Coffee of the Walls

CONTACTS

ADDRESSPiazzale Vittorio Emanuele 2, 55100, Lucca

A wide, tree-lined climb leads to the historic Antico Caffè, a garrison of the "good" walk along the Walls...

The Santa Maria bastion is located in the southern part of the city between Porta San Pietro and the San Paolino bastion. It is distinguished by its "musone" (curved) sides, with pointed arches rather than rounded ones like those of other more modern bastions, more advanced in military architecture. It was, in fact, the first bastion of the new city wall, built a few years after the San Frediano platform. At the tip of the fort stands a large 1566 shield made of Monti Pisani limestone depicting the Madonna.

The bastion's appearance today appears profoundly modified by its inclusion in the urban reorganization of this area in the 19th and 20th centuries. The soldiers' barracks were replaced in 1832 by the neoclassical Coffee of the Walls by Cesare Lazzarini, surrounded by an English garden, a meeting place and rest area at the center of the walled promenade. In 1885, the Caffè delle Mura building was demolished and rebuilt in the exact same form further back, to make room for the large square with the monument to Vittorio Emanuele II at its center. During these transformations, the upper parade grounds were lost, while the lower ones were reused as pedestrian walkways.

Il Santa Maria bastion Together with the two adjacent curtain walls, it was built to a design by Francesco Paciotto and under the direction of Vincenzo Civitali and Alessandro Resta to defend the southern part of the city, inaugurating the reconstruction of the fortified ring according to a large, ambitious, and costly overall project. The project was also submitted to Emanuele Filiberto, Duke of Savoy, one of the leading military engineering experts of the time, for his approval.

It was Civitali, above all, who convinced the General Council of the Republic of the need for a new construction, rejecting the idea of ​​reusing the medieval walls with strengthening interventions. To finance the work, the large triangular space that would have resulted from the city's growth was also subdivided into lots. However, the construction was very troubled, as Civitali, upon starting the initial work, faced widespread criticism for his approach. When, in January 1563, it became clear that the engineer from Lucca had deviated from the Urbino architect's original design, laying the foundations for a bastion with a more pointed tip, Civitali was dismissed from his post, and the area of ​​the new bastion was personally redesigned by Francesco Paciotto, who then appointed Alessandro Resta as director of the works, who completed them by 1571.