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Information about Lucca

Lucca and its surroundings are rich in history and, at the same time, open to the future. Throughout the years, this medieval Tuscan city has maintained the characteristics of the small capital it was almost up to the unification of Italy. The streets and piazzas of the historic centre, the churches and buildings, and its overall urban layout show how smooth and uninterrupted its development has been over the centuries, providing an ideal setting for a campus within which experiences can be shared and personal contact enhanced. The Renaissance city walls and the natural amphitheatre of the hills beyond combine in a perfect blend of nature and the work of man. Beyond the hills, the beaches of Versilia and the mountains of Garfagnana are uniquely attractive by their variety and closeness to the town. Lucca has good connections to other large towns, to cities and other university centres of the region and it is close to both Pisa and Florence international airports.

A 6 minutes movie on Lucca is also available.

The spirit of Lucca

There are still towns like Lucca, formed by their genius loci and thus invested over the centuries with a special atmosphere. These are not cities which boast of scenery with a facile charm or wonders designed to make the populace marvel at the powerful, but places which flourish on green plains, turreted and fortified but without seeking to be menacing or warlike. They lie amidst peaceful, long-cultivated countryside, far from the arrogance of capital cities. Nowadays they are pleasant, tranquil and self-respecting, dispensing a kind of balm which only those who know how to appreciate places magically determined by their history, can earn or be given, be they citizens or outsiders. The old ranks of military power in these towns, their art splendours and customs and tradition have left ruins to view and embalmed shrines to take photos of but the much more important thing is the deep sense of a civilisation with the resources to continue developing. When you go to such places you mustn't worry too much about seeing the sights. Because you won't find them-not as you expect or are used to seeing them, at any rate. People say strange things about Lucca, such as, that it does not have much to show in comparison with other cities which are better known in the guidebooks and that this makes it rather remote from and not very attractive to the tourist foot soldiers and their desires. In order to get to know Lucca, you must take the spirit of the city as your guide and follow it across the magic network of its streets and into the night silence in the spaces overlooked by ancient grand houses. You must let the churches take you by surprise- sometimes you find them set into the walls of the streets, and sometimes unexpectedly round a street corner, enthroned in the middle of a square which can barely contain it. You must submit to the calm majesty of the Walls which you can see wherever you are and which you must walk round.

There's another thing they say about Lucca all over the world-that you won't find her secret in the guidebooks. No, you learn that by wandering around and piecing together the hidden traces of her civilisation, not just in the architecture and art, not just in the town planning, but also in the daily life of the people who live and work here.

Visitors who are neither arrogant nor in a hurry and who read this little booklet will enjoy the discreet cult of commerce and shopkeeping of which Lucca is a Mecca although there's little of the Levantine in it. The satisfaction in being a shopkeeper has nothing to do with haggling-the pleasure is in presenting one's merchandise with pride and not with mere sales talk. The people of Lucca traditionally excel in this, whether it be cloth, perfume, silver, corn or cooked meat. They are brought up in a good school.

Lucca's history was in part shaped by commerce, but even more by this deep-rooted tradition of the art of shopkeeping, which is of primary importance in preserving its image. The repute of this image, the esteem in which it is held and its rarity are exceptional and it is worth taking note of it, just as you will take note of the great cultural themes in the area which are the heritage of civilisation.

The walls of Lucca
                                                                                                               
Not many cities in Italy have preserved their enclosing walls almost intact.
In past centuries, the demographic growth of the urban centres led to knocking down – partially or totally – enclosing walls, which were considered an obstacle to the development of the cities. Instead, Lucca escaped this trend, and thus one of the most important examples of 16th-c. military architecture – today the symbol of the city – was saved. The walls are, in fact, one of the most efficient testimonies to the historical events experienced by Lucca as the capital of a small State menaced by outside forces, and testify to the efforts made to guarantee freedom to its citizens.
The present enclosing walls are the fourth set in order of time, after the Roman, medieval and 15th-c. ones. They were erected between the middle of the 16th century and the middle of the 17th century, by extending the course of the previous fortifications. The development of artilleries required an enclosing wall capable of resisting bombardments, and this led to a work of colossal dimensions.

The ring of the walls has an irregular route, with a length of about 4200 metres: their aggregate consists of 11 screens, 10 bastions, and one platform. The screens are 12 metres high, and the thickness at their base is 30 metres. On the bastions there are still the “little barracks [casermette]”, which served as shelter for those assigned to their defence and as a munitions deposit for the 126 large-calibre cannons that were placed behind the “trunnions” of the bastions. The latter have extensive underground vaults, some of which can still be visited, utilised as access and service premises during defence operations.

At the beginning of the 19th century, having lost any and all military value, the upper part of the walls was transformed – at the initiative of Maria Luisa di Borbone – into a public walkway enriched by the planting of hundreds of forest trees. After cars were no longer permitted access to the city, today the walls have become a large public park that provides an exceptional view over the city and surrounding countryside.

Typical restaurants

The best one and well-known restaurant is "Ristorante Buca di Sant'Antonio", which has four stars on Michelin Guide and in which you can eat a la carte, spending from 20€ to 100€.
In Via Fillugo the most important street of the historical center, and in its vicinity, there are a lot of places in which you can eat without spending a lot.

 
More information

Map of Lucca
http://www.luccatourist.it/
http://www.turismo.provincia.lucca.it/