This post reviews Dan and my two-day visit to Lucca in September 2024. This was our second visit to Lucca  (read about the first here) and as expected, we had a wonderful time.

LUCCA, TUSCANY

Lucca is a small city in Tuscany – about an hour inland from the Ligurian Sea and about an hour west of Florence. Lucca is a popular day trip from Florence, and its known for its well-preserved historic center that is surrounded by amazing town walls that you can walk or bike along. Lucca is also the birthplace of several famous composers, including Puccini (the most famous), Catalani and Boccherini.

Aside from being generally popular with tourists, Lucca is also the hometown of Dan’s great-grandmother, Ida Poli. We first visited back in 2015 and returned in 2024 with Dan’s uncle and aunt. We really like Lucca. While it can be touristy, it is still a real Italian town and it’s not nearly as touristy or crowded as Florence or Cinque Terre. We stayed overnight both visits, which I recommended over a day trip to fully enjoy the city.

HOW TO GET TO LUCCA, TUSCANY

Lucca is located almost exactly 80 kilometers west of Florence in Tuscany. The drive takes a little over an hour, but there is also a 1.5 hour direct train that runs several times a day. We reached Lucca via local train from Monterosso al Mare, which required a transfer in Viareggio. Inexpensive and easy.

The train station is located just outside of Lucca’s old town walls. We intended to take a taxi to our hotel from the train station, but we ended up walking because there was no taxi in site. The walk from the train station to the historic center of Lucca takes between 10 and 20 minutes, depending on the location of your hotel. If you necessarily need a taxi, I suggest booking on in advance to meet your train, as there are very few taxis in Lucca (and seemingly even less when it rains!).

WHAT WE DID IN LUCCA

Day 1: A WALKING TOUR AND A FANTASTIC DINNER AT OSTERIA MIRANDA

We arrived in Lucca on an unfortunately rainy afternoon, and, as I mentioned, there were no taxis to be found at the train station…. We decided to suck it up and walk to our hotel, Hotel Illaria, with our luggage, which only took about 15 minutes (albeit a long 15 minutes given the weather and the luggage).

Because of the rain, we took the afternoon to rest and recover from our time in Cinque Terre.  I did, however, sneak out for a treat from Pizzeria da Felice, a local Lucchese pizzeria serving thin-crust cheese pizza and a local specialty called cecina (a pizza made of chickpeas; we would have more of this later).

We meet up around 5 PM for a drink at Hotel Illaria’s complimentary happy hour before joining a food and history tour around Lucca. I don’t think that a walking tour is necessarily necessary in Lucca, as it is so small, but we wanted a local to answer our questions given the family connection to Lucca. In any case, our guide was great and truly answered alllll of our questions. We also made two food stops on the tour. The first stop was for more Luccese pizza and cecina at a pizzeria on Piazza S. Michele called L. Pellegrini. The second stop was in the Piazza dell’Anfiteatro for meat and cheese at a restaurant called Podere Micheli.

While we didn’t really need more food after the tour, I had made a dinner reservation at Osteria Miranda, the sister restaurant to Cantina Bernardini, which was a favorite of ours back in 2015. Osteria Miranda ended up being totally fantastic, and our tour guide’s boyfriend was our waiter! I am going to write a separate review of Osteria Miranda, but I highly recommend it for a nice dinner in Lucca.

Day 2: WALKING THE TOWN WALLS, A PUCCINI CONCERT & DINNER AT A TOURISTY RESTAURANT

We woke up the next morning it it was luckily, sunny!! YAY – a stunningly beautiful early fall morning. We enjoyed breakfast at Hotel Ilaria before setting out for the day. The breakfast at Hotel Illaria was served buffet style, and it was pretty decent for a hotel breakfast.

Dan and I went for a stroll all around the town walls post-breakfast, which took about 45 minutes for the entire lap. We would return later in the day with Dan’s aunt and uncle.

We picked up Dan’s aunt and uncle around noon from Hotel Illaria and, after a little pick me up from Hotel Illaria’s complimentary drink and snack set up, set out to explore Lucca. Our goal was Biciclette Poli, but we saw many beautiful buildings en route.

We eventually reached Biciclette Poli. And, as you may have guessed, we really wanted to come here because of the name connection of great-grandmother Ida Poli (apparently Poli is akin to Smith in the US, so not totally likely to be related, still fun!).  Aside from the name connection, Biciclette Poli is a well-known bicycle store and rental shop in Lucca. Many, many people rent bikes here. Dan and I, in fact, rented from here on our prior trip (way back in 2015!), but this time we just purchased some Poli-branded souvenirs for the family.

After making too many purchases at Poli Biciclette, we walked (nope, we did not bike, LOL) the old Lucca walls. There is an access ramp right in front of Poli Biciclette, so we walked up and walked about half way around the town walls. The views were great, as was the weather! And, the walls, aside from entering and exiting, are totally flat and suitable for anyone who can walk.

