The City Walls Park
The Walls of Lucca are not only a unique monument in the world, but also an extraordinary urban park: a green ring over four kilometers long that embraces the historic city, offering a public space of great landscape, botanical and cultural value.
Built between 1504 and 1645 as a defensive structure, the Walls are today a symbol of welcome and peace, a green heritage experienced daily by citizens and visitors.
It was Duchess Maria Luisa of Bourbon, in the first half of the 19th century, who promoted its transformation from a military structure into a public promenade, continuing an idea already entertained by Elisa Bonaparte Baciocchi. This project marked the beginning of the reconversion of the bastions into romantic gardens and the arrangement of tree-lined avenues along the curtain walls, transforming the Walls into an elevated park suspended between the city and the landscape.
Today, the curtain walls form a continuous path, shaded by rows of plane trees, lime trees, holm oaks, and other trees that lead visitors through monumental views, green spaces, and scenic overlooks. The bastions house gardens, rest areas, play areas, and spaces for cultural and sporting events. The underground areas, once strategic defense sites, have been restored and now host exhibitions, art installations, guided tours, and immersive experiences.
A unique tree heritage
The Parco delle Mura is also a true open-air botanical garden. Many of the plant species are native, such as poplars, elms, holm oaks, and lime trees, present since the time when the trees were used to consolidate the embankments. Others are exotic, introduced between the 18th and 19th centuries to enrich the new urban park with ornamental species from Asia, North America, and the Mediterranean basin.
Among the most significant examples are:
- Il red beech of the San Colombano bastion, imposing and scenic in every season.
- Le red oaks between the bastions Salvatore and San Pietro, protagonists of autumn with their vermilion leaves.
- I plane trees, symbol of the city, with over 700 specimens distributed along the perimeter.
- The exotics tulip trees, or tulip trees, with large lemon-green flowers and iridescent foliage.
- I holm oaks centuries-old walls of the curtain wall between San Regolo and Libertà, and on the Guinigi tower.
- Il cedar of Lebanon to the Botanical Garden, one of the oldest and largest in the province.
- I hackberry, American cypresses, magnolias, araucarias, And scented lime trees which provide shade and fragrance on summer days.
Each tree tells a story, evokes an era, and offers a different glimpse of the city. The Walls are a place of memory and transformation, where nature intertwines with architecture and urban life.
A place to live
The Walls of Lucca are an integral part of daily life. In every season, they lend themselves to a leisurely stroll, a dawn run, a moment of rest in the shade, discovering botanical species, or attending public events: concerts, reenactments, exhibitions, sports, and cultural events.
A beloved place for the people of Lucca, they also represent a unique experience for visitors: walking the Walls offers a privileged view of Lucca, immersed in greenery and history.
