Lucca
was founded by the Etruscans (there
are traces of a pre-existing Ligurian settlement)
and became a Roman colony
in 180 BC. The rectangular grid of its historical centre preserves
the Roman street plan, and the Piazza San Michele occupies the site
of the ancient forum.
Traces of the amphitheatre can
still be seen in the Piazza dell'Anfiteatro.
At
the Lucca
Conference,
in 56 BC, Julius
Caesar, Pompey,
and Crassus reaffirmed
their political alliance known as the First
Triumvirate.
Frediano,
an Irish monk,
was bishop
of Lucca in the early 6th century. At
one point, Lucca was plundered by Odoacer,
the first Germanic King of Italy. Lucca was an important city and
fortress even in the 6th century, when Narses besieged
it for several months in 553. Under the Lombards,
it was the seat of a duke who minted his own coins. The Holy
Face of Lucca (or Volto Santo), a major relic supposedly
carved by Nicodemus,
arrived in 742. During the 8th - 10th centuries it was a center
of Jewish life,
led by the Kalonymos
family (who at some point during this period migrated to
Germany and became a major component of proto-Ashkenazic
Jewry). It became prosperous through the silk trade
that began in the 11th century, and came to rival the silks
of Byzantium.
During the 10–11th centuries Lucca was the capital of the feudal
margraviate of Tuscany, more or less independent but owing nominal
allegiance to the Holy
Roman Emperor.
