The Walls of Lucca are a true urban park: their connection to history and culture is profound. Why not take the time to visit the small museums housed in the barracks, where you can discover fascinating curiosities about the city's history: the oldest mint in Europe, the crossbowmen who compete in the Palio every year in honor of the patron saint and the Holy Cross, the small but fascinating Botanical Garden, and the 19th-century café that ultimately determined the Walls' status as an urban park.
The walls also offer a privileged vantage point for a tour of the city. From the 12-meter-high road, you can enjoy unparalleled views of the main monuments, the apse of the cathedral with its imposing bell tower, and the apse of San Frediano, all within a single sweep that also encompasses the 18th-century Palazzo Pfanner and its garden. The unmistakable silhouette of the Guinigi Tower, with its plume of holm oaks atop, and the Torre delle Ore, atop which flutters a weather vane. The botanical garden with the pond where Lucida Mansi's "La bella" ended, the sober towers of the medieval walls, and the chimney of the tobacco factory.
The Walls of Lucca are a promenade, unique in the world, an uninterrupted and ever-changing view of the city's monuments, churches and buildings.
From Santa Maria Bastion, where the Caffè delle Mura has been located since 1840 and proceeding to the left you pass the castle above Porta San Pietro, home to the Mura di Lucca information point.
Outside the city the view extends to Monte Pisano. From San Colombano bastion, towards the inside of the city you can see the bell tower and the splendid apse of the Cathedral of San Martino and a little further on you can glimpse the remains of the Roman walls near the church of the Rose.
Reached the San Regolo Bastion, you can stop at the Botanical Garden and take a look at the romantic Via dei Foschi.
After the bastion of Liberty you reach the Porta Elisa, opened in the 19th century at the behest of Princess Elisa. From this beautiful neoclassical gate in white marble, the gaze reaches all the way to the imposing turreted gate in the medieval walls, dedicated to Saints Gervasio and Protasio. Beyond this is the PSanta Maria Square Foris Portam (“outside the Roman gate”). We are ideally on the route of the decumanus maximus.
Continuing the walk along the Walls, you pass through the curtain walls and bastions of San Salvatore, where what all the people of Lucca know as "the executioner's house" now houses the Francigena Entry Point, a virtual route along the Via Francigena. You continue beneath a canopy of red oaks, while outside the Walls, you gaze out over the Pizzorne Plateau, at the foot of which winds the route of the monumental villas of the Lucca area.
A view of the rooftops and hills.
The Lucca Crossbowmen's Company is based at the next San Pietro barracks. After passing the San Martino bastion and the Porta Santa Maria castle, you reach the Platform of San FredianoInside the walls, a beautiful view includes the apse of the Church of San Frediano and the splendid eighteenth-century garden of Palazzo Pfanner. Outside, in sequence, the imposing green expanse of the walls' bastions, where the system of "lunettes" with the moat, now lost elsewhere, is preserved, and, beyond the Lucca hills, the unmistakable profile of the Apuan Alps.
The suspended walkway continues toward the Santa Croce and San Donato bastions, home to the ancient Lucca Mint. It's worth stopping to see the collections of ancient coins, a testament to the city's long history. The next curtain wall is shaded by Italian poplars, trees that symbolize the Lucca plain. Outside, the view extends to the Morianese hills, beyond which stretches the Versilia coast, while inside, the eye—and the sense of smell—are drawn to the large building of the Lucca Tobacco Factory, a factory within the city, an important part of Lucca's history, where for years the legendary "Toscano" was handcrafted.
And we're back at the Caffè delle Mura, where our walk began. To follow in the footsteps of Duchess Maria Luisa, we can descend from the Walls and head toward the heart of the city, passing Piazza Napoleone and arriving at Piazza San Michele.
guided tours
