Some Historical Information

The city of Lucca, situated in the northwest of Tuscany, near the Versilia coast and only 70 km from Florence has very ancient origins, it initially was settled by Ligurians or Etruscans (the debate is still open) and then became part of the Roman empire. The city has a great historic and artistic heritage, which it has jealously protected throughout the centuries. The historic city centre is characterised by magnificent palazzi, gardens, ancient medieval towers, bastioned city walls and traditional shops. Lucca contains an endless number of churches, many of these churches have a typical Romanesque architecture. It is also called “the city of 100 churches”. 

Lucca became a free commune in 1162. In the 13th to the 14th centuries, it reached its period of maximum splendour, thanks to the imperial privilege of money printing, to its intense mercantile and banking activity, and above all to processing and trading of the precious silk that was exported to markets all over Europe.    The battles of the 12th to 15th centuries with the near Pisa and Florence for the control of transportation routes made it necessary to rebuild the walls surrounding Lucca. 

From the 16th century on, the city was a free oligarchic republic.  

In 1805, Napoleon made Lucca a Principality, granting authority to his sister Elisa Bonaparte in Baciocchi. Elisa governed up to 1814, she carried out magnificent public works and made many radical changes to the city. After the Restoration, Maria Luisa di Borbone, who with her son Carlo Ludovico was distinguished for having built a new aqueduct, renewed the reforming criteria of Elisa Baciocchi. In 1847, the city of Lucca became part of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, and then in 1860 it joined the Kingdom of Italy. 

One of the city’s main features are its open spaces, the many gardens and internal courtyards of the ancient houses, the long row of plane trees that line the length of the city walls and the impressive holm oaks that even grow from the top of the ancient Guinigi Tower.  

Life in the city centre is full of vitality, with many events from the Santa Croce Religious Festival to the Palio delle Balestre (of the crossbows), from the Antiques Market (which takes place every third Saturday and Sunday of each month) to the Viareggio Carnival.

But in the city where Giacomo Puccini and Luigi Boccherini were born, the emphasis is placed on music: pop music in the squares, classical and opera in the theatres or in the churches.

Attractions around Lucca 

Lucca is not just history, culture or tradition. It also means natural surroundings, the splendid hills of the Garfagnana, with treasures such as the medieval towns of Barga and Bagni di Lucca and the beautiful well-known seaside resorts like Forte dei Marmi and Viareggio, where the mild climate makes this area an ideal holiday destination.

Lucca is also the perfect place where to stay if you want to visit other Tuscan cities, Pisa is 20 km away, Florence 70 km, Siena 110 km, the Alpuan Alps, with its marble quarries, and the Versilia seaside are only 25 km.