Around town.

We've spend a few fairly calm days around our neighborhood (Camaiore). The Casali family in Lido di Camaiore had us over for dinner last Saturday night, and Roland's mother Lidia made her now-famous gnocchi dish. The following night we all met again for pizza and a evening stroll along the promenade in Lido. (Lido di Camaiore is a beach town, part of a string of communities along the coast which include Viareggio (a favorite hang-out for Giacomo Puccini in the the 1920's) , Lido and Forti di Marmi. Most of the actually beach front is controlled by private beach clubs which offer chair and umbrella (along with various other amenities) by fee or subscription. There are many large hotels, which sport various "star" rankings - though by general impression it would seem most were in their prime before the 1970's.
We took ourselves into Lucca for a day on Tuesday, mainly with the intent of taking photos. I stumbled while walking along the road at the top of the city walls, and by trying to protect the camera on my chest received a fairly good scrape on my forearm. Although we were in "pausa" we managed to find an open pharmacy were a nice man patched me up, and refused any payment. Perhaps he was charmed by my marginal Italian.
We re-visited the church of San Michele and also the Duomo; For whatever reason the town was full of American tourists that afternoon, probably delivered by bus for a few hours look-see. Also though, Lucca is gearing up for the annual festa, which comes in a week or so.