Linda - Thank you so much...

Hi!

I was born in the area of Lucca and grew up with the hope of being able to make of my passion toward history and art my job, that's how I became part of a company of guides in Lucca  and  have been working as a professional guide  since then. Now I am the president of our company 'La Giunchiglia',  together with my collegues who share my own passions, we arrange tours following the historical, artistic, literary, musical charateristics of our area , Lucca and its Province.

About the company

La Giunchiglia came into being in Lucca in the early 1980s. It was set up by a group of young art history students who simply loved their home town and wanted to devote their future and make a career out of making its history and art better known organizing Walking tours of Lucca.

Lucca was scarcely known on the tourist track at that time and opportunities for having the pleasure of showing it to visitors were few, so many of us were soon forced to turn to other cultural activities and ended up acting as tour guides as a hobby.

In the 1990s the Lucca guides company was acting on a number of different fronts in the desperate hope of surviving. Some of the founder members gave in and left to become teachers. Others, including ourselves, who were more stubborn or maybe more idealistic, decided to continue and keep on investing energy in our original purpose, convinced it would eventually be worth it.

We increased our knowledge of Lucca and the surrounding area by going to different courses and finding out more and more about our history, art, archaeology, botany, traditions and the things that are produced here, such as wine and extra virgin olive oil. We tried to focus on everything that would enhance the quality of our tours, and to promote Lucca through the Web.

It took us a while but now, looking back over those years of volunteering, we’re very proud of what we “gave”. It all comes back to us every single time our clients (from all over the world) tell us how charming and unique our town is and how they appreciate our introduction to it, showing them its treasures and telling them its secrets.

A passion that became the best job we could possibly have in our beloved city. We want to share that passion with everyone who comes to visit us in Lucca.

Some of our guides have had the chance to show Lucca to some celebrities who really enjoyed walking through the streets of a place where people are so discreet that they simply smiled at them in surprise. These included John Malkovich and Ron Howard. The first was very silent and mysterious but deeply fascinated by the place, while the second seemed to be oriented toward the 14th and 15th centuries and especially Emperors Charles IV and Charles V who visited our town for diplomatic reasons .
Some of our guides have also worked as interpreters for movies such The Portrait of a Lady, adapted from the novel by Henry James and partly filmed in Lucca in 1996, directed by Jane Campion. They met Barbara Hershey who loved the countryside around Lucca and chose to rent a house up on the hills.
During that same experience, we were so lucky to be invited to dinner with Nicole Kidman and her ex-husband Tom Cruise who fell in love with the taste of Lucca’s extra virgin olive oil and generously sent us a wonderful gift with his best wishes for helping him to have it delivered to his home. We sent him back an antique print of a view of Lucca surrounded by its imposing 16th-century Walls. I wonder if it’s hanging on the walls of one of his houses!
One of our most recent experiences was interpreting for a NBC interview with Andrea Bocelli
( who lives near Lucca) , for the TV programme “The Today Show”. It was so exciting to be in Bocelli’s house and listen to the glass in the windows vibrate under the effect of his powerful voice. He sang a piece from the Messa di Gloria (by Giacomo Puccini, one Lucca’s greatest sons) which he was going to sing in Florence few days later. He was so sweet and natural, it felt like being in some close friend’s home!