Puccini Ride: Cycling through the Maestro's Lands

A journey through the places that were dear to one of the greatest opera composers of all time.

The itinerary starts from the center of Lucca, symbolically from the Puccini Museum where Giacomo Puccini was born. Once we leave the splendid Renaissance walls by exiting from Porta Santa Maria, we head towards the Foro Boario, home of the weekly farmers' market. Here we take the Puccini cycle and pedestrian path, on a stretch of dirt road that, running along the Serchio river, takes us in complete safety to the village of Ponte a Moriano.

Here we leave the cycle/pedestrian path and, heading north, we cross the Val Pedogna until we reach the start of the climb that takes us to the hamlet of Celle Puccini, birthplace of the composer's grandfather and where the Maestro spent part of his childhood. The ancestral home, on the edge of the village, now houses a museum dedicated to the family.

Leaving Celle Puccini, we take the beautiful road, essentially without traffic, that goes up to the church of San Pietro Apostolo in Fiano, where we begin to descend along the panoramic road that leads us to San Martino in Freddana. From the SP1, which crosses the Freddana valley and connects Lucca with the coast, we take the stretch of Via Francigena that takes us, practically without cars, to the Certosa di Farneta after passing through small towns including Piazzano, and San Macario in Piano.

In the locality of Farneta, known for the charterhouse and sadly infamous for the massacre perpetrated by Nazi troops on the night between the 1st and 2nd September 1944, we begin to climb along a deserted and wonderful road that takes us to Chiatri Puccini, home to one of the villas owned by the composer;

'from up there you can see an enchantment: the coast, from Livorno to Spezia; the Arno and the Serchio; Corsica, in clear weather, the islands of Gorgona and Capraia, and also the scrub of San Rossore, Migliarino and the Lucca scrub of the Bourbons'.

With Chiatri behind us, we pedal up to Mount Quiesa first and then to Lake Massaciuccoli, a protected area with delicate landscapes. In the locality of Ripafratta, we find the Puccini cycle and pedestrian path that runs along the Serchio river and crosses the San Pietro bridge, leading us back to the gates of Lucca.

Note: those who want to try a simpler itinerary with less physical effort can use this track by limiting themselves to the stretch from Ponte a Moriano (north of Lucca) to Lake Massaciuccoli; about thirty kilometers with practically no difference in altitude. It is the so-called 'Puccini Cycle and Footpath' that runs along the Serchio River to the lake loved by the Artist.

Photo by tourism.lucca.it - U. Conti