From the street, one would have never guessed such a magnificent church lays inside. Lucca was full of pleasant surprises like this.
The Peregrinus crew took a short bus ride from Pisa to Lucca. Santa Caterina, a remarkable one-room church set on the corner of a large old building, is only open the third Sunday of each month, but it was open and the organ was playing as we arrived in town. 24 July 2016; iPhone 6 Plus.
Upriver from the Alla Carraia bridge (1218): the Santa Trinita bridge (1252), and beyond, the Ponte Vecchio (A.D. 50 ?). The crew left Peregrinus at anchor in Pisa and took the train to Florence to visit the seaman's alma mater. 8:11 PM 25 July; iPhone 6 Plus.
In the Middle Ages, the riverside was full of warehouses, and cargo boats lined the quays.
Nowadays, the river is no longer a means of transport, except for the crew of Peregrinus, anchored a couple of miles downstream.
Looking downstream from the Ponte di Mezzo, located here since 1035 and rebuilt a few times since. The original Roman bridge that preceded it crossed the river on the street next to the eight building on the right. 6:52PM, 23 July, iPhone 6 Plus.
A small stream winds through Tuscany,
which up in Falterona hath its rise,
and is not sated by a hundred miles.
——— Dante Alighieri, Purgatorio XIV, 1320
The Arno might be, as Dante says, a little stream at its source in Mount Falterona, but it is nonetheless Italy's second largest river (after the Tiber), and most importantly, the river that runs through Florence and down through Pisa.
Before the railroads were built, goods and merchandise arrived in Florence via the river; a dream trip no longer possible because of flood control dams and bridges along the way.
Peregrinus sailed into the Arno on 22 July 2016 and anchored for five gorgeous dats just 2.2 miles short of Pisa city centre, as no further upriver navigation was possible because of some low-laying overhead power cables across the water.
Sunrise in the Arno. A sailboat can only enter the river on a calm day. The only difficult spot for a 2.2-metre-draught boat is right at the entrance; the river itself is significantly deeper. The Arno rises and lowers seasonally with the rains, and so one should call ahead. Any sailors are welcome to enquire with us for additional information and contacts. iPhone 6 Plus, 6:42 AM 27 July 2016.
