found this:
The majority of Nostradamus’ quatrains were penned in his 1555 Magnum Opus Les Propheties.
In one of his quatrains, the 16th-century prophet warned of a plague striking a number of cities in Italy.
Century III, Quatrain 75 reads: “Pau, Verona, Vicenza, Saragossa,
“From distant swords lands wet with blood:
“Very great plague will come with the great shell,
“Relief near, and the remedies very far.”
I visited Lucca twice, once off a ship tour and the other a land-tour some years later. I found out you can never really "go back" in that your experiences will not be the same. Porbably the weather is the biggest factor.
Its very near driving distance about 15 minutes to the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Lucca is a unique fortress -walled Medieval town which still looks like the remnants of yester years. The last time I went there, was not as exciting as the first time because it was Christmas holiday extreme cold, and there was a huge Santa Sleigh with Santa live going down the street. That was cool! The first time we went was spring time and there were singing minstrels in the street and town square. I think it was Jazz they played however.
There are very nice little stores one can shop in - and even get a "real" hot chocolate (in the winter) - with real dark chocolate, quite thick, quite hot and it really warms you. The town square has a Museum created from opera singer Puccini's house and a huge statute in the square dedicated to their town's modern day hero.
The streets are narrow - and once wandering off, is harder to find your group again as sounds tend to deaden there.
NOW I'm curious just how little Lucca fared during that terrible virus that plagued so many Italians.
For those wondering what it might look like, here are a few of my photos -
Vehicles are not driven other then bicycles in Lucca - people park their cycles outside the city walls:
The entrance, (may be others, but we went in here): ....ancient door
Their favorite past resident: Puccini -
Santa in the winter time: (we drove up from the Amalfi Coast - to Florence and here)
a bottle of water is more expensive then a glass of wine: