We rousted ourselves and made a hasty plan to visit one of the nearby attractions, a villa once owned by Giacomo Puccini, one of the the great operatic composers (and a favorite son of Lucca). It's located on the edge of a lagoon on the broad seaside plain near Viareggio. The lagoon, called Lago (lake) di Massaciuccoli, is actually never more than about 6 feet deep. In the photo, by the way, the bridge structure in the distance is the autostrada pointed towards Lucca.
Puccini's house was quite interesting, a real turn-of-the-century time capsule crammed with momentos, photos, artwork and ephemeria. Oddly, there was a tiny chapel in the center of the house containing the tombs of the composer, his wife and his son.
We took the tour with an Italian foursome and a young Japanese couple. Apparently we were taken for Italians as well (because we followed instructions from the attendant and responded correctly?) and were given Italian-language audioguides. Fortunately the recorded voice spoke clearly and slowly and we didn't have much trouble.
We had planned to stop at the beach walk in Viareggio on the way back, but being Friday night, it was very crowded so we gave it up. In our meandering, though, we caught a look at the boatyards by the marina and were fairly amazed by the number and size of the private yachts being built and housed there -- quite remarkable, all the wealth in the world.
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