Lucca, Italy Charming walled medieval city

Lucca, Italy  

May 1, 2023

This was my first visit to Lucca, the famous medieval walled city.

Lucca is one of Tuscany's most beloved artistic cities, often overlooked in favor of Florence and Pisa.

I moved too slowly to catch the bus to Florence so I decided to take a combination Lucca and Pisa tour. 

Nicknamed the town of a hundred churches on account of its incredible number of places of worship, Lucca is unique among city-states for having maintained its independence up until 1847.

Historical circumstances demanded that Lucca fortify itself, and so its immense artistic and architectural heritage is ringed by a massive circuit of defensive walls.

The first thing that the visitor claps eyes on is the magnificent and intact circuit of walls, built in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. They run for more than 4 kilometres and are strengthened by no fewer than 10 bastions; you can walk along the top of them too. They are still the best vantage point over the city.

Lucca was built to a medieval plan, and much of its architecture bears witness to the various historical ages that it has lived through. The most notable of these is the Roman amphitheatre - converted into piazza dell'Anfiteatro by architect Lorenzo Nottolini.

I am so happy I was finally able to visit Lucca, even though I must confess it was not on my bucket list. I highly recommend a visit here.

I will correct typos and edit when I return home.