If you want to spend a day off the beaten path in Italy, make time to enjoy the quiet Tuscan town of Lucca. A delightful city in Tuscany, Lucca is easily accessible by train from Florence or Pisa. not far from Pisa or Florence. Â 
Once you arrive at the train station in Lucca, it’s less than a 10-minute walk to the town. What I find unique about Lucca is that this historic center is completely encircled within intact medieval walls. These fortified structures, which date back to the Renaissance period, measure four kilometers in distance, are 40 feet high and 100 feet wide at their base. 
You can’t miss seeing the wall, and various access points are easily found. Some of these are steps and others are sloping paths. 
On top of this promenade are trees and grass and the area has a park-like appearance, with plenty of spaces to walk, ride, or sit and enjoy the scenery. Walking or bicycling along Le Mura, or the walls, are enjoyable ways to begin your experience in Lucca. 
I was enthralled with the views, which are nothing less than phenomenal. The scenes are impressive, enough to make one want to linger here all day. I could get used to this lifestyle without much convincing. The two-and-a-half-mile walk all the way around provided good exercise. At various points along the walkway, you’ll come across entrances that lead down into the town. I thought it was so cool peering down into real neighborhoods.
Inside these walls, the streets are basically pedestrian, except for those who live here. The town of Lucca is exceptionally clean, and you will even find that the residents take responsibility for cleaning up after their dogs. By installing reminder signs (Fido Lindo) with bag dispensers, at intervals along the walls, Lucca encourages pet owners to clean up after their animals. 
The Cathedral of San Martino is located in Piazza San Martino, a main square in Lucca. Founded by San Frediano in the 6th century, the church was rebuilt in 1060, and rebuilt again between the 13th and 14th century. The 14th-century bell tower rises high above the city and is an iconic landmark in Lucca. Inside the walls of the city of Lucca, the homes, buildings and 100 churches date back to the 16th century, and no modern or new construction exists here.
You truly feel as if you have been transported to another time, especially as you see gelato vendors on bicycles, Lucchese men playing chess outside, and Italian women dressed in long skirts, pushing bambini in their strollers. Lucca is an easy town to navigate either on foot or by bicycle, and you can rent bicycles at various locations within the city. The only automobiles that you will see in Lucca are registered to the residents, but there are some areas of the town that are closed to automobiles completely. You can easily spend a few hours or a few days in this Tuscan city of 85,000 inhabitants, but you will undoubtedly treasure the experience for a much longer period of time. I know I’ll return to Lucca, since a few hours is simply not enough.
Sights not to miss
Guinigi Tower 
You can climb the stairs to the top of Torre Guinigi for a breathtaking view of the entire city and Tuscan countryside. This 14th-century red brick structure is 44 meters high, with holm oak trees growing on top of it.
Casa di Pucini 
For anyone who is a lover of opera, you will be thrilled to visit the birthplace of Giacomo Puccini, famous composer of the well-known La Boheme and Madame Butterfly. His 15th century home is now a museum, where you can view his Steinway piano, which he used while composing his last works. .
Piazza San Michele 
This is the city center, situated in the area of the ancient Roman forum. This is also the home to the financial and trade meetings of local Italian businesses. If you are an architecture lover, you will easily be able to spend many hours in this piazza alone. The 15th and 16th century banks in the piazza are former palaces, and the Church of San Michele is a 12th century cathedral which dominates the piazza.
Lucca is a lovely place In Tuscany, and a few hours is not nearly enough. I know I will be back.
Have you been to Lucca? I’d love to hear your about your own experiences, so please leave a comment. Grazie and Ciao Â
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
In case you haven’t checked out my Italy travel books, they are available on Amazon and Audible. Enjoy!
Un po' di pepe
Lucca is one of my favourite towns in Italia. Daytrips are nice but to really see Lucca you must stay overnight. Ciao, Cristina
Discover Howard Koo
Last year we took the train from Florence and spent a lovely day in Lucca. It was charming, not too crowded and nice change of pace from Rome and Florence. Thank you
margieinitaly
How wonderful! Glad you enjoyed it
Discover and Explore
Another thought or two. Most of the Italian cities that I have been blessed to visit: (Rome 5 times) Florence twice. Venice for 4 days. Naples for 2 days. All of these have enough to keep our attention span for a good amount of time, with the price of lots of traffic/tourists, higher prices for hotel/food, etc. Lucca was a great for a day or two as the pace was easy going and it was charming. But our particular style is the larger cities. And I will admit, there is so much of Italy that I want to see. And what I have seen, I am in love with. Thanks….
composerinthegarden
Lucca is one of the loveliest towns in Italy – so glad to see this post, Margie! I spent 3 weeks here years ago with our college choir and I fell in love with it. Walking on the wall is a thing, for sure, and the food here is Tuscan delicious. I still make a point of buying Luccan olive oil 🙂
margieinitaly
Thank you so much, Lynn. It is great seeing you again here….i think it’s wonderful you were able to spend 3 weeks in Lucca… Certainly an immersive experience. And it’s so connected to music too!
Coral Waight
Looks lovely.
margieinitaly
Thank you so much, Coral
Anonymous
Well, since Lucca is our regular destination and home base, we know we’ll be there. It gets its tour groups (mostly docking at Livorno?), but it’s easy enough to dodge the scrum and divert to side streets. It’s nothing like the tourist crush in Florence or Venice!
margieinitaly
Yes, it is always good to know how to circumvent the tourists in lovely towns like Lucca.
Tony Staffaroni
This is great, thanks, Margie. We will be spending 4 nights in Lucca this December! Can’t wait, and thanks for the tips!!
margieinitaly
That is awesome, Tony. I know you will absolutely enjoy it.