Via Fillungo — The Street That Silk Money Built Around
Listen at the stop, then read the transcript and follow the sources behind the story.
Listen
Transcript
Via Fillungo follows the old Roman north-south axis, but its medieval importance came from commerce. Lucca became renowned for silk production and merchant networks stretching far beyond Tuscany.
Silk required skilled weaving, dyeing, credit and long-distance distribution. Luccan merchant families established branches abroad, and political exile sometimes spread their expertise even farther.
The elegant centre was therefore financed by an economy that was international centuries before tourism. Towers, chapels and palaces are the visible residue of capital that once moved through streets like this one.