celebration in Piazza San Michele. 

The sfilata involved much more than just masks.  Viareggio sent groups of costumed performers and some of their smaller floats.

 While the huge floats in Viareggio’s parades require big crews to operate them and move them along, the ones sent to Lucca were the smaller carri (wagons) that take just one or two persons to operate. 

The parade began with the arrival of Burlamacco and Ondina, the official mascots of the event.  Their arrival was followed by a marching band and a special float – a large leopard created especially for Lucca.

This leopard was one of the biggest floats, requiring a tractor to pull it along the parade route.

Then came groups of costumed dancers and performers.  Could I tell you exactly what some of these groups represented?  Not a chance – but all were entertaining and, in the tradition of Viareggio’s Carnevale, a bit political, with a dash of the allegorical, and a whole lot of wild.

 One group of carri, each with a single person steering it, represented the spoils of war and the big money interests that favor it (at least that is my interpretation). The giant money hungry pig was certainly impressive. The sign on his float translates to “Lunch is served. As long there is war there is hope”. His waiters served up barrels of oil and tanks. This type of social commentary is exactly what I expect from Viareggio during Carnevale.

My favorite group of floats brought graceful acrobats twirling high above the crowd.  The were called In Equilibrio Sopra La Follia which translates to Balanced Above the Madness.  Seemed an appropriate theme for this year to me. 

The final float was the largest.  A train full of paper mâché people waving to the crowd.

Alongside the parade, the crowd included lots of costumed children and adults too. 

What a fun way to celebrate Carnevale before the much more sedate season of Lent arrives.

A February Week in Lucca

The last week or so here in Lucca has been mostly cold, rainy, and windy.  Some days saw just a slow drizzle but others were seriously rainy.  One night brought drama with thunder, lightning, hail, and brief periods of flickering lights.  Mixed in were periods of cloudy, chilly weather with breaks in the rain.  The rare days of sunshine felt like a gift with blue cloudless skies and some sunshine!

 Despite the less-than-ideal weather, there is a bit of buzz in the air. The long weeks of January are over, and the days are getting longer.  February is short and will land us one month closer to spring.

It is a time to make the best of breaks in the weather, go for walks about town, and see what might be new to discover.  Camera in hand (well, my IPhone camera) each bit of clear sky was a chance to set out and explore.

One walk last week brought a surprise encounter with a local group of Steam Punk enthusiasts.  All in costumes, they make for compelling photographic subjects. 

A lovely Steam Punk lady!

 Walks around Lucca last week also provided a chance to see Valentines Day themed window displays.  Look closely at the typewriter in the photo below – the brand name is most appropriate.

 A lot of the buzz in the air had to do with the start of Carnevale, an event that will go on until the beginning of Lent.  Viareggio is home to most of the Carnevale action, but the themes, masks, confetti, and  paper mâché creations spill over into Lucca in many ways. 

Last week it was in the arrival of the Skull Parade, a collaboration between Viareggio and Mexico City.  The large paper mâché creations reflect Mexican Day of the Dead culture with a splash of Italian Carnevale.  They are scattered throughout Lucca so you never know when you might stumble onto one.  Searching for these teschi (skulls) was good motivation to go out for a walk, even when an umbrella was required.

Other Carnevale related arrivals included a huge Gorilla mask, created by the Cinquini brothers, under the loggia in Piazza San Michele.   Could his eyes really be following me?  Indeed they can!

 A Carnevale event just for children on Saturday was a blizzard of confetti thrown by costumed kids.  It was a fun kind of chaos. A stilt walker threw streamers for the kids and the unicycle rider provided bags of confetti.  Give a kid a bag of confetti and just watch what happens.

Inside the Piazza Anfiteatro, the oval-shaped piazza that follows the outlines of the old Roman Amphitheater, nightfall brought Carnevale themed projections on the buildings.  It was just warm enough to sit outside in a cafe (cozied up to the gas flame heater), sip a glass of wine, and enjoy the light show.

 All this in one week! And what will next week will bring? More Carnevale events and hopefully some drier weather.

Planes, Trains, and Epiphanies

It took me 3 planes, 3 trains, 2 airport shuttles, and an overnight in Rome to bring me from New Mexico back to Lucca a few days ago.  This was a considerably more complicated itinerary than my usual return to Italy. The why of it will be a familiar story to anyone who has experienced a long delay in the process of renewing their permesso (the permit for a long term stay in Italy).

If only the Befana delivered long delayed permessi

 My current permesso, which I have renewed annually for the last 6 years without difficulty, has been expired now since the end of August, caught up in bureaucratic delays.  Without a valid permesso, and possessing only the receipt as proof that I am waiting for it to arrive, I am OK legally to be in Italy. But boy is travel complicated! Without it, travel is permitted only directly between Italy and one’s home country. No stopping in any other Schengen zone country allowed.  Not even an airport layover to change planes is permitted.  That meant that my usual path into Italy – the US through Germany and onto Florence was not possible and I would need to fly from Albuquerque, where I was visiting my family over the holidays, to a US city with a direct flight into Italy. 

