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• The medieval walls. It’s a miracle they survive as, in most Italian towns they would have been cannibalised for building stone as they lost their military importance. In Lucca they survived and have become a superb pedestrian promenade of parkland and trees, cycle and running tracks. Note that these walls are many metres deep … it’s not like you’re balancing atop a brick wall! Look for a Lucca hotel close to the walls.
• Lucca’s squares: the Piazza dell’Antifeatro, Piazza Napoleone, Piazza San Michele … Lucca has some beautiful open spaces, again marvellous for evening strolls (the passegiata) and surrounded by beautiful medieval and Renaissance palazzi. Why not find a Lucca hotel on one of the main squares and be right at the heart of things.
• The Duomo di San Martino, or St Martin’s Cathedral. Begun in 1083 by Bishop Anselm, this cathedral to Lucca’s patron saint is largely 14th century Gothic in its current form. Treasures include Ghirlandaio’s Madonna and Child, Federico Zuccari’s Adoration of the Magi, a Jacopo Tintoretto Last Supper, and a Fra Bartolomeo Madonna and Child.
• Museo della Cattedrale: four floors of ecclesiatical and other pieces; a good collection of illustrated miniatures; a Limoges reliquary with stories from the Life of St Thomas a Becket. Find a Lucca hotel near the Duomo and this is on your doorstep.
• The Piazza Antifeatro: the old Roman amphitheatre, a circuit in the heart of town. It’s largely medieval in its fabric, but there are significant parts of the old Roman stonework and walls embedded in the medieval. Extraordinary to see shops and apartments looking out onto the antifeatro. The centre of the piazza was once covered with medieval slums, cleared in the 1830s.
• Torre Guinigi. The one with the tree on top! A peculiar battlemented tower attached to the 15th century Casa Guinigi (the Guinigi were Lucca’s leading family). You can climb the 44m tower and it gives great views over the city.
• Museo Nazionale di Villa Guinigi: that family again, and this is Lucca’s main museum. Lots of sculpture and archaeological pieces, paintings by della Quercia and Matteo Civitali as well as early Sienese and Lucchese masters. There are lots of Lucca hotels near to the museum.
• Casa di Puccini. Dedicated to the city’s most famous son. There is also a Puccini festival at the nearby seaside town of Torre del Lago, where Puccini had a home.
• The Palazzo Ducale or ‘Doge’s Palace’. This was the seat of government in Renaissance Lucca, and was begun in 1577 by Bartolomeo Ammannati, with additional work in the 18th century by Filippo Juvarra. A Lucca hotel within the walls of the city will put the Palazzo Ducale within easy reach.
• Orto Botanico Comunale di Lucca: established in 1820, by Marie Louise, Duchess of Parma. A triangular plot within one corner of the Lucca city wall, with botanical school, laboratories, greenhouse, herbarium and archive.

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