Everything inside Lucca's walls is a ZTL, a camera-controlled limited traffic zone, and it runs all day, every day. Drive through a gate without a permit and the fine starts at €83, posted to your home address.
I'd park just outside the walls at Carducci: €1 an hour, €8 for the whole day, free from 20:00 to 08:00. Then I'd walk in through the nearest gate.
Parking in Lucca: Eight euros at the walls, a fine inside them
1. Stop before the gate, not at it
The ZTL covers the whole centre inside the walls, split into zones A, B and C. Zone A, round Via Fillungo and Piazza dell'Anfiteatro, closes again from 10:30 to 14:00 and 18:00 to 21:00. In late 2025 the city added 14 new gates and cameras, and they watch exits as well as entries. A foreign plate is read like an Italian one.
2. Let the hotel register your plate
If you're sleeping inside the walls, the hotel requests your access. Since the start of 2026 hotels get daily permits up to their number of rooms. The city's 2022 rules priced a three-day guest permit by fuel: €15 for petrol or diesel up to Euro 4, €13 for Euro 5–6, €10 hybrid, €6 electric. Send the plate with the booking, not at the gate.
3. Park at Carducci for the day
Carducci has 510 spaces, open 24 hours: €1 an hour, €8 a day, free 20:00–08:00. Palatucci, by the stadium, is €0.50 for the first hour, then €1, with the same €8 cap and free nights. Neither publishes a height limit.
4. Use the station car park by train
Parcheggio Stazione has 677 spaces at €1 an hour, €8 a day, and €2 a night per entry. The station is about 200 m from the walls.
5. Check Mazzini's price at the barrier
Mazzini is underground inside the walls, 300 spaces, open round the clock. Telepass lists €1 for the first hour, €1.50 after. A 2025 Telepass guide says €1.50, then €2. Eight hours is €11.50 or €15.50; Carducci is €8 either way.
Most visitors pay for following the sat nav to Piazza Napoleone. Every route there crosses a gate.
Car parks worth knowing
| Car park | Price | EV |
|---|---|---|
| Carducci (Lucca Plus)Viale Giosuè Carducci, outside the walls on the south side; 510 spaces, open 24 hours | €1 an hour, €8 a day maximum, free 20:00–08:00. Height not published. | Not published. |
| Palatucci (Lucca Plus)Via delle Tagliate di Sant'Anna, by the stadium, north-west of the walls | €0.50 the first hour, then €1 an hour, €8 a day maximum, free at night (Telepass list). Height not published. | Not published. |
| Stazione (Lucca Plus)Piazzale Ricasoli / Via Cairoli, by the railway station, about 200 m from the walls; 677 spaces, open 24 hours | €1 an hour, €8 a day maximum; 20:00–08:00 €2 per entry (Telepass Moveo, June 2025). Height not published. | Not published. |
| Mazzini (Lucca Plus), inside the wallsVia dei Bacchettoni, underground, by Porta Elisa; 300 spaces, open 24 hours. Card, cash and Telepass | Sources disagree: Telepass lists €1 the first hour, €1.50 after; a June 2025 Telepass guide gives €1.50, then €2. Night €2 per entry in both. No day cap published. Height not published. | Not published. |
The cheapest way to park, by how long you stay
| If you stay | Cheapest | Cost | Watch out |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 hours in the centre | Palatucci (Lucca Plus) | €1.50 | |
| A full day (10 h) | Carducci (Lucca Plus) | €8 | Free 20:00–08:00 |
| 24 hours | Carducci (Lucca Plus) | €8 | Free 20:00–08:00 |
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Towed in Lucca: No published car pound, so start with 112
1. Ring 112 if the car's gone
The tourist office lists 112 for police and 118 for medical emergencies. I found no Polizia Municipale number, car pound address, opening hours or towing tariff on the city or Lucca Plus pages I could reach.
2. Call Lucca Plus about permits
Lucca Plus (formerly Metro srl) runs the car parks and the ZTL permits. Its office is at Via delle Città Gemelle 162, Mon–Fri 07:15–15:45 and Sat 07:15–12:45, tel. 0583 492255.
3. Budget for the camera, not the truck
A ZTL fine is €83 to €332 under Italy's highway code, plus postage, and Italy froze its routine 2026 increase. It can reach a foreign plate up to 360 days later. Two days at Carducci cost €16, a fifth of one fine.
In Lucca I'd worry about the gates long before the tow truck.
