« Back to Lucca
East To San Francesco
Running from north to south crossways town is a canal and Via del Fosso, crossways which is the church of San Francesco , fronted by a relatively simple deception and adjoining a crumbling brick convent. Behind the church is Lucca’s key collection of painting, sculpture, furniture and applied arts, the Museo Nazionale di Villa Guinigi , housed in the family’s much-restored mansion (Tues-Sat 9am-7pm, Sun 9am-2pm; L4000/¬2.06). Its lower floor has mainly sculpture and archeological finds, with numerous Romanesque pieces and works by della Quercia and Matteo Civitali. Upstairs are lots of big sixteenth-century paintings and more impressive works by primeval Lucchese and Sienese masters, as well as fine Renaissance offerings from such as Fra’ Bartolommeo.
