For three days we had wandered the streets of the ancient walled city of Lucca. We had climbed its towers, strolled along the Renaissance ramparts, visited its churches, and relaxed in its squares, some of which still echo the Roman layout of the city. It was all very laid-back and very Italian. Then on the last day of our stay, everything changed...

From the day of our arrival we had watched as numerous marquees sprung up in the various squares around Lucca, and smaller tents up on the walls. We had cursed them from time to time for getting in the way of photographs and spoiling the cityscape, especially in the Piazza Anfiteatro.

But now we got the pay-off. The marquees were the dispersed venues for the Lucca Comic and Games festival, the largest comics festival in Europe, and the second largest in the world. On this final day the city was full of (mostly) young people, many of them in fancy dress. It was rather damp and drizzly but that didn’t stop us getting out there with our cameras to capture the scene! We started by grabbing candid shots on the streets.

But we soon realised that they were not only happy to pose but pleased to be asked and to have the chance to show off their costumes. It was a street photographer’s dream day. Yet we hadn’t even realised when we planned our trip that this festival existed at all, let alone that we would be here for it!

^{I visited Lucca in 2018}