Oaks on a tower, an oval square, Puccini's piano

Lucca is small enough to cross on foot in twenty minutes, and the walls give you a car-free ring road on top. Park once and leave the car there.

1. Ride the top of the walls

The walls carry a path on top with no cars on it; the info point is in the Porta San Donato bastion. The tourist office lists over a dozen bike-hire shops; Lime e-bikes cost €1 to unlock plus €0.25 a minute.

2. Climb Torre Guinigi to the oaks

Torre Guinigi has holm oaks growing on its roof. A ticket has been €8 since April 2024, and visits go up in groups of eight.

3. Hear the 1752 clock

The mechanism in Torre delle Ore was ordered from a Geneva clockmaker in 1752 and still strikes the quarters. Only five people go up at a time, so book.

4. See Puccini's Turandot piano

The Puccini Museum is the house where he was born on 22 December 1858. It keeps the Steinway he used for Turandot. Tickets are €9, sold at Piazza Cittadella 5.

5. Walk the oval of the Anfiteatro

Piazza dell'Anfiteatro is oval because the houses were built on a Roman amphitheatre from the 1st century AD. Come in through the low arches.

6. Find the Volto Santo in the Duomo

The Duomo di San Martino keeps the Volto Santo, the walnut crucifix. It's being restored in a workshop in the left transept.

I'd skip the restaurants on the Anfiteatro itself. You're paying for the oval.

Open in Google Maps ↗

Tordelli, buccellato and a blood sausage

1. Order tordelli at Da Giulio

Tordelli are Lucca's half-moon pasta, stuffed with beef, pork, chard and bread. Trattoria da Giulio is the local pick, near the north-west corner of the walls.

2. Buy buccellato at Taddeucci

Buccellato is a ring loaf with raisins and aniseed. Taddeucci has baked it since the 19th century. It's the one thing I'd take home.

3. Eat cecina from Da Felice

Cecina is a thin chickpea flatbread, eaten hot. Locals eat it in a schiacciata with black pepper; Pizzeria da Felice is the address for it.

4. Try biroldo and farro soup

Biroldo is the local blood sausage, spiced with wild fennel; Antica Bottega di Prospero sells it. Zuppa di farro, spelt and borlotti beans from the Garfagnana, is the winter starter.

5. Book the Buca for dinner

Buca di Sant'Antonio is at least three centuries old and full of copper pots. Reserve for dinner.

In spring I'd order garmugia, a broad bean and artichoke soup served only April to June.

Comics in October, candles in September

1. Avoid Lucca on 28 October–1 November

The 60th Lucca Comics & Games runs 28 October to 1 November 2026, with up to 80,000 entries a day. In 2023 the operator raised the event day cap to €16.50 and opened about 15 overflow areas with online booking. I'd come by train.

2. Watch the Luminara on 13 September

The Luminara di Santa Croce procession leaves San Frediano at 20:00 on 13 September and ends at the cathedral. In 2027 that's a Monday.

3. Check summer concert dates in spring

The Lucca Summer Festival plays in Piazza Napoleone in summer. The 2027 dates weren't published when I checked.

Libertas, a Bonaparte princess and a Roman oval

1. Read "Libertas" on the banner

Lucca stayed an independent republic for centuries, with "Libertas" on its flag, until French and Austrian armies fought over it in 1799–1800.

2. Thank Elisa Bonaparte for 1805

In 1805 Napoleon turned the republic into a principality for his sister Elisa, the Princess of Lucca.

3. Trace the Roman city in the street plan

The Anfiteatro's oval dates to the second half of the 1st century AD. The houses kept the arena's shape after the stands were gone.