We've spent time in Rome, Florence, Genoa, Naples, and the Amalfi Coast. None of them made us want to stay the way Lucca did.

We arrived on June 19, 2022, on an intercity train from Genoa. Day 35 of full-time travel. The train station sits just outside the city walls, which means your first look at Lucca is those walls. Big, wide, tree-lined Renaissance fortifications that don't feel defensive at all. They feel like a park that someone built around a city.

We stayed 11 days. At the time, that was the longest we'd been anywhere since leaving Indiana. It's been years now and we still talk about going back for a month or two.

What we did in Lucca

Everything is inside the walls. That's what makes it work.

Where we stayed: Casa Aida

A young blonde girl grins broadly while holding a rag doll with 'Harper' embroidered on its dress, standing on terracotta tiles in a Tuscan apartment
Anna had left a personalised rag doll with "Harper" embroidered on the dress. That was before Harper's birthday, before the horseback riding, before any of it.

The apartment is at Piazza San Francesco, 38, right next to the Church of San Francesco. Anna, the host, describes herself as a lucchese DOC who just wants everyone to love her city as much as she does. She delivered on that before we'd even unpacked.

We arrived to find she'd left personalised gifts for all three girls: rag dolls with each of their names embroidered on the dresses. Harper held hers for the rest of the week.

Two young blonde girls stand in a Tuscan farmhouse interior, smiling and holding up Djeco sticker sets and paper doll gifts left by their Airbnb host
Sticker sets and paper dolls for the older two. The bar was set on day one.

The apartment is on the second floor with no elevator and stairs that are exactly as steep as the listing warns. Five of us and all of our bags. Worth it every time. Two double bedrooms, a big living room with a sofa bed, and a fully equipped kitchen. We cooked in several nights rather than hunting for restaurants every evening, which is exactly what you want when you've been moving fast for a month.

Casa Aida is steps from the Church of San Francesco. Paid parking is a 5-minute walk from the apartment; free parking is about 10 minutes out. The train station is a 15-minute walk. Tourist tax for Lucca is not included in the Airbnb price.

The arrival spread at Casa Aida in Lucca — birthday present for Harper, activity sets for the older girls, wine, beers, water, and snacks left by the host Anna
Anna also left wine, beers, water, and snacks. The welcome was thorough.

The walls

The city walls are 4 kilometers of completely flat, mostly shaded, totally free walking path on top of 16th-century Renaissance fortifications. You can run them, walk them, or rent bikes from one of the shops just inside the city gates. We did all three at different points in the 11 days.

Screenshot of a running app showing a completed loop of the Lucca city walls, a 4km flat circuit
One loop of the walls. Flat, shaded, and almost exactly 4km. I went back for more.

I went out early one morning for a run. I had to walk a few sections. It didn't matter. The trail is shaded by tall trees the whole way round, and you're looking out over Tuscany on one side and the rooftops of the medieval city on the other. It's the best urban running I've found anywhere.

Lindsay sits at an outdoor cafe table on the Lucca city walls, smiling at the camera, with a tree-lined gravel path and stone buildings behind her
There are cafes built into the bastions on the walls. You can stop mid-loop.

We did the walls on electric pedal cars the morning of Harper's birthday. The rentals come in electric assist or full manual. We went electric assist and were still working for it, but we were flying past everyone on the manual bikes, so make of that what you will. The four-person car technically seats four, but they let us squeeze all three girls in a row across the front, so five of us fit. If you have kids, rent the car. They'll do the whole loop and want to go again.

Bike rental shops cluster just inside the main gates. Prices are around €5–8 per hour per bike. Go electric assist if you want to actually enjoy the views instead of surviving them.

Three girls squeezed side by side across the front seat of an electric pedal car on top of the Lucca city walls
Technically a four-person car. They let us put all three girls across the front anyway.

Guinigi Tower

A medieval tower in the middle of the city with a cluster of oak trees growing out of the top. That's it. That's the thing.

We climbed it on our 10th wedding anniversary. The stairs are narrow and they seem to keep going past the point where you think they must be done. At the top there's a small garden with actual trees, a breeze you'll be grateful for, and a view of the whole city and the surrounding Tuscan hills. Worth every step.

Adam and Lindsay Clarkson smiling together on their 10th wedding anniversary in Lucca, Italy
Ten years in. Celebrated with a tower climb and Tuscan views.

Guinigi Tower (Torre Guinigi) is open daily from 9:30am to 7:30pm. Tickets are around €8. No advance booking needed on weekdays.

Wide aerial view over Lucca from the top of Guinigi Tower, showing terracotta rooftops and colourful buildings with a medieval tower rising in the centre
The view from the top. The oak trees are behind you when you take this shot.
A narrow empty alley in Lucca at night leads toward the illuminated Torre Guinigi, its rooftop trees visible against a deep blue evening sky
Guinigi Tower at night from one of the alleys near our apartment. Hard to miss once you know what you're looking for.

Piazza dell'Anfiteatro

Wide shot of Piazza San Michele in Lucca at dusk, with the marble facade of San Michele in Foro church on the right and warm evening light across the square
Piazza San Michele at dusk. The whole city changes at golden hour.

The medieval buildings here were constructed on the foundations of a Roman amphitheatre. Because the original amphitheatre was oval, the houses that replaced it ended up forming an oval, too. The result is a perfectly shaped piazza ringed by restaurants and bars where you can sit with an Aperol Spritz and feel like you've accidentally stumbled into a movie set that turned out to be real.

