Events
A historic house in the hills of Lucca that, on a few dates a year, opens its doors to private events.
An event at La Specola
La Specola is a private home, but occasionally, for a few days a year, it can be booked to host a private event: a dinner, a celebration, a meeting, an evening under the stars.
Available dates are few and agreed one at a time. To find out which are free and get all the details, contact us: we will reply as soon as we can.
The terrace at sunset, above the plain of Lucca
The place, in brief
A neoclassical observatory from 1819, designed by Lorenzo Nottolini for Maria Luisa of Bourbon, on a hill north of Lucca, Tuscany, between Matraia and San Pancrazio. From the hilltop the view takes in the whole plain of Lucca, 360 degrees round, as far as the mountains on the horizon.
A symmetrical building, aligned with the cardinal points and carefully restored over the last forty years: a rare setting for an occasion you want to remember.
La Specola today
Today, after a period of intense scientific activity, La Specola is no longer an astronomical observatory: it has become a private residence. Through time and change, the place keeps the charm of its history, bound to the study of the sky and to the discoveries of one of the greatest comet observers of his age.
Although it is no longer open to the public for astronomical study, its past remains an important testimony to this land’s contribution to nineteenth-century astronomy.
The view and the building
La Specola stands on a hill that juts out into the space around it, with a breathtaking view over the plain of Lucca. From where it stands the building takes in a 360-degree panorama, from the gentle Tuscan hills to the mountains on the horizon.
Beyond its setting, the building is precisely aligned with the compass, an orientation that reflects its original astronomical purpose.
Another hallmark of La Specola is its perfect symmetry: the building unfolds harmoniously from the centre, where the observation tower was meant to stand.
This balance does more than make the building elegant: it shows the scientific rigour with which the observatory was conceived, a place made to search the sky with precision and method.