If you are also a "fan" of the Renaissance or want to experience one of the most unique landscapes in the world, a visit to the Carrara marble quarries on the Apuan Alps is probably a must.
Famous for its quality and beauty, Carrara marble has been extracted from the same mountains for over 2000 years. But Carrara and the Lucca that then connects to Camaiore is particularly beautiful and often not always known as it should.
Here the contrasts between the colors of the Apuan Alps and the sea are the protagonists, a strip of land in our region that is also characterized by its inhabitants: anarchist spirits with a great personality, who speak particular dialects that do not resemble the "classic" Tuscan, rough but also refined for flavors and dishes, such as tordelli, the lard of colonnata, the farinata and others.
We want to give you some little-known addresses, if you are not local, where you can feed your desire for art but also the most physiological one: as always in Tuscany "you fall on your feet". This could be the process for a day out of town in several areas of Tuscany.
We start the tour between Carrara, Camaiore and Lucca.
Palazzo del Medico in Carrara
In Piazza Alberica which represents the heart of the city, you can see the statue of Maria Beatrice d'Este, much loved queen. All around there are splendid palaces of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, among which stands out the "Palazzo del Medico" in red.
In the last year it has been taken over by Votre - Spazi Contemporanei and transformed into a contemporary art gallery: the baroque building by Alessandro Bergamini, is rich in stucco and polychrome marbles. Illustrious guests have passed through here, to name one Antonio Canova: its appearance is deliberately left decadent in some of its parts. Extremely intriguing.
In addition to culture, do you want to taste a good tea or coffee?
Libreria Sopra la penna in Lucignana
Digging just a little, in the nearby Lucca area, we find a very special bookstore, set, born from a winning crowdfunding experience in 2019.
As in all the most beautiful stories, however, at some point a series of unfortunate events occur, here one happens, very bad: a fire destroys everything and you have to start over, but in the end the library Sopra la penna sees the light, after the first lockdown. Here as well as beautiful books, not many but really carefully selected, you can enjoy the spectacular view of the Garfagnana mountains, enjoying a good tea with pastries or a coffee (these included in the three-euro card that is mandatory for access).
Osteria Candalla - Lombrici, Camaiore
A truly fabulous tavern, arranged in several rooms, both indoor and outdoor, and with the aperitif area right next to the stream, thanks to the nearby waterfalls of the same name.
The environment is rustic but at the same time elegant, the dishes are typical but often combined with non-trivial ingredients. Given the particularly spectacular location, the advice is to book well in advance and also take into account a scarce presence of parking: on the other hand, the Osteria Candalla was born from an old renovated mill , antechamber of paths to the mountains also suitable for climbing.
A tour in Lucca that includes different Tuscan realities, extraordinary: in some cases known, such as Carrara, in other cases less known but perhaps, for this reason, more surprising.
Image sources: viaggi verde acido, finestre sull'arte, candalla home, tante care cose blog
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