On this post I will highlight what we did while visiting Lucca and the best things to do in one day.
After spending a great time in Pisa on the previous day, our day started with a lovely breakfast at La Perla del Borgo B&B.
They had a very good supply of everything for you to choose from and coffee was made fresh to your choice from a professional machine. We were happy and ready to start the day.
On this trip we decided to experiment and not hire a car at all as we did on previous trips in Italy.
We chose to travel by train to all the destinations planned on the trip. Trains in Italy are very good and very frequent. The price is very fair, and you get a more relaxed experience not having to worry about traffic, the route and where to park the car.
So, we walked to the train station to catch a train at 9:50 to Lucca. (they have trains to Lucca every hour). Lucca is about half an hour from Pisa by train. We arrived there almost 10:30 am.
A LITTLE BIT ABOUT LUCCA
Lucca started as a Roman colony in 180 BC and became a town hall in 89 BC. Many traces of the Roman era are still present in some of its architecture such as the Piazza dell’Anfiteatro.
Lucca was an important city and fortress in the 6th century under the rule of the Narses and later the Lombards. It was important for the arrival of religious relics such as the Holy Face of Lucca (supposedly carved by Nicodemus) and other relics from important saints. The town became a pilgrimage route of the Via Francigena.
The town remained an independent republic for about 500 years under the rule of different people. Throughout the centuries it was occupied, seized, pawned, ceded, sold, and then liberated by the emperor Charles IV. However, Lucca lost its independence around 1847 when it was annexed to the Grand Duchy of Tuscany becoming part of the Kingdom of Sardinia in 1860 and finally part of the Italian State in 1861.
No doubt that Lucca has an interesting and important history, and it is surprising that it is not as famous as its neighbours Pisa, Florence, and Genova. It has important architecture and hides a lot of history behind its iconic city walls. What was once a protected city by its walls, today is the most attractive city to visit and explore.
VISITING LUCCA
From the train station we headed in the direction of the old town and crossed the Mura di Lucca (Lucca’s wall). We walked straight to the Duomo di San Martino (Lucca’s Cathedral).
The Duomo de Lucca, real name “Cattedrale di San Martino”, is Roman Catholic and dedicated to Saint Martin of Tours. It is known that there was a church in its place in the 6th century, other than that there is not much indication of its origins.
It was rebuilt between 1060 and 1070 and had more interventions in the 12th century. The tower was added in the 13th century.
The cathedral is a mixture of Gothic and Romanesque style with a marbled white façade and the tower was built with exposed bricks.
The tower is open for visitation, and you can climb to the top to have amazing views of Lucca and the mountains in the background. We decided to skip this climb as we wanted to save ourselves to climb another tower.
Inside the left nave you can find the Holy Face, a Crucifix, allegedly made by Nicodemus a disciple of Jesus. The cathedral also houses works of Italian artists such as Tintoretto’s “Last Supper” and Fra Bartolomeo’s “Madonna and Child”.
It was a Sunday and at that time a mass was going on and visits were not allowed. We admired the Duomo from the outside and took various photos of the beautiful building. We pressed on and walked to Torre Guinigi nearby.
Torre Guinigi belonged to the Guinigi family, and it was built between the 13th and 14th centuries. These towers were common in Medieval Lucca and were designed to be a home and a point of defence showing off the wealth of the owners.
Among the hundreds of towers in Lucca from that time, Torre Guinigi is one of the few that remained and was entirely preserved.
There are 220 steps to climb to the top where you will find seven holm oak trees in a garden at the top. We climbed this one as we were curious to see the oak trees and the views from there.
It was not a difficult climb, and we did it quite easily. The trees were very interesting, and the views were beautiful. After some rest under the trees and some photos of the views we made our way back down.
We then walked to Piazza dell’Anfiteatro. In Roman times there was a Roman Amphitheatre on this place. During the Middle Ages the area was rebuilt with some houses and a square in an oval shape, following the shape of the original amphitheatre that was there before.
It is a busy square with lots of restaurants and cafes within its arcaded walls. It was an ideal place to stop for some drinks and a bite to eat. We picked one of those restaurants and ordered a cold “birra” and some “bruschetta” to go with it. We spent some time there eating, drinking and people watching.
After the lunch break, we continued in the direction of “Basilica of San Frediano”. This church calls your attention for the striking façade decorated with a 13th century golden mosaic representing “The Ascension of Christ the Saviour”. It is just marvellous.
The inside is built in carved white marble and in the chapel of St. Zita on the right side you can see the intact body of St. Zita in a glass casket.
The story says that Zita was a maid in one of the noble houses and she was a very charitable person. She used to give left over bread from the house to the poor and hungry people in Lucca. She was promoted as a housekeeper in the house but continued to smuggle bread to the poor.
One day she was discovered and when they confronted her and pulled her apron to reveal the bread she had stolen, only flowers popped out. They could not accuse her of stealing bread and left her alone.
She continued helping the poor until her death and when her body was exhumed from her previous burial place, they saw that it was naturally mummified.
