Lucca – Day 2

Monday 8th June 2026

Tough start to the day, we had to get out of bed before 8am!!!

Anyway we managed and set off on a personalised walking tour along the walls of Lucca. We are staying within the old city walls and had to cross through, then up and over them to reach our accommodation on Saturday. We retraced our steps to the gate of St Peter or Porta San Pietro and strolled along with our guide Anna taking in the sights and history of Lucca.

The walls are constructed of brick, stones and earth and extend for 4kms around the old city. The walls we walked along today are not the first walls to be built. The original walls date back to Roman and medieval times. The current walls were part of a reconstruction effort in 1504 and took 150 years to complete. Maybe there were a few time and budget blowouts along the way!!!  These new walls doubled the size of Lucca. Despite all of these fortifications Lucca was never under siege.

Today the walls are used as public parks with running and walking paths, the odd cafe and in summer time a great space out door entertainment.

 

 

 

As we came down from the wall and into the old city we found remnants of the walls from the Roman era (180BC) including some of the towers and the original moat from Roman times that continues to flow within the new (1500’s) walls.

 

 

We made our way to the Roman amphitheater which can be accessed via 4 gateways and dates back to the 2nd century. The area was developed into a piazza in the 1830’s and is now encircled by buildings rather than stone seating.

We finished off the morning enjoying some coffee and a selection of local sweet treats.

The evening was a cultural one – Puccini opera. Puccini was born in Lucca and to celebrate his life, each evening for an hour in the Church of St Giovanni 3 performers are engaged to perform a selection of his songs. There’s the pianist on a grand piano, a baritone and a soprano. I do not understand opera however the powerful voices of these performers in a church makes for an incredible hour.