Overview
The Best Small City in Tuscany
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Lucca is arguably the most livable city in Tuscany. Unlike Florence (overwhelming) or Siena (hilly), it's compact, flat, and human-scale. The city has been surrounded by its Renaissance walls since the 16th century, and those walls — 4km of brick ramparts wide enough to drive a car along the top — were never breached. Napoleon tried and failed. The city simply paid him. Today the walls are a park — tree-lined, grass-covered, and used by locals for running, cycling, and walking their dogs every day.
Inside the walls: Roman street grid, medieval towers, a piazza built inside the shell of a Roman amphitheatre (the houses literally follow the oval curve of the ancient seating), and a remarkably intact medieval cityscape that hasn't been bombed, burned, or "restored" into incoherence.
What to See
The Essential Lucca
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The City Walls (Le Mura)
The defining Lucca experience. Walk or cycle the 4km circuit on top of the ramparts — shaded by plane trees, with views into the city on one side and the hills beyond on the other. Completely flat, entirely accessible. Rent pedal carriages (risciò) for groups near the main gates — a 4-person pedal carriage is one of the better memories of a Tuscan trip.
Piazza dell'Anfiteatro
The most remarkable Roman legacy in Lucca. The medieval city was built on top of a 1st-century Roman amphitheatre, and the houses followed the oval shape of the ancient seating exactly. The piazza you see today is the arena floor — enclosed on all sides by buildings whose foundations are the ancient walls. The shape is only visible from above or by understanding what you're looking at. Four tunnels (the original amphitheatre exits) lead in and out. Your lunch at L'Angolo Tondo is on this piazza.
San Martino Cathedral
Lucca's cathedral, begun 1060. Notable for the marble reliefs on the facade (partly by Nicola Pisano) and the Tempietto of Volto Santo inside — a life-size black wooden crucifix supposedly carved by Nicodemus, which attracted pilgrims from across Europe in the Middle Ages.
Practical Details