Legends and curiosities about Lucca

Among the most beautiful cities in Tuscany there is without a shadow of a doubt Lucca, a small jewel with an enormous historical-monumental heritage but also a place full of timeless legends and fascinating curiosities that only a few people know about. In short, mystery fans will find what they want.

You are ready? Follow us on this journey to discover legends and curiosities about Lucca that will make you look at the city with different eyes the next time you visit it.

The mysterious labyrinth of St. Martin’s Cathedral

The Cathedral of San Martino is one of the most interesting and ancient churches in all of Tuscany. There are many tourists who visit it but few know that on the right pillar of the entrance portico there is a strange engraving depicting a small labyrinth. This bas-relief figure, among the most enigmatic in Italy, is accompanied by a Latin inscription which evokes the myth of Theseus and Ariadne and which translated reads: “This is the labyrinth built by Cretan Daedalus from which no one who entered could go out except Theseus aided by Ariadne’s thread”. As for its meaning, no one still knows how to give a satisfactory answer. Perhaps it is a warning addressed to pilgrims traveling along the Francigena.

The Devil’s Stone in Palazzo Bernardini

Lucca is a city full of elegant and majestic buildings. One of these is Palazzo Bernardini, built in the sixteenth century by Nicolao Civitali for the family of the same name. Looking at the facade, you notice an unusual detail: a stone that has an anomalous curvature compared to the surface of the building. Not many people know it but all the people of Lucca know the history of this stone. A legend has it that, during the construction of the palace, the devil convinced the Bernardines to demolish a building on which a sacred image was depicted. Precisely at the point where it was located, the stone became curved and has remained so until today, despite numerous attempts to bring it back straight. This is why it was immediately called the Devil’s Stone.

The legend of Lucida Mansi

Of the many legends that are told within the city walls, one of the most famous is that of Lucida Mansi, a young and beautiful woman, daughter of Lucca nobles, who killed lovers who visited her. It is said that she sold her soul to the devil in exchange for thirty years of youth. So while everyone continued to age, she kept her beauty intact. After thirty years, the devil reappeared to collect what was due to him: he made her get on a fiery carriage which, after crossing the walls, fell into the waters of the botanical garden lake to return to hell. Even today it seems that on full moon nights it is possible to see the carriage and hear the woman’s cries.

Santa Zita and the Porta dell’Angelo of San Frediano

Another famous story is linked to Santa Zita, one of the most famous saints born in Tuscany. She was proclaimed patroness of maids by Pius XII, later becoming patroness of Lucca, of housewives and bakers. She was of humble origins and worked as a maid for the Fatinelli family, who had a house next to the Basilica of San Frediano. So to go to church, she used to go through the side entrance and it was here that one day she came across a poor man at the mercy of the cold. Moved by compassion, she ran to the palace to get a cloak to give to the cold man. The next day, an angel waited for Zita at that same door, to return it to her. Thus the “Angel’s Door” was born and the miracle is reproduced in the stained glass window above it.

The Witches’ Oak

Moving into the province, a few km from the center of Lucca, and more precisely in the park of Villa Carrara in Gragnano, a hamlet of Capannori, we find the Witches’ Oak, a majestic monumental tree dating back perhaps to the end of the fifteenth century. Its characteristic “flattened” shape, with branches extending horizontally, gave rise to the legend according to which witches used to dance and perform their rites on it. But its story is also linked to that of Pinocchio: according to another legend it is the oak tree where the protagonist of the famous novel was hanged by assassins who wanted to steal his four gold coins. For this reason it is also called Pinocchio’s Oak.