[I know there’s an election or something going on :-), but I’ve done all I can on that front, and figure, once you’ve voted, everyone could use a little distraction]

Okay, I tried, I really tried. Florence was like that girl that your friends fix you up with: “You’ll love her! She’s smart like you, and gorgeous. Drop dead gorgeous.”

And she is both. But she’s also constantly on edge, hair trigger critical, and you can’t escape the feeling that everything you do and say is going on a scorecard somewhere in her head. But…she is smart, and drop dead gorgeous, damn it. You can make this work, can’t you?

Maybe you could. But why? Lucca sits sideways in her chair and giggles at silly things, sometimes at nothing at all. Lucca’s got an old world accent that she plays up to make fun of herself, then rolls her eyes and giggles again. It’s easy like Lucca. I bet she LARPed when she was a kid.

Of course she did. She’s a charming old town built on a medieval town built on the remains of a Roman town whose ramparts still ring the city. One of the few European towns that still has an intact encircling wall, and one that has served it well. All those years that the Florentines and Pisans and others were out ravaging and subjugating their neighbors, that wall apparently was just enough of a deterrent to make Lucca not worth the effort. And Lucca’s size (~92,000 people) and lack of fabulous museums or postcard landmarks have made it similarly not worth the effort of the hordes of tourists that mob Florence, Pisa and presumably the other hotshot Italian destinations.

Lucca definitely oozes Old World, but does so graciously, kindly. People make eye contact. With strangers, even, and touch a hand to their cap in greeting. After Florence, I wasn’t ready for that.

It’s true that I’m not encountering Lucca in her normal state, but if anything, that speaks even more to her gracious welcome: this past weekend she hosted the second largest ComicCon in the world, with around 300,000 people descending on the city for the week from all over the world. Remember: Lucca’s population is about 92,000. Yeah.

They’re still taking down the tents and structures they erected in just about every public space, and everyone I’ve chatted with (Yes! You can actually chat with random people here! In Florence, when I made a passing remark to someone standing next to me in a crowd they generally looked puzzled and took a tiny step away) exudes relief. They’re glad ComicCon was here – great for business – but even gladder that it’s over.

Alas, I’m only here for one day – I decided to book myself a couple of actual nights back in Cinque Terre, but couldn’t get the place I’d set my heart on until tomorrow. But I’ve got most of the day tomorrow to explore. And hey – no reason I can’t come back, is there?

Puccini is Lucca’s homeboy – born and raised here.

My charming digs for the night.