After checking out the tower, it was off to Lucca, one of the only remaining fully-walled cities left in Europe; and it turns out quite a nice city it is too.
Now, firstly let me come to the defence of the much-maligned (partly by me) Italian railway schedule-keeping; other than the rather interesting times in Naples, the running has been pretty much bang-on, at least within a couple of minutes, so really, nothing to complain about I would have thought.
A freestanding bell-tower, its tilt began during construction (1173 - 1372), caused by an inadequate foundation on ground too soft on one side to properly support the structure's weight. The tilt increased in the decades before the structure was completed, and gradually increased (to 5.5 degrees) until the structure was stabilized (and the tilt partially corrected to 5 degrees) by efforts in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
The height of the tower is 55.86 metres (183.27 feet) from the ground on the low side and 56.67 metres (185.93 feet) on the high side. The width of the walls at the base is 2.44 m (8 ft 0.06 in). The tower has 296 or 294 steps; the seventh floor has two fewer steps on the north-facing staircase. The top of the tower is displaced horizontally 3.9 metres (12 ft 10 in) from where it would be if the structure were perfectly vertical.
Overall, the effect of the unintended (but tourist-attracting) tilt is quite disconcerting, and creates a sense of motion-sickness.
Now I know that there are many other fine buildings (particularly churches) to explore and view in this ancient city, but I am just about churched-out today, so decided to head back to the train station (about 30 minutes walk from the Cathedral), and find out the next departure to Lucca; fortunately for me, the next train was in about 15 minutes, so that suited me just fine, and headed off.
Lucca, with a population of around 87.,500 is famous among other things for its intact Renaissance-era city walls, being one of the very few European cities with their walls still intact; the walls, which are about 4km in total length entirely encircle the old city. The walls were built as a defence system, and are now paved on top and used as a wonderful promenade, exercise area, play area, dog walking area, etc. Interestingly (I think) the people of Lucca have always used it thus, even when it was a military establishment and therefore out-of-bounds, but then following that silly rule would be very Italian, now would it?
Lucca is the birthplace of composer Giacomo Puccini (La Bohème and Madama Butterfly), and the city annually hosts an operatic festival in his honour.
On the entry to the city (not surprisingly, the train station is outside the walls) there are a couple of pieces of rather good modern sculpture (it doesn't have to be hundreds of years old to be good - and it should be appreciated when it is good), and another I found as I walked along the walls (I went about a third of the way around before heading into the maze that is the old city):
Once again, no photos allowed inside, so here are a few of the outside:
With another 90 minute trip back to Florence, that was it for the day - and it was a good day travelling around Tuscany by train.