Lucca, Italy travel guide and things to do: The three-minute guide

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Lucca, Italy travel guide and things to do: The three-minute guide

By Brian Johnston
Updated
Old town, Lucca.

Old town, Lucca.Credit: Alamy

WHY

Lucca, sitting in the lush Serchio Valley a half-hour north-east of Pisa, was an independent city-state from 1369 to 1815. It's crammed with medieval and Renaissance architecture and has a fine musical heritage, having most notably produced Boccherini and Puccini. Yet Lucca (turismo.lucca.it) receives only a fraction of Florence or Pisa's visitors, leaving its lovely old town with plenty of regular shops, somewhat old-fashioned restaurants devoted to regional cuisine, and a still-local atmosphere, especially in the evenings.

VISIT

Bronze statue of Giacomo Puccini.

Bronze statue of Giacomo Puccini.Credit: Alamy

Lucca's old-town streets form canyons well suited to shaded wandering, during which you'll come across churches, chic boutiques, retro delicatessens and small squares filled with cafes. In the evenings, the passegiata (ritual evening stroll) takes place along shopping drag Via Fillungo. Stop by Piazza Anfiteatro, overlooked by a fine horseshoe of tall medieval houses, and ascend defensive tower Torre Guinigi (lemuradilucca.it) for a view and an unexpected rooftop garden.

EAT

Unpretentious Trattoria Gigi (trattoriadagigi.it) is a local family favourite for its octopus soup, stewed beef and pasta dishes. Buca di Sant'Antonio (bucadisantantonio.com) has served traditional Luccan food since 1782, such as salted cod with chickpeas and tortelli lucchese, an oven-baked pasta stuffed with rich meat sauce. Head into Taddeucci (buccellatotaddeucci.com) for biscuits, nougat and pastries, including Luccan sweet bread specialty buccellato, and to Gelateria Venetina (gelateriaveneta.net) for gelatos and sorbets.

Lucca during a sunny afternoon.

Lucca during a sunny afternoon.Credit: Alamy

LOOK

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Lucca is a showcase of 700 years of architecture, including 40 churches (San Frediano has fine 13th-century mosaics), occasional monstrosities created by Mussolini, and the very French-looking Piazza Napoleone. Some shop fronts have beautiful Art Nouveau embellishments. The city's many medieval buildings are generally built of red brick and feature pointed arches, while later Renaissance buildings are identified by bigger, square windows, covered in iron grilles at ground level.

MUST

It's hard to imagine, but a two-lane road and carparks once disgraced the four-kilometre ramparts that enclose Lucca's old town. Now the Passeggiata delle Mura (lemuradilucca.it) is a tree-lined public park for walking, cycling and picnicking. You'll want to circumnavigate it more than once to enjoy the changing light over old town roofs and church towers and, in the other direction, the hazy outline of the Apuan Alps. You can opt out at any of six gates.

SLEEP

Lucca, mostly visited by day trippers, has a rather ordinary hotel scene, though that's changing. Four-star Palazzo Dipinto (palazzodipinto.com) inhabits a medieval building in the old town and was renovated in 2017 as the city's first designer hotel. It has a subdued, unfussy style and furnishings from top Italian designers. The eight-roomed A Palazzo Busdraghi (apalazzobusdraghi.it) and even smaller Palazzo Tucci (palazzotucci.com) go for more traditional, antique- and art-filled interiors.

TIP

Puccini e la sua Lucca (puccinielasualucca.com) claims to be the world's only permanent festival, holding recitals of Puccini music – including a glorious Nessun Dorma – nightly in San Giovanni church. Tickets are €25 and are usually available on the day.

The writer travelled courtesy the Italian National Tourist Board and Turismo Lucca.

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