Luca Conference

Lucca ( LOO-kə, Italian: [ˈlukka] ) is a city and comune in Tuscany, Central Italy, on the Serchio River, in a fertile plain near the Ligurian Sea. The city has a population of about 89,000, while its province has a population of 383,957.Lucca is known as an Italian "Città d'arte" (City of Art) from its intact Renaissance-era city walls and its very well preserved historic center, where, among other buildings and monuments, are located the Piazza dell'Anfiteatro, which has its origins in the second half of the 1st century A.D. ,the Guinigi Tower, a 45-metre-tall (150 ft) tower that dates from the 1300s and the Cathedral of San Martino.The city is also the birthplace of numerous world-class composers, including Giacomo Puccini, Alfredo Catalani, and Luigi Boccherini.

The Monument to Maria Luisa di Borbone is a marble statuary group depicting the former Duchess of Lucca, sculpted by Lorenzo Bartolini, and located in the center of the piazza in front of the Ducal Palace of Lucca, in the region of Tuscany, Italy. After the death of Maria Luisa in 1824, the commune voted for the creation of a statue in her honor, and contracted for a design by Lorenzo Bartolini. The sculpture is in the center of the large rectangular Piazza Grande, or Piazza Napoleone, in front of the palace had been cleared in 1806 by the Napoleonic government, in the process razing houses, warehouses, and the church of San Pietro Maggiore. Initially a statue honoring Napoleon had been planned for this spot, but Maria Luisa, who held a personal antipathy to the former French emperor and his family (Napoleon's sister Elisa Bonaparte had ruled Lucca as Princess of Lucca and Piombino until 1814), squelched that idea in favor of a monument to Charles II, Duke of Parma. That monument was putatively moved to the ramparts of the town. In 1823, the year before the death of Maria Luisa, it was decided to dedicate a statue in her honor in gratitude for her patronage of the city aqueduct. The monument was designed by the Neoclassical Tuscan sculptor Bartolini. The awkward statue depicts the somewhat rotund Duchess with naked boy at her side. He holds a cornucopia, she holds a roll of paper and a peculiar staff. The arrangement, also somewhat awkwardly, does have some similarities (woman with staff beside a young boy) with Bartolini's earlier Monument to Elisa Bonaparte Baciocchi.

The Ducal Palace (Italian: Palazzo Ducale) is a palace in Lucca, Tuscany, central Italy.

San Giusto is a church in Lucca, Tuscany, central Italy. Built over a pre-existing church, it dates to the second half of the 12th century. Its titular is the 12th century Italian, Giustino Salce, whence the name "San Giusto".

The Teatro del Giglio (Theater of the Giglio) is the historic city theater and opera house located in Piazza del Giglio #13 and #15 in the center of Lucca, region of Tuscany, Italy.

The Palazzo Cenami is a Renaissance-style palace located on Via Santa Croce in central Lucca, region of Tuscany, Italy. The palace was designed in 1530 by Nicolao Civitali. Some attribute the palace's Florentine style of architecture to Agostino Marti in 1501.

San Michele in Foro is a Roman Catholic basilica church in Lucca, Tuscany, central Italy, built over the ancient Roman forum. Until 1370 it was the seat of the Consiglio Maggiore (Major Council), the commune's most important assembly. It is dedicated to Archangel Michael.

Sant’Alessandro Maggiore is a Romanesque-style, Roman Catholic parish church in Lucca, region of Tuscany, Italy.

San Cristoforo is a Romanesque and Gothic-style, former Roman Catholic church located on the narrow Via Fillungo in the center of Lucca, region of Tuscany, Italy. Now deconsecrated and stripped of its former interior altars and decoration, the chapel served as a memorial for those fallen in the wars..

The Torre delle Ore or Torre dell'Orologio is a clock-tower or turret clock located on Via Fillungo in central Lucca, region of Tuscany, Italy.

San Salvatore in Mustolio is a Romanesque- style, Roman Catholic church located on Piazza of the same name in central Lucca, region of Tuscany, Italy.

San Paolino or Santi Paolino e Donato is a Renaissance- style minor basilica church in Lucca, Tuscany, central Italy. It is dedicated to Saint Paulinus of Antioch, patron of the city.