Where to Stay in Lucca: Inside the Walls or a Villa in the Hills

Lucca is the rare Tuscan town that works as well for a week as it does for an afternoon. The question our clients ask first is where to sleep: inside the Renaissance walls, or out in the olive-covered hills a short drive away. We have walked through every villa we offer around Lucca, and our answer for most families and groups is the hills, with the walled city as your daily playground. Here is how to decide.

Inside the walls: charming, compact and car-free

The historic center sits inside more than four kilometers of tree-lined ramparts, and almost everything you want to see is a short walk away: the Guinigi Tower with the holm oaks growing on its roof, the oval Piazza dell’Anfiteatro traced over the old Roman amphitheater, the cathedral of San Martino and the white marble facade of San Michele in Foro. Staying inside means evening strolls on the walls, a coffee in the piazza before anyone else is up, and no car to worry about.

The trade-offs are space and logistics. Homes inside the walls are apartments and townhouses, rarely with gardens and almost never with a pool. Driving is restricted across much of the center, so arriving with a rental car takes planning (more on that below). For a couple or a short stay, it works well. For a family reunion or a week with friends, most people want more room.

The hills: a villa with a pool, ten minutes from town

The countryside around Lucca, the Lucchesia, is one of the most peaceful corners of Tuscany. Olive groves and small vineyards climb the slopes north and east of the city, dotted with the grand country houses that Lucca’s merchant families built from the 1500s onward. This is where you find space, privacy, a pool and a long table under a pergola, with the walled city a short drive away when you want it.

A few of the villas we know personally, all hand-inspected:

• Casa Del Fattore: eight bedrooms for up to 15 guests in the village of Vorno, about ten minutes from Lucca, with a grocery, butcher, coffee bar and restaurant in the village and a private chef available.
• Villa Lenka: seven bedrooms for 14 in a 1624 country house in the Lucca hills, with frescoed rooms and a large pool framed by cypresses and pots of lemon trees.
• Villa Frantoio: four bedrooms and five baths for eight, our pick for a smaller family or two couples.
• Casa Felice Matteucci: seven bedrooms for 14, a good size for multigenerational trips.
• Villa Controni: a grand villa with a private chapel and a pool, sleeping 24 in 12 bedrooms, about ten minutes from the walls.
• Borgo Bernardini: a converted medieval hamlet with 12 bedrooms for 24, ideal when two or three families want their own corners.
• Coselli Estate: six villas on one estate in Capannori, sleeping up to 101, for weddings, milestone birthdays and company retreats.

One advantage of staying on the Coselli Estate is its own concierge team, which works like a small hotel’s. They can meet you at the airport with a driver, fill the villa with fresh flowers before you arrive, send a chef for dinner or a cooking class, book a private guide for Lucca or Florence, and arrange babysitters, massages by the pool or a tennis coach. For families, they also organize treasure hunts, pony rides, art workshops and even a magician for the children’s night.

You can see them side by side, with photos and floor plans, on our Lucca villas page.

Which side of town?

There is no bad direction, but each has a personality.

North and east: the villa hills

The slopes above Capannori, Marlia and Segromigno hold many of Lucca’s famous historic villas and gardens, including Villa Reale di Marlia and Villa Torrigiani. It is gentle, green and close to town, and the vineyards of the Colline Lucchesi are on your doorstep. Read our guide to the historic villas and gardens of Lucca to plan your visits.

West: toward the sea

West of the city, the hills roll toward Massarosa and the Versilia coast. Base yourself here if beach days at Forte dei Marmi or an opera night at the Puccini Festival in Torre del Lago are high on your list.

North: the Serchio Valley

Follow the river north and the country turns wilder, with chestnut woods, hill towns and mountain views. It is a longer drive into Lucca but a wonderful base for walkers. See our guide to the Garfagnana and Serchio Valley.

Getting around: cars, the walls and the ZTL

Lucca is easy to reach. Trains from Pisa take around 20 to 30 minutes and from Florence about an hour and 20 minutes, and the station is a five-minute walk from the walls. If you are staying in a villa, though, you will want a car, both for the drive home after dinner and for day trips.

The important rule is the ZTL, the limited traffic zone. Much of the area inside the walls is closed to unauthorized cars, and cameras issue fines automatically, often months later. The simple approach: park in one of the public lots just outside the walls and walk in through a gate. If you are staying inside, ask your host to register your license plate. During Lucca Comics & Games in late October and early November, normal parking is suspended and shuttles run from outside town, so plan ahead if your dates overlap.

The flat, car-free walls and center also make Lucca one of the best bicycle towns in Italy. Bike rental shops cluster near the city gates, and a lap of the walls is a must on day one. From town, a cycle path follows the Serchio River north through the countryside toward Ponte a Moriano, an easy, flat ride that works for children too.

Prefer not to drive at all? Several of our villas can arrange a private driver for airport transfers, dinners in town and full-day excursions.

Our advice

If you have a week, take a villa in the hills and come into town most days for lunch, shopping and an evening passeggiata on the walls. If you have three nights and no car, stay inside the walls. Either way, tell us who is traveling and what you love, and we will match you with the right house. Talk to a Doorways advisor.

Still deciding when to go? Start with the best time to visit Lucca, then browse our 12 day trips from Lucca.