You reach the city gates and, as you stand there, your heart misses a beat, and the thought lingers: how can I penetrate the heart of Lucca in just a few hours, less than one day? The car rental chauffeur-driven car rental solution will enable you to reach Lucca, city of a hundred churches, and calmly enjoy your visit – even for just a few hours.
What to see in Lucca in just a day? Seeing it all and seeing nothing. Maybe. Maybe we should stick to the main sights of Lucca: its beautiful architectural works and the surprising traces of a long history, to be found wherever you turn. The city of Lucca will enchant you. The time you dedicate to uncovering Lucca’s secrets will absorb you, as though this were a game, and an exciting one at that!
Maybe this why the place has captivated the visitors who flock here also for the Lucca Comics & Games trade fairs, when the city showcases items of interest to keen video gamers and avid readers of comics! What must you absolutely not miss out on when you come to Lucca?

Let’s get back to the basics, and the old city walls − an attraction that, more than many others, draws attention to itself imperiously. The city walls may well be the great favourite among tourists coming to Lucca, who greatly enjoy the views afforded over the city. In any case, visitors will be surprised and impressed at the views. The walls area also includes children’s playing areas, and spaces in which just to relax and take it easy, plus picnic areas. On each corner are small towers, ramparts and secret passageways that need to be actively sought out. The city’s botanic gardens with their lab, museum and library facilities (a major centrally located urban asset) are also worth a visit.

After the walls, forming a girdle around Lucca, we find the church of San Martino. In the lively city centre, we find the practically one hundred churches, all of which are stunning examples of any number of architectural styles. Indeed, one might say that these structures provide concrete expression to integration and multiculturalism as principles. The church of San Martino is a case in point. Located in the square of the same name, it serves also as the city’s cathedral. Lucca’s cathedral holds some of the most beautiful examples of Renaissance art ever. This church, the spiritual heart of the city, also hosts tombs by Jacopo della Quercia. The cathedral was built in the sixth century by San Frediano, then the bishop of Lucca. The church became a cathedral or “Duomo” during the early decades of the second millennium, thanks to the intervention of Anselmo da Baggio, more widely known as Alessandro II. Here, we also find the cathedral’s museum, Museo della Cattedrale (paintings, sculptures, prints, gems and much much more). The church of San Martino also hosts the sanctuary chapel, Cappella del Santuario. The cathedral’s famous facade drew its inspiration from the cathedral in Pisa. This church features polychrome marble work and coloured mosaics, conveying to all who enter, a marked sense of peace and intensity of the feelings of the faith. The structure of Pisa’s cathedral includes an imposing set of arches in stone, arcades, and a belfry that was never completed (you will note also the interesting contrast effect between the white of the walls and the unfaced brickwork). The cathedral also hosts the sanctuary of the Sacro Volto (Holy Visage). Another absolute ‘must’ for visitors.

Along with the church of San Martino, another ‘must’ on our Lucca tour is the basilica of San Michele in Foro. This church is unique, unlike any other here! Its arches, adornments and columns are extremely unusual. The frescoes and artworks representing wild animals confer upon this structure a decidedly unusual appearance. Luca della Robbia and Filippino Lippi enriched this church with their incredible works of art.

Piazza dell’Anfiteatro is one of Lucca’s most beautiful piazzas. It is elliptical in form, just like a Roman amphitheatre. However, the actual theatre and even its remains are largely absent. The palaces skirting the piazza adhere to the form, while their variety of heights and colour schemes make for an odd (but most attractive) harmony!
The amphitheatre’s presence is reflected in the curves of a number of streets in Lucca. Look carefully at the stone arches in the buildings leading up to piazza del Mercato. If you look carefully, you will see that they represent what’s left of the ancient Roman amphitheatre, once a ‘showbiz’ venue for the people here. Nowadays, we see buildings where, in ancient times, stood the amphitheatre’s orders of tiers and stone walls supporting imposing arches. The destruction of the barbaric invasions followed, and then came the houses and palazzos of the Middle Ages. Today the oval outline bears witness to the area’s former vocation.
This is a pleasant spot in which to pause for a while. Piazza dell’Anfiteatro hosts a number of open-air bars and eateries.

Yet another ‘must’ in Lucca is the famous Torre delle Ore, a former defensive work overlooking Lucca for more than seven hundred years. It is now a clock tower in the traditional sense. It is (and it has always been) very much a part of the life and rhythms of life of the people of Lucca.
The Torre delle Ore was built in 1300 as a lookout and means of defence. Over time its role has changed. It is now Lucca’s clock tower. From the top of the tower, one can see all the other towers of Lucca. The view also takes in the Basilica di San Frediano, Lucca’s marvellous cathedral, and the city’s other hundred churches.

Lucca is renowned for more than ‘just’ its walls and stunning architectural works. There are other attractions well worth checking out too. One of these we find to the south – the acquedotto dei Nottolini. This construction with its more than 400 arches covers a route of three kilometres. From the tempio della Cisterna (cistern temple) at the Parco Acquatico (water park) you can go the whole walk, to enjoy not only this imposing architectural work as such but also the surroundings.
The acquedotto dei Nottolini is more than ’just’ a marvellous architectural work, which anyone might well be interested in; like all the beautiful landmarks of Lucca, it is also quite unique and hence it truly deserves the attention of all visitors.

After Piazza dell’Anfiteatro, we reach another lovely part of town, Piazza Napoleone, hosting one of the major old building of Lucca − the ducal palace, Palazzo Ducale, with its imposing facade of timeless architectural beauty. Leafy, shady trees, elegant statues and the other buildings in the square provide a setting of great charm. Here we also find the Giglio theatre, Lucca’s prefecture and the museum dedicated to the period of the unification of Italy, or Risorgimento.
Over and above the Museo del Risorgimento, Lucca also hosts the beautiful eighteenth-century Villa Mansi, built for the Benedetti family. Alongside this architectural masterpiece, we find a landscaped garden, and external ornamental works (including the arcade and adorned stairway).

Lucca is known as the city of (more than) one hundred churches. The basilica of San Frediano attests to a sense of religion that was heartfelt, built upon solid foundations. Standing at the heart of Lucca, the basilica is a highly unusual structure. The exterior includes a beautiful mosaic. The belfry is marvellously adorned. With its unique detail work and colours, the mosaic representing the Assumption of Christ cannot fail to amaze visitors, given its refinement as a work. The beauties of the basilica of San Frediano are to be found both in the exterior and interior zones. Inside, the adornments are as refined as outside, as seen in the sculpture work within the basilica, symbolically attesting to Mankind’s commitment to God.

Over and above the Torre delle Ore, visitors to the old city centre can hardly fail to notice another extremely fine tower. While apparently set to one side and practically forgotten, it actually hosted the noble House of the Guinigis in two palazzos The Guinigis ruled over Lucca in the fifteenth century, during a period of prosperity and peace for the city.
The Guinigi tower and complex – fine structures from yesteryear – also host the national museum, Museo Nazionale. At a height of 50 metres, the Torre dei Guinigi affords a view of the city of unrivalled magnificence.