Last Saturday, it rained and was generaly miserable weather here in Lucca. Our 4 year old, however, really needed to expend some energy. We decided to take him to Salta Giocca, an indoor playground under a 10 minute drive from downtown Lucca, in the Santa Anna section of the city. Although the playground was extremely crowded and noisy, our son had a blast. You pay 5 euros per kid to be able to play the whole afternoon, that's 3:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. The playground has a space for babies with a tunnel to crawl through, toddler sized scooters to ride on, the step 2 baby roller coaster ride, baby toys, and a slide that ends in a ball pit. Children over 5 are not allowed in the baby section. Then there is the rest of the playground, which is for children up to 10 years old. There are three different pieces of inflatable playground equipment. The first is a giant bouncy castle, the second a more miniature version for smaller children, and the third is a giant inflatable slide. There is also a large trampoline surrounded by a safety net for jumping on to your heart's content. To the back of the playground is an area reserved for renting out to have a birthday party. It has tables and benches and is generally used by tired adults for sitting and watching their children. There is also a small section dedicated to small coin operated rides like a little toddler car that moves gently back and fourth for a minute or so. The people of Salta Giocca will also bring the B-day party to your house if you wish, complete with inflateable slide and all.

All in all, this place was a lifesaver, albeit too noisy for my husband and I. If you are here in Lucca visiting and you happen to catch a rainy day, then definitely do check this place out. All the children I saw there seemed to be having the time of their lives.

Directions: From the historic center of Lucca, exit out of Porta S.Anna and continue straight, passing the Church of S.Anna on your right. Continue for a little over a kilometer until you come to a stop light with a LIDL on your left and a mattress shop on your right. Make a left here, then just after, about 10 or 20 meters, make another left on a road that leads to an apartment complex. Follow this road around until you see the back of Salta Giocca on your right and a small parking lot. We missed the turn off onto the apartment complex road just after the stop light on our first try and had to double back and try again. It is not easy to find and if you miss the small road by the apartment complex, you will be obliged to make a complete circle to get back to the entrance again.

posted by gina, 2005-12-12