What to see in Lucca, itinerary including the main monuments and places of interest, including Torre Guinigi, Church San Michele, Piazza Anfiteatro, Basilica of San Frediano and Cathedral of San Martino, where the Holy Face is located.
Tourist information
Wrapped in its walls, Lucca is a Tuscan city of intact ancient fabric.
A walk on the walls on foot or by bicycle is advisable as it offers suggestive views and various views of the city.
Lucca represents one of the most important cities of art in Italy and is famous for being the only city in the world with a circle of walls still intact, dating back to the sixteenth century, which develops over a path of 4210 meters which can be traveled entirely walking or cycling.
The historic center of this city is also very well preserved and full of important monuments and churches.
The main street is via Fillungo, suggestive areas are Piazza San Michele, Piazza San Martino with the imposing cathedral and Piazza San Frediano where the beautiful Basilica with its external mosaic overlooks and near which is Piazza Anfiteatro, another urban pearl.
The main feature of this city is that of having a very well preserved historic center enclosed in the circle of beautiful tree-lined walls dating back to the XV-XVII century whose perimeter measures about 4200 meters.
For the high number of churches, mostly closed today, Lucca is also called the city of a hundred churches.
Walking in the center you can admire numerous medieval churches of considerable artistic value along roads and streets where you can admire splendid Renaissance buildings with several towers.
Piazza Napoleone dating back to the time of the principality of Elisa Baciocchi recently renovated to bring it back to its former glory with ample space and a perimeter marked by trees with comfortable benches from which to admire the ducal palace.
Piazza San Martino, which overlooks the Cathedral of Lucca dedicated to the homonymous Saint
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Piazza San Michele, meeting place and market of provisions which is held on the occasion of the main holidays (Christmas, Easter, San Paolino, Santa Croce, etc.)
Amphitheater square, born on the ruins of the ancient Roman amphitheater by the architect Nottolini and unique in its architectural genre for its characteristic ovoid shape.
Torre Guinigi, which is accessed from Via Sant’Andrea 45, is the most important in Lucca.
The Guinigi were lords of the city and on the top of the tower they planted a huge holm oak, a tree that still characterizes it and legend has it that the city's golden keys are buried in the land in which it is planted.
Torre delle Ore, with the ancient clock still working which marks the passage of time for those who live and work in the historic center, is open to the public and offers a splendid view from above of Lucca and its surroundings.
Lucca, a city of art surrounded by its famous and intact city walls, which encloses an intact historic center, where churches, towers, palaces show off a remarkable architectural wealth.
Lucca is also called the city of a hundred churches, for the numerous buildings of this type present.
To see Piazza Napoleone with the Palazzo della Provincia, the Church of Ss. Giovanni and Reparata with the basements, where it is possible to make an archaeological route on the construction phases of the Temple, Piazza San Martino with the Cathedral and inside the funeral monument of Ilaria del Carretto, masterpiece by Jacopo della Quercia, Piazza San Michele and the Church of San Michele in Foro, Church of San Frediano, the Byzantine mosaic on the facade is remarkable, and Piazza del Mercato, located in the area of the Roman amphitheater.
At Villa Guinigi, a fifteenth-century residence of Paolo Guinigi, lord of Lucca from 1400 to 1430, there is a national museum, dedicated to the exhibition of remarkable works of art created for Lucca by Lucca and foreign artists called to operate in the city by illustrious characters ecclesiastics and lay people.
The Palazzo Pinacoteca Nazionale is housed in Palazzo Mansi, located in Via Galli Tassi.
The Cathedral of San Martino, consecrated in 1070 and finished in 1257, is a masterpiece of Romanesque art.
According to tradition, it was founded by Bishop Frediano, who became a saint in the sixth century, later it was rebuilt in 1060 by Anselmo da Baggio, bishop of the city, to be finally remodeled between the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.
The facade, inspired by that of the Cathedral of Pisa, was enriched by Guidetto da Como, who embellished it in 1204 with typical elements of the Romanesque style of Lucca.
Inside there are two monuments very dear to the people of Lucca, the Volto Santo and the funeral monument of Ilaria del Carretto.
The Holy Face is a wooden crucifix placed in a chapel built by Matteo Civitali in the left nave of the Cathedral.
According to tradition, the Crucifix was carved by Nicodemus, who with Jesus of Arimathea placed Jesus in the sepulcher.
Along the Via Francigena, medieval pilgrims stopped in front of his image to pay him homage.
This representation of Christ alive, triumphant over death, is still venerated today by the people of Lucca and by those who visit the city, in particular on 13 September for the feast of Santa Croce.
A labyrinth is carved outside the Cathedral, also a symbol of the pilgrimage, which represents the difficulty of choosing the only right path among the tortuous ways of life.
Under the portico in front of the facade of the Cathedral, there were the benches for changing money, a rather unusual place for the western world.
