The Via Francigena passes through Lucca

The Via Francigena crosses Lucca today as it once did.

Sigeric (990), Bishop of Canterbury, made the pilgrimage to Rome and on his return kept a diary noting the characteristics of each stage. That journey, centuries later, would become a “Camino d’Europa”.

In Lucca, in the great churches as well as in the alleys, there are many signs left by the passage of this important road.

At that time, Lucca was still surrounded by the first circle of walls, the Roman one. Conventionally, the inner city route begins at Porta San Donato, which in the Middle Ages, the period of the peak of pilgrimages as a religious vow, was the north gate. From here, the first destination sought by pilgrims was undoubtedly the Cathedral of San Martino, where the Holy Face was kept, known today to be the oldest wooden sculpture in Europe. Over the centuries, countless legends and miraculous stories have gathered around this figure throughout Europe, and a considerable "treasure" is now housed in the Cathedral Museum.

Due to its importance in the city's history and the devotion that the people of Lucca have always had, the Holy Face is the very symbol of the pilgrimage to Lucca and is often depicted on religious and civil architecture and the protagonist of paintings and sculptures.

In the church's atrium, other decorative elements recall this important period: the labyrinth of divine love, the same one depicted in the cathedrals of Northern Europe, a portrait of Countess Matilda who did so much for the pilgrims, and a Latin inscription representing an oath taken by the money changers of Lucca, who promised not to deceive pilgrims under the portico of San Martino or in the hospitals where they served.

Another place that commemorates the passage of numerous pilgrims through Lucca is the Vicolo dell'Altopascio. The name itself alludes to the presence of a hospice run by the monks who, a little further away, in Altopascio, had established one of the main reception centers along the route in a large building around which the town's historic center now gathers. The Tau symbol can still be seen on a coat of arms on the façade of the small neo-Gothic building.

In a small street next to the church of San Frediano, the well of the Fatinelli palace recalls the miraculous episode involving Saint Zita and a pilgrim for whom the saint, having nothing else to offer, turned the water from the well into wine.