If your car has disappeared
- Who took it
- The Polizia Municipale (municipal police) enforces parking and the ZTL; Lucca Plus, the city company formerly called Metro srl, runs the car parks and permits. Neither the city, Lucca Plus nor the tourist office publishes who tows, where the car pound is or what it costs
- Phone
- Police emergency, if the car is gone (tourist office list): 112
Lucca Plus permit office (ZTL permits), Mon–Fri 07:15–15:45, Sat 07:15–12:45: +39 0583 492255 - Collect it at
- No car pound address is published. For permits and fines questions, the Lucca Plus office is at Via delle Città Gemelle 162 in Sant'Anna.
- Hours
- Not published.
- What it costs
- Towing and storage fees: not published. A ZTL fine is €83–€332 plus notification costs under the national highway code; the 2026 update of fines was suspended. Notices can reach a foreign plate up to 360 days later.
- Bring
- Nothing is listed for visitors. I would bring my driving licence, passport and the rental contract, and ring the hire company first.
EV charging in Lucca: Free blue bays, scarce plugs
1. Park free in the blue bays
On 21 December 2023 the city confirmed that electric cars park free in all blue-line bays. Hybrids lost their €150 annual pass the same day. I'd count that as the best parking deal in town.
2. Don't expect the walls to open
An EV still needs a permit to enter the ZTL. The 2022 guest permit for an electric car was €6, not zero.
3. Find the plugs before you arrive
Open Charge Map lists an Enel X post with two 22 kW Type 2 sockets at the Lucaroti car park, not recently verified. In 2025 the city sought an operator for chargers at the new Lorenzini car park; I couldn't confirm any were built.
I'd arrive with enough charge to get back to the motorway.
Where to charge
- Blue-line bays: free for electric cars — Every blue-line bay in the city. Confirmed by the city council on 21 December 2023; hybrids lost their €150 annual pass. Parking only, not charging, and not ZTL access
- Enel X at the Lucaroti car park — Lucaroti car park, north of the walls. Open Charge Map lists two 22 kW Type 2 sockets, not recently verified; no price listed
- Lorenzini car park (planned chargers) — Former Lorenzini barracks, outside the ZTL. In March 2025 the city sought an operator for up to five 50 kW chargers here; I could not confirm they were built
Free parking in Lucca: Three free lots and free nights
1. Use the city's three free lots
The tourist office names three free car parks: Piazzale Don Baroni and Tagliate to the north, and Macelli to the east. Expect a 10 to 15 minute walk to the walls.
2. Arrive after 20:00
Carducci and Palatucci are free from 20:00 to 08:00. Arrive for dinner, leave after breakfast, and you pay nothing.
3. Don't look for park and ride
Lucca has no official park and ride with a bus ticket included. The main car parks sit right at the walls, so you don't need one.
4. Ask your hotel, then check
I found no hotel whose own site promises free parking. Booking sites say it; I don't.
Every price here was checked on 13 October 2026; where Lucca publishes nothing, I've said so.
Free or nearly-free spots
Piazzale Don Baroni (north)
One of three free car parks named by the tourist office, on the Borgo Giannotti side. A guide puts the walk from the outer lots at 10–15 minutes.
Tagliate (north)
Free, according to the tourist office's 2026 FAQ. On 1 and 2 November the cemetery side gives visitors two hours in its first section.
Macelli (east)
The third free lot on the tourist office list, east of the walls.
Carducci and Palatucci at night
Both are free from 20:00 to 08:00 and cap at €8 a day.
⚠ The small print on 'free' parking
- The ZTL covers everything inside the walls, all day. In zone A (Via Fillungo, Via Roma, Piazza dell'Anfiteatro, Piazza San Frediano and nearby) access is restricted again 10:30–14:00 and 18:00–21:00. Fourteen new gates and cameras, announced in December 2025, watch exits as well as entries.
- Hotel guest permit: the city's 2022 permit rules price three days at €15 (petrol or diesel up to Euro 4), €13 (Euro 5–6), €10 (hybrid) and €6 (electric). I could not reopen the city's page on 13 October 2026; ask the hotel what it charges now.
- Mazzini, the one public car park inside the walls, has two different tariffs in Telepass's own pages. The barrier price wins.
- Lucca Comics & Games, 28 October–1 November 2026, takes up to 80,000 entries a day. In 2023 the event day cap rose to €16.50 and about 15 overflow areas opened with online booking.
- The city's 2022 mobility plan describes a 'Zona Verde' low-emission zone south of the Serchio; I found no current rules for foreign cars. Check the signs if you drive an old diesel.
- I could not open the city's, Lucca Plus's or parcheggilucca.it's own pages on 13 October 2026; prices here come from Telepass and named guides. Hotels with free parking on their own sites: none confirmed.
Take these places with you
Every place on this page as a file you can keep — car parks with their prices, the free and park-and-ride spots, the chargers and the pound.