Better located, conveniently compact and free from busloads of tourists, the city of Lucca is emerging out of the shadow of Florence. Tourists and holiday home buyers are discovering that the northern Tuscan province is an excellent alternative to Chiantishire.
Within an hour of both Pisa and Florence airports, it’s the perfect weekend getaway, but it’s also a great base from which to explore the fashionable beach towns of the Tuscan coast or Cinque Terra.
Lucca is above all famed for its walls. Not just the impressively intact 4.2 km long Renaissance one that encircles the city, but the chunks of Roman-medieval ramparts. Allow around an hour to stroll around the tree-lined mura the width of a road, admiring the elegant villas built by silk traders and its ancient towers and campaniles backed by the Apuan Alps.
Lit up at night, the walls are equally impressive, and you can glimpse the oak trees sprouting out of the ‘tower of the trees’, the red-brick 45-metre Romanesque-Gothic square Guinigi Tower, a status symbol for a wealthy family of the 1300s.
Amongst the many tempting piazzas large and small for a coffee or aperitivo is Piazza San Michele, a vast square with its Romanesque cathedral where operatic composer Giacomo Puccini once sang in the choir – it’s one of the city’s reported 100 churches. Don’t leave the square without trying the local speciality of bucccellato di Lucca, a raisin bread with anise, at Fabbrica Taddeucci on the square, though Caffeteria Turandot is the place to go for all-day sun and people-watching.
You can admire the house where Puccini was born, a bronze statue of the city’s most famous resident at Corte San Lorenzo and listen to a recital very evening at the Church of San Giovanni.
Puccini’s Citadel Square feeds into Via Fillungo, the old city’s main axis and shopping street, full of artisanal brands, enoteca and book shops – don’t expect a lot of big-name brands though you’ll find Bottega Veneta and MaxMara.
You’ll also find the finest artisanal ice-cream at Gelateria Veneta – the pistachio di Bronte or Sicilian pistachio – is the bestseller, but seasonal fresh fruits are feted: try the fig. A bigger branch is on Via Vittorio Veneto.
In the winter, the big event is the Comics and Games convention – beware every AirBnB will be booked up in early November
If your visit falls upon the third Sunday of the month, Il Mercato Antiquario Lucchese, Lucca’s antiques market takes over the streets around Piazza San Martino. Whenever you visit don’t miss the circular Piazza dell’Anfiteatro, once a Roman amphitheatre and now a ring of cafes.
For a glass of the sangiovese red wines for which the region is famed for head to the vaulted cantina Enoteca Vanni then follow in the footsteps of Ezra Pound and Princess Margaret with dinner at Buca di Sant’Antonio, one-time brothel, hostelry and oldest restaurant in the city.
Fiercely traditional classics include homemade pasta with rabbit sauce or the Lucchiese specialty, Garmuglia di primavera, a spring vegetable soup with minced veal (both €15). Zuppa alla Frantoiana, a bean soup is another local speciality in this province of 11 Michelin starred restaurants.
It’s an easy stroll come home if you stay at Palazzo Dipinto, a chic four-star boutique hotel with modern comforts located on a piazza of the same name.
For day two you could visit one of the city’s elegant villas and gardens. Villa Bottini, a beautiful Renaissance property with a belvedere loggia and frescoed interior, built by the city’s most prominent family, the Buonvisis, in the sixteenth century. Once owned by Elisa Bonaparte, Napoleon’s sister, hosts concerts, fashion shows and open-air cinema in its elegant grounds.
The Lucca Summer Festival is the highlight of a summer of many events, attracting over 50,000 people every evening: next month Simply Red, Bob Dylan, Blur and Robbie Williams will be in Lucca. In the winter, the big event is the Comics and Games convention – beware every AirBnB will be booked up in early November.
You might also take a trip to the coast half an hour away – either Forte de Marmi, the glitzy go-to beach resort for the jetset with designer shopping and VIP ‘bagno’ clubs. You don’t have to be a Serie A footballer or a Russian oligarch to go to Gilda, but private cabins and gazebos require a reservation during summer weekends. Or for something a bit more low-key, next-door Pietrasanta, an arty medieval town with art galleries.
Prefer a vineyard? There’s a great chef at Fattoria Sardi, famed for its Rosé wines, whilst Tenuta di Valgiano is a leading vineyard of the region with 40 acres of biodynamic vines overlooking Lucca. For a private tour of the area’s wineries, try Andrea at Tuscan Drivers, a certified sommelier – he also picks out the award-winning Podere Concori. Combine with or a day trip to Pisa (for the leaning tower or its cathedral) or a dip into the wilder, deep-forested Garfagnana and see the bunkers and trenches of the second world war’s Gothic Line. There’s much more to Lucca than first meets the eye.
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