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Lucca Tours offers six ways to see the city's history and charm

Guided tours in Lucca and in the surrounding area

Hidden behind imposing Renaissance walls, Lucca is one of the most charming cities in Northern Tuscany. Founded by the Romans in 180 BC, Lucca had already acquired an enormous wealth by the late Middle Ages thanks to silk manufacturing and trade with the whole of Europe. An independent city state for centuries, it offers perfectly preserved Romanesque churches and historic buildings, narrow lanes, large and minute squares, ideal for a coffee break.

Today Lucca wears its past lightly and is a busy, reserved and elegant town where everybody rides a bicycle everywhere. An open-air museum and a little shopping paradise.

TOUR OPPORTUNITIES

The following tour options are available.

Meeting point: All tours begin in Piazzale Verdi, right in front of the main Tourist Office
Booking tours: All tours to be booked one week in advance.
Pricing: Contact Wanda Martinelli for current pricing. Cancellations are subject to a 50% charge
 

Lucca-Half Day

The tour starts at 10 am and lasts approximately 3 hours. It includes an introduction covering its history, past and present economy.

The main sites are: the city wall, San Paolino street, Puccini’s birth place (exterior only), the dazzling church of San Michele with its wedding-cake façade, the imposing Piazza Napoleone and nearby Piazza del Giglio, the Romanesque cathedral housing the famous Volto Santo, a wooden crucifix supposedly made on the night when Jesus died.

We walk along the busy Via Fillungo, the poshest shopping street in town flanked by stunning medieval buildings and towers, including the tree-topped Torre Guinigi. The tour ends at Piazza Anfiteatro, the miniature Coliseum converted centuries ago into a condominium, nowadays one the most picturesque squares in Tuscany.
 

 Lucca- Full Day

The tour starts at 10 am and lasts approximately 6 hours with lunch break from 1 pm to 2:30 pm.

Besides the already mentioned sites, the full-day tour includes the church of San Frediano, one of the richest 12^th century basilicas which houses the corpse of Saint Zita and some very picturesque frescoes, a visit of the Guinigi Tower with its 220 steps (entrance ticket 3,50 euros) and Palazzo Mansi, the 17^th century city palace belonging to one of the leading families with its original furnishing and frescoes (entrance ticket 4 euros). Palazzo Pfanner and its baroque garden can be an interesting alternative, very much depending on the weather.
 

The Villas

The tour starts at 10 am and lasts approximately 4 hours.

The villas we visit were built mainly in the second half of the 16^th century in the hills of Lucca by the rich silk merchants of Lucca as Summer houses. The tour includes Villa Reale with its magnificent park (the house can’t be visited) – entrance ticket 7 euros per person - and Villa Torrigiani  with its gardens and stunning interior (visit allowed on the ground floor only) –entrance ticket 10 euros.
 

On the spurs of Puccini

The tour starts at 10 am from Lucca and lasts approximately 3 hours.

The guide drives with guests to Torre del Lago (approx 25 kms west of Lucca), the little lake resort where Puccini spent some 30 years of his life. The house, a small but extremely rich museum (entrance ticket 6 euros), is full of his memories. Puccini had a rather turbulent personal life, a scandalous life in fact for those days. The guide will provide all the ins and outs of a Dynasty-style saga that has become even more intricate in recent years.

The tour continues to Viareggio, one of the most elegant seaside resorts in the Belle Epoque time, where Puccini spent the last 4 years of his life (the house can only be seen from the street). A walk along the (once) posh sea promenade which features very interesting Art Nouveau buildings completes the tour.
 

Pietrasanta and the world of modern sculpture

The tour starts at 10 am from Lucca and lasts approximately 3 hours.

We drive to the lovely, little town of Pietrasanta. A miniature medieval town in the foothills of the Alpi Apuane, where Michelangelo used to stay on his tours hunting for the perfect block of marble. All major bronze and marble sculptors nowadays have their works carried out by the skillful, renowned Pietrasanta artisans. With 10 days' notice, a visit to a foundry or marble workshop can be organized. (Prices on request.)
 

Barga and the Devil’s Bridge

The tour starts at 10 am from Lucca and lasts approximately 3 hours.

We drive along the Serchio valley towards the northern area of our territory. The so-called Devil’s Bridge is a stunning medieval stone bridge halfway between Lucca and Barga, a lovely ancient town perched on a hill top, featuring a remarkable Romanesque church, narrow lanes of cobblestone flanked by historic buildings and surprising glazed terracottas by the Della Robbia family.