Piazza Cittadella

This guide to Piazza Cittadella in Lucca opens with a killing: in July fifteen twenty-two, a member of the powerful Poggio family stabbed Lucca's own top civic officer inside the Palace of Government, a few streets from here. You'll hear how the attack grew out of an oddly small dispute, a vacant church post whose income the Poggio lost to a rival family's candidate. The guide traces what happened in the square that once bore the Poggio name, before it changed hands and names again. Look for the bronze statue of a much gentler local son among today's cafe tables.