We made it about half-way around the walls before stopping for lunch – we got hangry. Lucca is filled with lots of spots for lunch, but many of them close in the afternoon. We were cutting it very close to the closing time of 2 PM, but luckily made it to Ristorante la Corte dei Limoni before it closed for the afternoon. The Lemon Court (in English) is a touristy restaurant with a lemon theme. I enjoyed a sausage and broccoli rabe pizza and Dan ate some sort of puff pastry with prosciutto and cheese. The lunch was pretty mediocre but the space, a true courtyard right in the heart of Lucca, made up for that. 

The rain began again just as we finished lunch. We made a quick dash back to Hotel Illaria and enjoyed a rest before our evening activities.

As you may know, Lucca is the birthplace of the famous composer Giacomo Puccini. You can visit his childhood home, now a museum, and there are always Puccini themed activities and events going on. In fact, almost every evening at 8 PM professional opera singers present a 1 hour concert in the Church of San Giovanni. We purchased tickets at our hotel for approximately 25 euro per person. The concert was quite enjoyable, and the church was very pretty. Go early for an up front seat. We arrived just before 8 and sat in the back.

We dined this evening at a restaurant called Trattoria da Nonna Clara nearish to our hotel. We had walked by earlier in the day and saw employees making fresh pasta in the window. It looked fun. As you can imagine, the restaurant turned out to be pretty touristy, but the food was decent.

WHERE WE STAYED IN LUCCA: HOTEL ILLARIA 

We stayed at the hotel Illaria in Lucca, which is located within Lucca’s old town walls. While small by American standards, the room was comfortable, clean and had a window overlooking the street. Everything within Lucca was about a 10 minute walk from the hotel. The hotel offered a breakfast buffet each morning and it has a hot tub on site (which we unfortunately did not use due to the rain). The hotel also left a complimentary bottle of Tuscan wine in our room, has a little buffet of treats on offer from 11:00 AM – 7:00 PM and, free Prosecco every evening for about an hour. Bikes are also available for complimentary hire, and there is parking on site. The crowd at Hotel Illaria was largely older American, but that was perfect for what we needed.

TIPS & TRICKS FOR VISITING LUCCA

1. Walking to the center of Lucca from the train station, while geographically close, requires going through the old town walls. This means that there will be some stairs and ramps. Plan accordingly.
2. There is currently no Uber in Lucca. You need to pre-book taxis, etc. if you need one, as there are only a few serving the city.
3. And on that note, if you are planning to travel around outside of Lucca, you will want a car or to master the public bus system (which I understand is decent).
4. Many tourists visit Lucca only for an afternoon, but you will get much more out of the city if you stay overnight.
5. While we did not rent bicycles, renting a bicycle and riding around the town walls is a very fun experience! Hotel Illaria offered complimentary bike rental, but there are numerous companies around town, including Biciclette Poli!
6. There is nothing that one “must do” in Lucca. It’s best to just stroll around the town.
7. Lucca is a good place for shopping.
8. Given the lack of many taxis and Uber, you should be prepared to walk at least 15 minutes with your luggage to your hotel if staying inside the town walls.
9. There is a decent-size ex-pat community in Lucca. You may very well run into Americans or Brits living full or part time in or around Lucca.
10. Make restaurant reservations, especially if you are larger than a party of two.

STEAL OUR TRIP TO LUCCA

Hotel Illaria: Via del Fosso, 26, 55100 Lucca LU, Italy. Book directly with the hotel for the best deals.

Pizzeria da Felice: Via Buia, 12, 55100 Lucca LU, Italy. Open Monday – Saturday 12 – 2:30, 4:00 – 8:30. Closed Sunday. Credit card accepted.

Lucca: Aperitivo Evening Food and Wine Tour: This is the food and wine tour that we took in Lucca for $81 a person.

Pizzeria Pellegrini: P.za San Michele, 25, 55100 Lucca LU, Italy. Open daily 10:30 – 12:00 AM. No website.

Podere Micheli: Piazza dell’Anfiteatro, 21, 55100 Lucca LU, Italy. Open daily 10 – 7:00. Reservations recommended.

Osteria Miranda: Via dei Carrozzieri, 27, 55100 Lucca LU, Italy. Open 12:30 – 2:30, 7:30 – 10:30 Friday – Tuesday.  Closed Wednesday – Thursday.

Ristorante la Corte dei Limoni: Via S. Paolino, 116, 55100 Lucca LU, Italy. Open 12:00 – 3:00 and 7:00 – 11:00.

Concerto: Puccini e la sa Lucca: This is the Puccini concert we saw – I couldn’t find a better website. I understand this concert runs daily, lasting an hour each evening. We paid 25 euro per person and purchased tickets the day of from our hotel.

Trattoria da Nonna Clara: Via Santa Croce, 71, 55100 Lucca LU, Italy. Open 12 – 2:30, 7:00 – 10:00, except Thursday when the restaurant is only open for dinner. Casual. Reservations recommended.