Re-Knowing the Walls

With the arrival of Napoleon's sister, Princess Elisa, who governed Lucca from 1805 to 1814, the demilitarization of the Walls accelerated.
As early as June 13, 1807, an order of his allowed people to freely leave the city at night and, for the months from May to September, authorized "walking" on the Walls until the stroke of 11 in the morning in the section between the San Pietro and San Donato gates.
An enterprising coffee shop owner from Lucca, just eight days after the decree, was authorized to open on the “bulwark called Cittadella” a caffè “provided with refreshments" of the type that “they are used in France”.

In his diary, Abbot Chelini criticized that “sovereign decree” which allowed the “youth of both sexes… to be able to refresh themselves with iced water and sorbets of all kinds.” 

The Princess also designated the San Martino bastion for the 100 merino sheep brought from Spain, which were housed in the "shed that previously housed the bronze cannons." The walls' transformation was completed by lowering the parapet to provide a view of the countryside, installing seats, and, in 1811, opening the new gate that still bears the name of Elisa.

Around the end of the 19th century, coinciding with the development of the Sant'Anna suburb, a debate arose over how to connect it to the city. Having rejected the idea of ​​enlarging the San Donato gate, in 1905 the City Council decided to proceed with a significant breach in the walls, interrupting their continuity for the first time.

Upon learning of the project, there was a marked negative reaction. A committee was formed that launched an appeal to intellectuals throughout Italy. The first to express their support were poets Giosuè Carducci, Giovanni Pascoli, and Gabriele D'Annunzio, along with Giacomo Puccini, who deemed it "a true affront to our beautiful walls" and sent this telegram: "To the protest against the outrage that is intended to be inflicted on the green garland that encircles our Lucca, I add my voice in calling for respect for this ancient monument."

Submerged by this wave of criticism, the breach was avoided and the project was modified, taking the form that we still see today of Porta Sant'Anna.

Once the walls were discovered, the people of Lucca appreciated them not only as a military defense of the city but above all as a new living space, often using them for purposes the government disapproved of. Hence the constant recourse to laws and regulations that, like Manzoni's "proclamations," yielded no results.

For centuries, the city's poor would thieve fallen wood during the cold seasons, even cutting branches from trees at night. In summer, to escape the heat, many would retreat to the city walls, and women, heedless of the prohibitions, would stretch ropes between the trees on the inner slope to hang their clothes out to dry.
Even the soldiers posted to guard the walls had transformed the towers and bastions into vegetable gardens where they grew vegetables.

Outside, along the moat, flax was soaked, "spoiling" the water. In the "tagliata" area, vital to the city's defense, the increasingly frequent checks the government ordered revealed towering hedges, pergolas filled with grapes, and then mulberry, walnut, fig, and poplar trees. Undaunted by the soldiers' surveillance, horses, sheep, and mules grazed on the grassy terraces and along the moat, and pigs wallowed.

In 1569 the engineer Alessandro Resta drew this plan which highlights the weakness of the Lucca state, which was small in size and by now almost completely surrounded by Florence.

The rulers of Lucca only needed to look at this map to sense the threat looming over the Republic. The Lucca territory is represented in green, the Este domains in yellow, the State of Massa in white, and the Florentine dominions, including Barga and Pietrasanta, which were besieging Lucca, were depicted in red.

In the cartouche, Alessandro Resta depicted two panthers, animals from Lucca's heraldry, holding a shield inscribed with the inscription "Libertas." The motto "Libertas" appears on coins, on the gates of the city walls, and in statutes, expressing a deeply held sentiment among citizens, to the point that they used it to baptize their children.
The bastion that faced the border with Florence in the new walls was called Libertà, the only one of the bastions not to be named after a saint.

For the people of Lucca who lived when construction of the new defenses began in 1544, the sight of that large, tall mass of earth covered in trees not only made them feel safer but also convinced them that they would derive many benefits from it. Their reactions are summed up effectively by Francesco Bendinelli, who in 1546 recorded in his Chronicle: "...the first planting soon made such a huge impression that all the people were very satisfied with it, due to the convenience of the enjoyment they took in walking around it as if it were their own villa”.

The trees planted along the walls were mostly white poplars. Their function was to compact the "terrato," or earthen embankment, the massive earthen embankment built to block enemy cannon fire. They also represented a source of income for the Republic. They provided wood that was sold at public auctions or used to fuel the brick kilns, for drawbridges, and for the many needs of the wall construction site.

