Piazza San Martino

Lucca is a city in northern Tuscany, a region of Italy, situated in a plain on the River Serchio. It is famous for its intact Renaissance City Walls, defined by the italian writer Gabriele d’Annunzio “l’arborato cerchio” due to the presence of the trees on the top of the wall along the promenade over it. The history of the city began with the Etruscan and in 180 b.C. Lucca became a Roman colony with the rectangular grid of the historical center, the Piazza San Michele that occupies the ancient forum and the amphitheater in the famous Piazza dell’Anfiteatro an oval square along the perimeter of the old roman building. The main sights of the city are: the walls around the old town characterized by eleven bastions, remained intact as the city expanded and today a pedestrian promenade which encircled the old town; St. Martins Cathedral with the Holy Face of Lucca a cedar-wood crucifix and image of Christ preserved in a small octagonal temple in the nave; The Clock Tower and the Guinigi Tower (famous for the trees on the top of it) from which we can admire a splendid panorama on Lucca and on the plain around it; Piazza San Michele, the old roman forum, with a splendid romanic church; the ancient Roman Amphitheater,  the Ducal Palace designed by Bartolomeo Ammannati in 1577 and continued by Filippo Juvarra in the 18th century, the Basilica of San Frediano another Romanesque church with a monumental golden mosaic on the façade and the baptismal font, the botanical garden established in 1820 by Marie Louise, Duchess of Parma, the Palazzo Pfanner built in 1667 with a fine garden, attributed to Filippo Juvarra (1678-1736), and an interesting external stairway with loggia.

The province of Lucca is full of things to see: from the Versilia with Viareggio and Forte dei Marmi to the Garfagnana, from the beautiful villas near the town to the Apuan Alps, from parks to the marble quarries from the sea to the mountain ....

Follow us with our panoramic images: view the Virtual Tour of Lucca on my site.