So, my return from New Mexico involved 3 legs – Albuquerque to Denver, Denver to Washington DC, and DC overnight to Rome.  Getting from the Rome airport to Lucca required a short train ride on the Leonardo Express into the Roma Termini train station, followed by a fast train to Florence, and then a slower local train from Florence to Lucca. This seemed a bit much to do all at once, so I broke the trip up with an overnight near the Rome airport.  So, 2 days of travel. 4 airports. 3 planes. 3 trains. 2 airport hotel shuttles. 1 hotel. Whew!  Luckily all went smoothly and I am now happily back in cold, rainy beautiful Lucca.

The stage is set for La Befana’s arrival in Lucca later today.

I have arrived just in time for the final event of the Christmas season here in Italy – the celebration of Epiphany.  Epiphany, or Three Kings Day, is the 12th day of Christmas.  It marks the day when the Magi, following the Christmas star, arrived in Bethlehem with their gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.   But, they arrived without one important person – the Befana. 

The Befana is an old woman, portrayed as a crone or a witch.  The story goes that the three wise men stopped her to ask for directions on their way to Bethlehem.  She directed them along, but declined to accompany them for she had much housework to do.  Later, she tried to follow them but got lost.  Ever after she has wandered around, on her broomstick, leaving goodies in the stockings of good children on the eve of Epiphany. 

This Befana roamed the streets, along with a chorus and musicians, in Lucca on the evening before Epiphany.

In Italy, Epiphany is marked by re-creations of the Magi arriving in Bethlehem and by festivities related to the Befana. There are Befanas wandering the villages, Befana themed cakes, songs, dolls, and images.  

In Lucca, on the eve of Epiphany, a troupe of musicians and singers gathered to sing about the Befana (video on Instagram and Facebook). The Befana herself accompanied them, delighting children with her basket of sweets. The legend of La Befana is an old tradition that remains an important part of the Christmas season here.

 In Lucca, an annual event marks the arrival of the Befana in the Piazza San Francesco.  She arrives from a rooftop in the piazza (with help from the local fire department).

Each year her arrival is just a little bit different (photos below are from 2 previous years). Later today she will arrive and rumor has it she will come in Babbo Natale’s sleigh (I will be on hand to watch, look for some photos on Instagram and Facebook late today).  

The little ones will gather around as she tosses candies to the crowd on her way down from the roof top.  And they’ll wait to receive stockings filled with candies or other goodies. 

 La Befana - what a fun way to bring the holiday season to a close.

 As for the other meaning of epiphany – a sudden “ah ha” moment – I had one when I realized that the last two quarter century years have marked major turning points in my life.  1975 (the first quarter century year of my life) was the beginning of my “adult ” phase marked by graduation from college, my first professional job, a marriage. 25 years later, 2000 brought a big career change, the launching of my youngest child, and being suddenly single.  Now, 2025 is here, possibly my last quarter century year unless I live to be 97 in 2050. I plan to make the most of it!  I am hoping for joy in small things, some great travel, gentle opportunities for growth, pleasant surprises, and – finally – the arrival of my long term Italian permesso! 

Steampunk, Italian Style

Steampunk is a type of science fiction that transports us not to the future but back to the past.  Back to an era of Victorian style combined with early industrial era mechanical devices.  

It’s almost as if a person in the 18th century was looking 100 years into the future and imagining what the world would be like.  Machines powered by steam, dark magic, devices made of bronze, time travelers, flying machines, good guys and evil. 

Steampunk fashion reflects this in its elaborate Victorian style costumes embellished with all sorts of mechanical Industrial Revolution era devices.  Think ladies in dresses with corsets, lace, and full skirts.  Victorian, but with an edgy feel.

Picture men in brocade suits, breeches, leather vests or jackets, top hats, and boots.  Men and women both sport goggles - they seem to be hallmarks of Steampunk style

 And it’s not just the adults - Steampunk kids are beautifully costumed as well.

Now, add in the industrial bits: clocks, gears, pocket watches, moveable wings, mechanical arms, metal face masks, fancy canes and weapons.   

One of my favorite parts of Lucca Comics and Games is the Steampunk Italia group which has a big presence throughout the event.  This year, there were 3 separate Steampunk gathering days.  All took place in Piazza San Michele and were followed by a parade through the center of Lucca.    Many of the participants wore different costumes on different days – some days black, other days white, one day even an a Puccini opera theme.

The costumes were elaborate, very individual, and nothing short of amazing. I can’t even guess at the number of hours that go into crafting each one. The little details – mechanical arms, elaborate face masks, industrial style devices strapped to backs, arms, embellished hats, fancy canes – just wow!

Steampunk Italia is one of the most photographed groups during the Comics event.  It’s easy to see why!

The 2025 Edition of Lucca Comics and Games will take place from Oct 30 to November 3rd. It’s not too soon to make plans to attend.