Interested in this economic benefit, the Government established by law the protection of poplars, complete with penalties for those who did not respect it.

The walls' definitive transformation into a place of delight was the work of Maria Luisa of Bourbon, Duchess of Lucca from 1817 to 1824, who utilized the skills of the architect Lorenzo Nottolini, who also designed the current layout with the central path reserved for carriages and two lateral paths for pedestrians.

Maria Luisa's constant concern was to protect the decorum of the walls, now destined to accommodate the elegant passage of carriages and pedestrians. In 1819, she prohibited the transit of carts, wagons, and carts on the walls and prohibited the introduction of horses or other beasts of burden within the bastions.
Knights were not allowed to pass over the parapets or benches. Throughout the entire "wall," cheese throwing, spinning tops, bowls, and ball games were prohibited, and were only permitted within the bastions.
During the day, the use of the moat surrounding the walls for “bathing or washing” was prohibited, while the prohibition on “walking or remaining naked outside the water” also applied at night.

Other prohibitions prevented hanging clothes and linen on trees.
Maria Luisa's successor, her son Carlo Ludovico, continued this protective action and in August 1835 introduced a prohibition regarding "Chickens, Hens, or other animals of this kind" that wandered undisturbed on the curtain walls, bastions and embankment of the Wall.

Over the centuries, as darkness fell, the three gates—San Pietro, San Donato, and Santa Maria—were closed. Those left outside had to wait until dawn to re-enter.
Only on the occasion of exceptional events such as the visit of Charles V in 1536 did the doors remain open.

The last gate built was San Donato. Designed by Muzio Oddi, construction began in 1628 and was completed in 1639. It was guarded by a structure known as the "castle," which was one of the key points of the Walls' defense system. Its importance was reflected in the penalties for failure to guard it: the castellan could be exiled if he left his post, and his life was at stake if he admitted a stranger.

The last to be built, Porta San Donato was the first to remain open at night. The General Council decided this in 1777, also establishing the obligation to pay a toll for crossing at night. Doctors, surgeons, apothecaries, and wet nurses were exempt.

This medal, which has been the symbol of the International Center for the Study of Urban Circles (CISCU) since 1967, is a faithful reproduction of the medal that was minted in 1627 by the Lucca government to be placed in the foundations of the Santa Croce bastion where we currently stand.

On its reverse, it commemorates the architect Muzio Oddi who designed the entire layout of this area.
The custom of placing medals on the occasion of the foundations of important buildings dates back to ancient times.

This practice was an integral part of the foundation stone laying ceremony and intensified in the Middle Ages when imposing churches were built in cities, such as the Siena Cathedral in 1284.

The same commemorative and propitiatory function has continued to this day. When construction began on the Palace of the League of Nations in Geneva on September 7, 1929, a casket containing the list of members, a copy of the founding documents, and their coins was placed there.

For 430 years the Republic of Lucca was an independent state headed by the College of Elders, which made all political decisions.

There were ten Elders, three for each third, plus a Gonfaloniere chosen on a rotating basis. They held office for two months, during which time they were required to refrain from private business and remain confined to the Government Palace, where they also ate meals and spent the night in the ten rooms assigned to them.

The Gonfaloniere held a prominent role, highlighted by his attire, which was distinct from that of the other Elders. The latter were dressed entirely in black. The Gonfaloniere, on the other hand, wore a crimson satin or velvet robe, as well as silk stockings, shoes, and a hat. He wore a striking red jacket, known as the "60 soups" jacket, in homage to the number of meals he would consume during the two months of his governorship. Both the Gonfaloniere and the other Elders were responsible for providing their own robes and wigs.

After having resisted for centuries, the Walls were in danger of being destroyed in the twentieth century. The threat came not from foreign armies but from automobiles.
They were used as a racetrack for speed races and rallies. This was the case for the first part of the century, when owning a car was reserved for wealthy families.
Things changed when, starting in the late 50s, encouraged by Fiat's small cars, the car market attracted a large population. For the Mura, the automobile boom meant they became a hub for every type of vehicle, from tiny Fiat 500s to bulky buses.

The Walls and the Stands were then transformed into a vast parking lot. This situation worsened year after year and persisted until the second half of the 1980s, when, at the urging of the Superintendence of Monuments, the Municipal Administration implemented the first measures to free the Walls from cars.

Resistance of various kinds opposed those measures but did not stop the direction taken by the Municipal Administration which saved the integrity of the Walls.
and of the Spalti and gave back to the city an immense urban park.