Áudio tour The Fountains of Maria Luisa Duchess of Lucca

Maria Luisa of Bourbon, Infanta of Spain and Duchess of Lucca, was born in 1782 and died in
Rome in 1824.
She belonged to the Spanish branch of the Bourbons, daughter of the King of Spain Charles IV and
Maria Luisa of Bourbon-Parma. She spent a happy childhood as the favourite daughter of her
parents, who they affectionately nicknamed her “Luisetta”.
She was only 13 years old when she married Ludovico I of Bourbon, Duke of Parma and Piacenza.
Luckily the marriage turned out to be happy.
Napoleon - in his constant change in regards to the political map of Europe - made her become
Queen of Etruria from 1801 to 1807.
Later, her relationship with Napoleon became very tense: Maria Luisa was held prisoner in a
convent in Rome until the fall of Napoleon in 1814.
In 1815 at the Congress of Vienna, Lucca was assigned to Maria Luisa: thus the city became a
duchy.
Maria Luisa was determined to erase all traces of Elisa Bonaparte's government.
During the period of her government, Maria Luisa modernised the urban structure of the city and
renewed her royal palace, Palazzo Ducale, in order to give Lucca the dignity of a true state capital.
She therefore commissioned many public works such as the promenade of the Walls, the Giglio
theatre and the public aqueduct.
The fountains - which constitute the stages of our journey, not only were a functional element of the
citizens’ well-being, but also an element of embellishment of the entire urban structure.
From a political point of view, Maria Luisa ruled Lucca in an absolutist way, even if her
government was not very reactionary and oppressive. On her death in 1824, her son Ludovico
became Duke of Lucca