Lucca

Lucca is a Tuscan town on the river Serchio, located 28 km east from the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Lucca and it is one of the most people-friendly touristic towns in Tuscany.

The town is known for its intact Renaissance-era city walls, which have eleven bastions of different shapes and dimensions. The walls remained intact as the city expanded and modernized. When they lost their military importance, they became a pedestrian promenade which encircled the old town, although they were used for a number of years in the 20th century for racing cars. They are still fully intact today; each of the four principal sides is lined with a different tree species.

Lucca was also the second largest Italian city state with a republican constitution to remain independent over the centuries until the year 1805 when Lucca was taken over by French troops and later in 1847 a part of new Italian state.

Another important feature of the territory of Lucca is the presence of historical villas. During the Renaissance period the villas were both places for recreation and active agricultural enterprise closely linked to that production of silk which had made a fortune for the rich Lucchese merchants. Afterwards the villas exclusively became places of magnificence that bore witness to the prestige of its owners.

Lucca has been the hometown of several notable people: Mario Cipollini, athlete, Ivan Della Mea, singer-songwriter, Marcello Pera, politician and philosopher, Giacomo Puccini, composer, Giuseppe Ungaretti, poet ecc.