Discover Lucca: City Walls and Culture

Lucca combines historic lanes, churches, towers and museums with gardens and a green ring of city walls stretching for more than four kilometres. If you are looking for hotels in Lucca, you can explore the city through the themes you want to shape your trip: architecture, Puccini’s biography, walks, cycling or botany. The different stops offer ideas for planning your own visit, without requiring you to focus on just one theme.

City Walls and Routes Through Lucca

The city walls form a green ring around the historic city. The Lucca itineraries include walks through historic lanes, bike rides along the park on the city walls and excursions into the countryside around the city. They offer different ways to explore Lucca and its surroundings: on foot through the lanes, by bike along the park or on an excursion into the countryside.

The city walls are more than a historic boundary: at over four kilometres long, their green ring connects the city’s history with a distinctive landscape feature. When planning your trip, you can decide whether to focus mainly on the historic city and its buildings or also include excursions into the surrounding area.

The Cathedral and Towers

The Cattedrale di San Martino was founded by San Frediano in the 6th century. By the 8th century, it had replaced the ancient church of SS. Giovanni e Reparata as Lucca’s cathedral. This sequence traces the cathedral’s origins and its later role in the city’s history. The Campanile di San Martino is a 60-metre-high bell tower dating from the 12th century.

The other well-known towers can also be compared by height: the Torre delle Ore stands 50 metres tall, and the Torre Guinigi 45 metres. The Torre Guinigi is topped by a hanging garden with holm oaks. So, when looking at the towers, their different architectural features matter as much as their dimensions.

Puccini and the City’s Museums

Giacomo Puccini was born on 22 December 1858 in the house now used as the Puccini Museum – Casa natale. He lived there during his childhood and early youth. In 1880, he moved to Milan to continue his studies. These stops connect his birthplace in Lucca with a later period in his life, without conflating the two phases.

The Museo Nazionale Villa Guinigi is housed in a late Gothic villa built for Paolo Guinigi from 1413 onwards. As a museum of the city of Lucca and its surrounding area, it preserves art collections featuring works by local and visiting artists who worked in Lucca on ecclesiastical and secular commissions. Here, architectural history meets artworks created for different kinds of patrons.

Botanical Garden and Market

The Orto Botanico di Lucca covers two hectares at the southeastern corner of the historic centre. Since 2022, it has been recognised as a museum of regional significance. Within the garden, the La Montagnola area is laid out with large blocks of rock and crossed by a spiral path. The garden’s size, recognition and distinctive La Montagnola design offer different perspectives on the site.

The Mercato contadino di Lucca takes place at the Foro Boario every Saturday, and on Wednesdays as well during the summer months. As the additional market day is seasonal and dates may change, check the current schedule before your visit.

Lucca on the Via Francigena

For centuries, Lucca was a strategic hub on the Via Francigena. Historically, the city provided travellers and pilgrims with accommodation and meals, markets, hospitals and places of worship. This role adds the history of Lucca as a stop for travellers and pilgrims to the picture of its buildings and museums. You can therefore consider culture, landscape and the city’s historical significance as distinct themes for your trip.

Discover more destinations: Monsagrati, Montuolo, Nozzano Castello, Piazzano, San Concordio Di Moriano, San Lorenzo A Vaccoli, San Macario In Monte, Santa Maria Del Giudice, Monte San Quirico, Piaggione, San Pietro A Vico, Farneta, Pieve Di Brancoli, Aquilea, Arsina, Balbano, Cerasomma, Chiatri, Ciciana, Mastiano.

For the main travel overview: Lucca.