The funeral monument of Ilaria del Carretto, a masterpiece by Jacopo della Quercia dating back to 1408, is one of the best sculptures of the Italian Renaissance.
Ilaria del Carretto, wife of Paolo Guinigi, lord of Lucca, died in childbirth very young.
Her husband, who was very fond of her, had Jacopo della Quercia create this splendid work, which is now located in the sacristy of the cathedral.
What see
The Church of San Michele in Foro was built between 1070 and the end of 1200, on the remains of a previous church dedicated to San Michele, which was located in the center of the ancient Roman forum.
It is a Gothic-style work with Romanesque motifs, with a beautiful facade, on top of which the statue of St. Michael the Archangel is placed.
From the ancient chronicles of Lucca it appears that, under the lordship of the Doge of Pisa Giovanni dell'Agnello, the top floor of the bell tower was demolished to avoid exceeding the Augusta tower in height, used to exchange signals through the Pisan Mountains, also the sound of bells could have been heard all the way to Pisa.
The Basilica of San Frediano, already from the sixth century, existed in the place where the current Basilica stands, a Church built at the behest of San Frediano, Bishop of Lucca, whose body was placed in a crypt in this Church towards the end of the eighth century .
The construction of the current building began in 1112 and in 1147 there was its consecration.
In the thirteenth century the Church was raised and adorned with a splendid mosaic with a gold background, placed on the upper part of the facade.
The Basilica, with an interior with three naves divided by columns characterized by capitals, for most of the remains, coming from Rome, is enriched with finely decorated side chapels, including the Fatinelli chapel, which houses the shrine with the body of Santa Zita.
The chapel of Santa Zita and the chapel of the Madonna del Soccorso were originally part of the Cemetery of Santa Caterina, adjacent to the Basilica.
In the space reserved for the Baptistery there is the Baptismal Font, a significant testimony of the Romanesque sculpture of Lucca.
The Church of Santi Giovanni e Reparata, in its current structure, dates back largely to the reconstruction that took place in the second half of the twelfth century.
Between the end of the sixteenth century and the beginning of the seventeenth century, the facade was created, which has preserved the original Romanesque portal, and the wooden coffered ceiling.
The Basilica has maintained the same plan of the previous plant, which was built between the fourth and fifth centuries, in an area of Roman settlement, as evidenced by the vast archaeological area that can be visited under the plan of the Basilica.
In the area of the Baptistery, the excavations revealed five different levels of stratification, which correspond to twelve centuries of the city's history.
Piazza dellAmfiteatro was built on the ruins of the ancient Roman amphitheater, dating back to the first century AD.
Elliptical in shape, the structure fell into ruin during the barbarian invasions, over the centuries it became a kind of quarry for building materials, until houses were built on the remains of the structure, maintaining the elliptical profile.
In the nineteenth century, the architect Lorenzo Nottolini was commissioned to build the current square, breaking down the houses that had been built in the center and building around the street of the Amphitheater.
As already mentioned, Lucca is enclosed by a 4 km and two hundred and twenty-meter long wall, whose construction was decreed in 1504 by the Republic of Lucca and whose work began in the mid-sixteenth century and ended in 1645.
This impressive work, which has survived to this day as a whole, is an extraordinary example of military architecture.
Inside the walls there are testimonies of fortifications dating back to previous eras.
The first layout of the Roman period remained in defense of the city until the first years of the tenth century when, due to the poor state of the walls, the construction of a new medieval wall circle became necessary, whose works were carried out between eleventh and twelfth centuries.
New interventions and extensions were carried out subsequently, starting from the second half of the fourteenth century, up to the first decades of the fifteenth century, due to population growth and changing political and economic conditions.
In the nineteenth century Maria Luisa of Bourbon commissioned the architect Lorenzo Nottolini, to transform the walls into a public walk, with tree decoration.
Today the Walls constitute a vast public park that offers visitors and Lucchesi the opportunity to stroll in the green, admiring the beautiful panoramic views offered by various points of view, over the historic center.
Do not forget that the famous composer Giacomo Puccini was born in Lucca, whose birthplace, now transformed into a museum, is located in via di Poggio near Piazza San Michele.
The term Lucca refers to the territorial area located around Lucca, a city to visit for tourism that is located in the Tuscany region in Italy.
The Lucca area is surrounded by some mountain ranges.
To the south-west are the Pisan Mountains which mark the border with the province of Pisa and of which Monte Serra is the highest just below one thousand meters above sea level.
To the north extends the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines with the Pizzorne while to the west are the Apuan Alps.
In Lucca there are also many stately homes, identified as Ville Lucchesi, including Villa Mansi, Villa Oliva, Villa Reale, Villa Grabau, Villa Torrigiani and Villa Bernardini, some of which can be visited regularly, others only by appointment or for ceremonies.