A wooden cutting board covered with sliced cured meats including salami and prosciutto, topped with wedges of white cheese, at a restaurant in Lucca
Pre-anniversary dinner charcuterie. The salumi boards in Tuscany are a different thing entirely.

We ended up in the piazza multiple times across the 11 days. Once for lunch with live music. Once in the evening just walking through. Once specifically to sit down and do nothing for an hour. That last one was the best.

Three young girls walk and run through a quiet Italian piazza at blue hour, with warm restaurant lights and a column monument visible in the background
The girls had the run of the piazza most evenings. Lucca after dark is quiet in the right way.

Harper's third birthday

A toddler girl sits in an orange chair wearing a sparkly Happy Birthday tiara and a pink Minnie Mouse t-shirt, grinning at the camera in a Tuscan apartment
Harper turns three. First birthday on the road. She was not unhappy about it.

June 25, 2022. The first birthday we celebrated on the road, and one of the better ones we've managed anywhere.

Morning: the girls did the walls on electric pedal cars. Afternoon: Zoom call with family back home for the birthday song. Then we surprised the kids with horseback riding out in the Tuscan hills north of the city.

Horseback riding at Il Nostro West

We went out with Il Nostro West, a riding ranch about 15 minutes north of the city walls. The staff were calm and patient. Each kid had a dedicated guide walking right beside them the whole time, which helped because it was about 35°C and nobody's pinto horse was particularly interested in moving.

A young child in a riding helmet and protective vest sits on a brown and white pinto horse that is grazing in a dry Tuscan field, with green hills and blue sky behind them
Harper's pinto had one job. It chose grazing instead.
Four riders on horses and ponies lined up across a dry grassy field in the Tuscan hills near Lucca, all wearing helmets and protective vests
The whole crew in full body armor. We cut the ride short by about 15 minutes because of the heat. The kids didn't care.
A young girl wearing a pink riding helmet sits atop a brown horse being led by a guide, with Tuscan hills, trees, and a farmhouse in the background
Each of the girls had their own guide walking alongside the whole time.

Book Il Nostro West via WhatsApp. They responded quickly and laid out everything clearly: prices, duration, what to wear. Closed-toe shoes are required; they provide helmets and vests on site.

The food

A young girl sticks her tongue out at an outdoor restaurant table in Tuscany, with a wooden charcuterie board of salami, prosciutto, olives, and cheese in the foreground
Lily's review of dinner in Sant'Anna. Delivered nonverbally but the message was clear.

Lucca's food was good. Not Florence good, not Naples good, but we were a month into Italy at that point and had set a high bar. The meals that worked were simple ones: outdoor spots, charcuterie boards, caprese, pasta, house wine. The lunches with live music in the piazza were the best we had.

A white rectangular plate of prosciutto, fresh mozzarella, and sliced bread on a blue and orange patterned tablecloth, at a small restaurant in Lucca
A small, hidden place that came recommended. We had to give our order three times. Then Lily told the waiter Lindsay was lying when she said the food was great.

One dinner went wrong in a way that became one of the funnier stories from that whole stretch of Europe. We found a quiet spot, gave our order, gave our order again, then a third time. Whatever arrived wasn't quite what we ordered. Lindsay told the waiter it was great. One of the girls immediately said "Mommy, you lied." We got gelato on the way home.

Pick places with outdoor seating and a view over cobblestones. Avoid anything with a laminated photo menu near the tourist gates on the main streets.

Il Collezionista

Il Collezionista on Piazza San Giusto is not exclusively a comic book shop. It has swords, Funko Pops, manga, board games, and collector cards. We walked past it while birthday shopping and the girls spotted something in the window, and that was the end of any efficiency we had for the morning. Worth going in even if nobody in your group is a collector.

Getting there

Lucca's train station sits just outside the city walls, about a 10-minute walk to the historic center. Well connected to Florence (around 90 minutes), Pisa (30 minutes), and the rest of Tuscany via Trenitalia. We came from Genoa on an intercity service with five bags, three kids, and one escalator incident that made it into the vlog.

Overhead shot of a wooden farmhouse table with two beer bottles, crumpled foil, a plate with leftover flatbread and a candle, late at night in a Tuscan apartment
Last night in Lucca. We stayed up later than we should have.

If you're driving, paid parking is a 5-minute walk from the walls. Free parking is about 10 minutes out. Cars are not allowed inside the historic center.

Why we want to go back for longer

There's a version of Lucca where you stay two or three months. You rent an apartment, figure out which bakery opens earliest, run the walls every morning before the heat kicks in, and take day trips to Pisa, Florence, or the Cinque Terre when you feel like it. The city is walkable enough that you stop thinking about logistics after day two.

We left after 11 days because we were still in checklist mode, moving fast across Europe on a schedule that made sense on a spreadsheet. We didn't stay long enough. We knew it as we packed.

It's on the list. The long-stay list.

Two young girls sit on swings at an outdoor playground along the tree-lined path on top of the Lucca city walls on a sunny summer day
There are playgrounds built into the bastions on the walls. The kids found every one of them.

Related Reading

Lucca: Our 10th Anniversary, Harper's 3rd Birthday, and Why We Never Wanted to Leave Sailing the Queen Mary 2 with Kids The Schengen Area: A Guide for American Families

This post contains no affiliate links. Casa Aida and Il Nostro West were paid for in full by us. No discount was offered or received. All opinions are our own.