What's the Hype about Lucca?

I believe you will find that Lucca was a favourite day trip from Florence by many people, decades before AI was even a thing.

Google is headquartered here in the SF Bay Area.

90% of my Italian American friends in this area are descendants of immigrants from Lucca. The majority of Italians who immigrated to this area of California are indeed from the province of Lucca in Tuscany. Lots of them.

Many of those Italian American descendants in the Bay Area visit their ancestral town when they go to Italy, especially Tuscany. And they really like it. Some of them work at Google or talk to people who work at Google and tell them how great Lucca is. Some of them work at the Gemini project. So when they make up stuff to put in Gemini to make you believe it’s really coming from artificial intelligence they write the stuff they heard from their Italian American friends and colleagues (most of them descendants of Lucchesi).

If Google were headquartered in NYC, Gemini would suggest to visit Palermo instead.

AI is really a scam by Google employees who make up stuff and laugh at people who trust the stuff that AI spits out.

It’s really that simple.

Roberto: "AI is really a scam by Google employees who make up stuff and laugh at people who trust the stuff that AI spits out."

You are preaching to the choir, my friend!

Also, thank you for sharing the information about immigration from Lucca to San Francisco. That is a fun fact that I was hitherto unaware of.

You’ll find the same thing on forums populated by people (where the info on AI actually came from when they hoovered it up to create AI). Lucca was the first place I visited in Italy several years ago, and while it’s fine, I don’t get the passion it inspires in others.
You’ll find the more detail you put into a question, the more tailored responses you’ll get, whether posed to a human or to AI.

I find it hilarious that 1) someone asked that question (“why does google gemini hype Lucca?”) and 2) someone on the forum actually had what is undoubtedly the answer.

valadelphia "You’ll find the same thing on forums populated by people (where the info on AI actually came from when they hoovered it up to create AI). Lucca was the first place I visited in Italy several years ago, and while it’s fine, I don’t get the passion it inspires in others."

Oh, I'm aware this forum is one of the sources that Google's Gemini claims it "cites" to --- with the caveat that it is my understanding that AI does not read, research and respond and accurately cite in the way humans are trained to do in school.

But when I actually searched this forum for "Lucca," I didn't see a ton of fawning or praise for it as a destination, so that's why I was curious to hear from real humans like yourself about your impressions of Lucca, and what level of passion it does, or does not inspire.

mjh-travel - "I find it hilarious that 1) someone asked that question (“why does google gemini hype Lucca?”) and 2) someone on the forum actually had what is undoubtedly the answer."

I know! This forum is the best!

This thread is comedy gold.

There are literally dozens of threads discussing Lucca here
Past 2 years
https://search.ricksteves.com/?date_range=2y&filter=Travel+Forum&query=Lucca

After Siena I would guess Lucca as second most common day trip from Florence mentioned here

We didn’t see the “charm” that so many claim but I guess it was nice enough

I’ve gotten that general impression from here as well as other forums. I do find it curious what places inspire a feeling of connection, and if Lucca inspires that often, it is undoubtedly a positive thing.
I don’t use AI for that kind of research because I already know what I like and how to find out information I want in other ways, and obviously I’m old enough to have fallen in love with print before I fell in love with Italy!
I hope forums will remain an untainted portion of the internet for information sharing. They run remarkably well thanks to the generosity of people who encourage others and help out with bus schedules, etc. Just really basic but essential help.

I just spent ten days in Lucca and loved it. Stayed inside the wall and did a lot of wandering the streets. Everywhere you turn is scenic; so many fun little shops and restaurants and museums and churches. We also spent almost every day taking a walk (and some bike rides) on top of the wall, which is relaxing and offers great people watching. We took some train trips to other small towns in the mountains and along the coast. Interesting to read the perspectives here about why Lucca gets hyped so much.

This article is in Italian only but you can use Google Translate:

https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italiani_di_San_Francisco

I belong to two Italian American clubs and most of them are descendants of Lucchesi (or even natives of that province). I am sure they have a bunch working at Google too. They are trying to push their city so people visit it and make Lucca rich. They are the stingiest people of Tuscany so you know they have that goal in mind. Some Tuscan jokes on the Lucchesi below:

• People from Lucca don’t look both ways before crossing the street; they look down to see if anyone dropped a coin.
• The Lucchesi built those massive 16th-century walls not to keep invaders out, but to keep their wallets from escaping.
• A Lucchese wedding invitation always comes with a tiny footnote: 'Gifts appreciated, attendance optional, buffet by subscription.'

Roberto
"• People from Lucca don’t look both ways before crossing the street; they look down to see if anyone dropped a coin.
• The Lucchesi built those massive 16th-century walls not to keep invaders out, but to keep their wallets from escaping.
• A Lucchese wedding invitation always comes with a tiny footnote: 'Gifts appreciated, attendance optional, buffet by subscription.'"

Rarely do I laugh out loud reading something anymore, but these did the trick. Thank you.

Your comments confirm my suspicious nature because when I lived, ever so briefly, in Rome, many years ago, to my imperfect memory, I never heard anyone, Italian or foreign, so much as mention Lucca. Florence, of course. Arezzo, sure it's on the way by train. Pisa, for the tower. Sienna, absolutely. San Giamangiano, OK. Volterra, yes also. So when the automatically generated AI result of every search (which cannot be turned off) kept bringing up Lucca, I got curious and looked it up. And there are positive comments, to be sure, as many here have shared. And I have never visited it, so how can I judge? But the number of times it was mentioned by Google's AI, to the exclusion of all other Tuscan cities and towns, made me curious and suspicious.

Thank you also for sharing the wiki in its original Italian. I can read most of it! I'm stronger reading in Italian than speaking and writing.

naalehuretiree:
"I just spent ten days in Lucca and loved it. Stayed inside the wall and did a lot of wandering the streets. Everywhere you turn is scenic; so many fun little shops and restaurants and museums and churches. We also spent almost every day taking a walk (and some bike rides) on top of the wall, which is relaxing and offers great people watching. We took some train trips to other small towns in the mountains and along the coast."

Wow! Ten days! That's a long trip. Sounds nice!

Was there enough to do in Lucca itself to keep you busy?

How did you come to pick it as your base for exploring the region?

ChristineH

"After Siena I would guess Lucca as second most common day trip from Florence mentioned here
We didn’t see the “charm” that so many claim but I guess it was nice enough"

See, that's why I got a little suspicious, because Google's AI responses (which cannot be turned off when you use Google to search) were advocating for Lucca to the exclusion of Sienna and sometimes even Florence, depending on how the question was phrased, and that seemed a little off to me. But it is "hard telling not knowing" when you've never been to a place before. Thank you for taking the time out of your day to respond with your impressions!