Lucca and Puccini on 150th anniversary of his birth

Giacomo Puccini was born 150 years ago this year. Fortunately for us, he chose one of the most perfect towns in Tuscany for his earthly debut. Lucca is a gorgeous town - human scale, perfectly preserved within its wide medieval walls but big enough to provide all the good things of life - great restaurants, elegant shops, an opera theatre and views out to the Appenines beyond the Tuscan hills.

I first visited Lucca about 10 years ago arriving by train on the short ride from Pisa. Lucca's train station is just outside the walls. I walked out on a September morning and saw bales of golden hay neatly rolled and leaning against those great walls in the autumn sunlight. There was something cosy and reassuring about those hay bales so close to the ancient gates to the town. They were a reminder that, although it is NOT a hill town, does not have stunning views and vertiginous ascents, Lucca does look outwards to rural Tuscany. Lucchese love to stroll the old walls in the evening, in the shelter of a ring of old horse chestnut and plane trees that line them. Beyond the walls is another stately ring of chestnuts and beyond them, the mountains.

Every one in Lucca seemed to be riding a bike when I first visited. And in 2008 that hasn't changed. If anything there are more and better bikes and more diverse riders: the very old, the very fat and the very fashionable, in impossible stilettos and short skirts, all ride through the narrow streets where cars can't pass. If a visitor does nothing else in this town, an afternoon on a rented bike with a tour around the 4.5 kilometre walls is a must. There is a bike rental, "Cicle Bizzarri" right next to the tourist information office at Piazza Santa Maria that rents bikes for 2.50 euros an hour.

Lucca has some of the loveliest old shop fronts in Europe. A stroll along the main shopping street, Via Fillungo, takes you past Carli, the jewellers, with its ornate wood and glass display cabinets on the pavement and Di Simo, the elegant cafe that Puccini himself frequented.

Theatre, as always in Italy, extends to the church and few churches are more theatrical at first sight than San Michele with its gigantic Archangel Michael looming over Piazza San Michele - one of the central squares in the city. The most theatrical square in the city is the extraordinary Piazza Anfiteatro - once a Roman amphitheatre and now an oval of apartment buildings and cafes built around the peaceful piazza.

A good, reasonably priced cafe on this Piazza is the Cafe Roma. Just behind it, through the arch is the excellent local favourite - the La Baralla trattoria. The ravioli with basil, fresh tomatoes and pine nuts is delicious.

The Amalfi Coast Road

Oh dear – the editor wants me to write about the Amalfi Coast. But tucked away on the Amalfi Coast is one of my favourite places on the planet. Do I really want to tell anyone else about it? Why don’t I just talk about the rest of this glorious coastline and see if I can deviously omit to mention it? ,

The 43 mile stretch of Amalfi Coast starts just beyond Sorrento and swoops and soars along Homer’s ‘wine dark’ Mediterranean through Positano and Amalfi to Salerno. I’ve never been seasick at sea but the Amalfi drive has frequently left me feeling queasier than a cross channel hovercraft. And wondering whether my last sight of this world will be of tumbling magenta bougainvillea, languid jasmin, dark olive groves, Saracen watchtowers and mules carrying baskets of lemons down to sparkling white villages.

Positano is the first stop. American novelist and former resident, John Steinbeck, said of this chic little pink and white town that hugs the limestone cliffs, “You do not walk to visit a friend, you either climb or slide.” There are a few too many fashion shops for my taste but if you totter down the stairs to the sea, it’s a good place from which to take a boat to the nearby Emerald Grotto.

Another 50 tortuous minutes along the road is Amalfi itself . A heartier, earthier town, this was once great sea-faring republic but a tidal wave destroyed it in 1343. These days Amalfi is a tourist hub but with a stunning cathedral and good walks like the short stroll along the coast to the lovely unspoilt beach village of Atrani. If you are feeling really ambitious and fit you could make the big hike up to my personal favourite…no come to think of it stay in Amalfi and treat yourself to a sfogliatelle, the local breakfast speciality of puff pastry and orange flavoured ricotta.

Oh all right, here goes, I suppose I have to say it: A long hike or a fifteen minute bus ride above Amalfi, “suspended between sea and sky”, as French novelist Andre Gide once said, is the little town of Ravello. Attend a concert in the gardens of the Villa Rufolo that inspired Wagner to write Parsifal. Stroll along the headland to the ‘terrace of infinity’ and the Villa Cimbrone where Greta Garbo met with her lover, conductor Leopold Stokowski. Eat at the Cumpa Cosimo trattoria where Jackie Kennedy was once a regular. And after a while a strange buoyancy will come over you – a sense of euphoria from being constantly surrounded by absolute beauty. Ravello holds a magic that few other places on earth possess but please don’t say I said so. And whatever you do, don’t tell anyone else.