The Walled City
A walled city you can bicycle around, bell towers above terracotta roofs, and aperitivo with no real hurry.
Lucca is the walled medieval city you can bicycle around — the four-kilometre Renaissance ramparts still intact, the centro storico unchanged since the 14th century, and life inside still lived at the pace of pedestrians.
Stay in a villa just outside the walls or up in the hills above — at Lucchesia's olive-and-vineyard country — and the city is fifteen minutes away whenever you want it.
Best Villas
Lucca
4 Beds·5 Baths·8 Guests
From €7,495 / week
Lucca
7 Beds·7.5 Baths·14 Guests
From €11,995 / week
Lucca
8 Beds·10 Baths·15 Guests
From €14,995 / week
Lucca
8 Beds·8 Baths·16 Guests
From €14,995 / week
Lucca
12 Beds·12 Baths·24 Guests
From €23,200 / week
Lucca
12 Beds·14 Baths·24 Guests
From €21,995 / week
Lucca
51 Beds·51 Baths·101 Guests
From €94,000 / week
Experiences
Rent a bicycle at any of the shops just inside the walls and ride the full four-kilometre circuit. Best at golden hour with the city below.
Puccini's birthplace in Lucca holds intimate piano-and-voice evenings most nights in summer. A drink, an hour of arias, dinner after.
Tortelli lucchesi, hand-rolled pici, the family ragù — half a day at a Lucchesia farmhouse with a nonna and a long lunch.
The Lucchesia hills just north of the city have a quiet wine country of their own. A morning at a small family producer, the Colline Lucchesi DOC, lunch with the vineyard.
Thirty minutes west to the most chic stretch of the Tuscan coast. A private beach club, lunch at La Capannina di Franceschi, dinner at Bistrot in Forte dei Marmi.
Forty-five minutes north into the Apuan Alps. Hike, swim in a mountain pool, lunch at a malga.
Travel Advisor
From the right villa to private chefs, boat charters, and bespoke experiences, we take care of every detail.
Beyond the Villa
Thirty minutes west. The Leaning Tower at opening, lunch at Vecchia Posta, an afternoon in the Camposanto and the Duomo Museum.
An hour east by car or train. The Duomo, Uffizi, San Lorenzo market lunch, then back to Lucca by dinner.
Ninety minutes northwest. A boat between the five villages, swim in Manarola, lunch at Belforte in Vernazza.
Thirty minutes west to the coast. Sunbathing at a stabilimento, lunch on the beach, dinner in Pietrasanta.
Forty-five minutes northwest. A jeep tour into the working marble quarries Michelangelo used — the most cinematic landscape in Tuscany.
Two hours south. A vineyard lunch in Chianti and an afternoon walk on the Campo.
Climate
| January | February | March | April | May | June | July | August | September | October | November | December |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 52°F | 54°F | 60°F | 65°F | 72°F | 79°F | 83°F | 83°F | 77°F | 67°F | 58°F | 52°F |
Source: long-term monthly averages for the region. Sea temperatures stay comfortable for swimming May through October.
Where it is
Travelers Ask
Lucca is the only Tuscan city whose Renaissance walls were never breached and were never torn down. Today those walls are a tree-lined park, four kilometres around the entire centro storico, where everyone in Lucca walks and bicycles after dinner.
Inside the walls, the city is small and dense and beautiful. Piazza dell'Anfiteatro (the oval piazza built over a Roman amphitheatre), San Michele in Foro with the four-story marble façade, the Duomo and its labyrinth, the Torre Guinigi with the oak trees growing on top, Puccini's house and the Puccini Festival each summer in nearby Torre del Lago.
Around Lucca is the Lucchesia, the olive-and-vineyard countryside where the great Tuscan farmhouse villas sit. To the north, the Garfagnana mountains. To the west, the Versilia coast (Forte dei Marmi, Pietrasanta, Viareggio). To the east, Pistoia and Florence. To the southwest, Pisa.
The food in Lucca leans toward the simpler, older end of Tuscan cooking — buccellato (a sweet anise bread), tortelli lucchesi with meat sauce, farro soup, garmugia (a spring vegetable soup), the Colline Lucchesi DOC red. Restaurants we book repeatedly: Buca di Sant'Antonio, La Pecora Nera, Locanda dell'Angelo, All'Olivo.
May, June, and September are our favourites. The walls are at their best in spring with the trees in leaf; the Puccini Festival runs July and August in nearby Torre del Lago. October is quiet and beautiful in the Lucchesia hills with the olive harvest. Winter is grey but the city is intimate.
Lucca's climate is slightly milder than inland Tuscany thanks to the nearby Tyrrhenian coast. Monthly highs run from 52°F in January to 83°F in July and August. Pool weather is mid-May through late September. The city itself stays cool even in heat — the walls and stone keep it shaded.
Tortelli lucchesi (meat-filled tortelli in ragù), farro soup, garmugia (spring vegetable soup), buccellato (sweet anise bread to dunk in coffee), and the Colline Lucchesi DOC red. Our favourites: Buca di Sant'Antonio, La Pecora Nera, Locanda dell'Angelo, All'Olivo, and Trattoria da Leo for casual lunch.
Walk or bicycle the walls, the Torre Guinigi climb, the Puccini Festival in summer, vineyard tastings in the Lucchesia hills, cooking classes at a Lucchesia villa, marble-quarry tours at Carrara, beach days at Forte dei Marmi, and Pisa in the afternoon when you've had enough of art.
Pisa (30 min), Forte dei Marmi (30 min), Florence (1 hr), Cinque Terre (90 min), the Carrara marble quarries (45 min), Siena and Chianti (2 hr).
Not inside the walls — Lucca is walkable end to end and the centro storico is a limited traffic zone (ZTL). Outside the walls (Lucchesia villas, Versilia, day trips) a car is essential, or arrange private driver service through our concierge.
Explore
Each region is hand-picked, walked, and slept in by us first. See which one is calling.
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