Charting the past

When reboxing some modelling supplies recently I discovered a folded paper map I've had for 39 years. It dates from an inter-railing* trip my ex and I did in the Autumn after graduating. On the Italian leg of the trip we made our way to Florence where a uni mate was living in his year abroad on his language course. I persuaded the other half that there was a really attractive city day-tripable from Florence.

So we arrived at the city where I picked up this map and, after an obligatory (and unsuccessful 😊) attempt to find a gallery open, I led the ex on a walk around the city walls. You see I'd read a library copy of Siege Warfare: the Fortress in the Early Modern World, 1494-1660 by Christopher Duffy, and remembered that the city of Lucca had an intact bastioned enceinte dating back to that period. Marvellous!

You might be able to make out the scale. If not, it is 1:6500 with the grid squares being 3cm a side, making them 195 metres a side. The bastion faces are therefore about 120 metres long. From east to west (9 squares) works out roughly 1.1 miles in old money. North to south (allowing for the slight angle) is c.0.6 miles (5 squares). 

Several years later, the other half (the ex) was having a very protracted labour with our firstborn. During the long lulls in action I turned to a copy of the same book by Duffy, and actually completed it by the time of the final breach! A most appropriate read. The whole experience felt very much like a siege - being stuck in one place, periods of pain and noise, several appearances by the professionals to assess progress of the attacker, bad food, brief periods of walking along the ramparts hospital grounds during quiet spells, and a final climactic outcome (capitulating on terms was not an option). Fortunately the city wasn't sacked, but contributions were extracted from the beaten citizens for many years to come.