From there we walked to “Palazzo Pfanner” close to San Frediano Church. This is a delightful mansion from the 17th century with a pretty baroque garden.
It belonged to the Austrian brewer Felix Pfanner that came to Lucca to start a German brewery. He started that in the cellars and garden of the mansion and eventually bought the whole palace. It belongs to the Pfanner family up to these days.
It is a beautiful place to visit. Some rooms were dressed to look like how it used to be in the past, but the cherry of the cake is the garden with its statues, fountains, and manicured greenery. We really enjoyed our visit to the palace, but after the visit we moved on.
From there we went to the Basilica of San Michele in Foro dedicated to Archangel Michael. This is another Catholic church from Lucca, and it was built over the ancient Roman forum.
It dates from 795 AD, and it was rebuilt after 1070. The façade has a series of sculptures and various arcades. On the top there is the image of Michael de Archangel surrounded by another two angels.
Inside you will see the mummified body of San Davino resting in a glass casket under the altar. He was a pilgrim from the 11th century.
The next stop was the Puccini House and Museum. The composer was born in Lucca in 1858 and the house he was born in was restored to show off his life and opera works. It was not the best of the museums we’ve been to, but enough to give you some insight on the life of this famous composer.
It was the end of the afternoon and there was still something that we didn’t do in Lucca: to walk on top of the famous city walls. So, that was what we did next. We headed on the direction of the ancient walls that amazingly were preserved in its entirety and transformed into a sort of park/walkway.
We accessed the top of the wall via one of the ramps and walked our way down to near the Botanic Gardens and the entrance we first came in.
We didn’t have time to visit the Botanic Gardens so, skipped it, but I’ve heard it is a very nice place to unwind and spend some time away from it all.
If you prefer to explore Lucca in a small group guided tour, you can book this tour HERE.
If you want to have a guided E-bike tour with wine tasting, this one seems to be a very good option.
We took the direction of the train station and boarded the next train back to Pisa. We still had time for an ice cream and a beer at Pizzateca (see my previous post on Pisa) at Piazza Garibaldi before returning to our B&B.
After some rest and a shower, we went out again to a restaurant called “Antica Trattoria Il Campano”. We had a reservation for 8 pm and it was only 2 minutes’ walk from our B&B. However, upon arrival we realised it was one of those tourist restaurants with photos of the food on the menu and alarm bells started ringing.
I read very good reviews of the place and because the best restaurants we would love to try were closed on a Sunday, we didn’t have many options, so I booked this one.
It was an awful experience and in contrast with the previous night, it was the worst dinner we had on this trip.
Both of our dishes were bad, and we didn’t even finish them. The service was not great either. The wine was good and saved the night, but before going back to our B&B we stopped somewhere else to have another drink and nibbles to compensate for the disastrous dinner.
HOW TO MAKE THE MOST OF YOUR TRIP
Below you will find a list of what to visit, where to stay and where to eat in Lucca. I classified each place as follows:
BOLD – Visited, tried and recommended
NOT BOLD – Not visited or tried, but planning to visit or try and heard very good reviews
RED – Visited and tried but do not recommend, avoid or be cautious
*** – Excellent
** – Good
* – OK
£££ – Expensive
££ – Fair and affordable
£ – Cheap
WHAT TO SEE IN LUCCA
ATTRACTIONS
1 – Duomo di San Martino – Lucca’s Cathedral – ***
2 – Torre Guinigi – ***
3 – Piazza delle’Anfiteatro – ***
4 – Basilica of San Frediano – ***
5 – Palazzo Pfanner – ***
6 – Basilica of San Michele in Foro – ***
7 – Puccini House and Museum – ***
8 – Walk on top of the Old Walls of Lucca – ***
9 – Botanic Gardens
10 – Torre del’Ore
WHERE TO STAY
HOTELS
1 – Luxury Corte Di Re Artu – 3* – ££
2 – Le Dimore del Borgo – 4* – ££
3 – Grand Universe La Residenza – 4* – ££
4 – Residenza FillAnfi -3* – ££
5 – Micheli Suite Anfiteatro Square – 4* – ££
6 – Perle d’Ambra – 3* – ££
WHERE TO EAT
1 – L’Imbuto – £££
2 – Buca di Sant’Antonio – ££
3 – Peperosa – £££
4 – Ristorante Giglio – £££
5 – Il Grammofono – £££
6 – Antica Locanda dell’Angelo – ££
If you tried any of my recommendations above, please send me a message and tell me about your experience good or bad, so I can update the list accordingly. Thanks!
On this trip in Italy:
1 – Pisa
2 – Lucca
3 – Florence – Day 1 – Coming soon
4 – Florence – Day 2 – Coming soon
5 – Siena – Coming soon
6 – Cinque Terre – Riomaggiore – Coming soon
7 – Cinque Terre – Sentiero Azzuro, Vernassa, Coniglia & Manarola – Coming soon
8 – Cinque Terre – Monterosso al Mare – Coming soon
9 – Portofino – Coming soon
10 – La Spezia – Coming soon
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