Planning a trip to Lucca
Visitor Information
The main tourist office is inside the north side of the walls at Piazza Santa Maria 35 (www.luccaturismo.it; (tel. 0583-919-931; daily 9am–7pm, sometimes later in summer). The comune also has a small local info office on Piazzale Verdi (tel. 0583-442-944), which keeps similar hours.
For events and concert listings, pick up the English-language monthly Grapevine.
Festivals & Markets
Musical festivals celebrate the town's melodious history. In addition to the town's nightly Puccini concerts, all September long, Settembre Lucchese brings concerts and operas by the city's favorite son to the theater where many premiered, the Teatro Comunale on Piazza del Giglio. The shore of nearby Lago di Massaciuccoli provides the backdrop to the summer Puccini Festival (tel. 0584-359-322; www.puccinifestival.it), the biggest annual date in a local opera lover's calendar. There's a seasonal ticket office at Viale Puccini 257a, in Torre del Lago, or book tickets online. Prices range from 35€ to 125€. With every year that passes, Lucca's July Summer Festival (www.summer-festival.com) grows in size and profile. Recent headline acts to grace the outdoor stage in Piazza Napoleone have included Grammy winners Arcade Fire, Elton John, and Amy Winehouse. On September 13, an 8pm candlelit procession from San Frediano to the Duomo honors Lucca's most prized holy relic, the Volto Santo statue of Christ that tradition holds was carved by Nicodemus himself.
A huge antiques market, one of Italy's most important, is held the third Sunday (and preceding Sat) of every month in Piazza Antelminelli and the streets around the Duomo. It's great fun but it makes hotel rooms hard to find and restaurants booked, especially at lunch (even those normally closed Sun reopen for this one). It's spawned a local art market on Piazza del Arancio on the same dates, and the final Sunday of the month sees an artisans' market on Piazza San Giusto.
For a few days at the end of October, the city is overrun with several hundred thousand attendees of the Lucca Comics & Games convention (www.luccacomicsandgames.com). Depending on whether you want to share the streets and squares with a multitude of costumed Darth Vaders and other fantasy figures, you might want to stay away from Lucca then.
Getting Around
A set of navette (electric minibuses) whiz down the city’s peripheral streets, but the flat center is easily traversed on foot. Taxis line up at the train station (tel. 0583/494989), Piazzale Verdi (tel. 0583/581305), and Piazza Napoleone (tel. 0583/491646).The popular way to get around Lucca, you’ll soon learn, is on a bike. Enjoy the medieval lanes and squares on foot, but equip yourself with two wheels for a ride on the Passeggiata della Mura, atop the medieval walls. You can do so in style on one of the neon-green or Barbie-pink models from Antonio Poli, near the tourist office at Piazza Santa Maria 42 (www.biciclettepoli.com; tel. 0583/493787; daily 8:30am–7:30pm, closed Sun mid-Nov to Feb and Mon mornings year-round). On the same street, bikes are also available from Cicli Bizzarri, Piazza Santa Maria 32 (www.ciclibizzarri.net; tel. 0583/496031; Mon–Sat 8:30am–1pm and 2:30–7:30pm, plus Sun same hours Mar to mid-Sept). The going rates are 3€ an hour for a regular bike, 4€ to 4.50€ for a mountain bike, and 6.50€ for a tandem.
Getting There
Lucca is on the Florence-Viareggio train line, with about 30 trains daily (fewer on Sun) connecting with Florence (75–90 min.). A similar number of trains make the short hop to/from Pisa (30 min.). The station is a short walk south of Porta San Pietro.
By car, the A11 runs from Florence past Prato, Pistoia, and Montecatini before hitting Lucca. Inside the walls, you’ll usually find a pay-parking space underground at Mazzini (enter from the east, through the Porta Elisa, and take an immediate right).
A VaiBus (www.vaibus.it) service runs hourly from Florence (70 min.) and from Pisa (50 min.) to Lucca’s Piazzale Verdi.
