Lucca Italy

Lucca sits in a broad valley of the Serchio River in northern Tuscany, encircled by some of the best-preserved Renaissance city walls in Europe. The walls date from the 16th century and are wide enough at the top to have been planted with trees and turned into a 4.2 km public promenade - walking or cycling the full circuit is the defining Lucca experience and takes about an hour at a relaxed pace. Inside the walls, the medieval street plan is almost entirely intact. The Piazza dell’Anfiteatro is the most remarkable space in the city: a perfect oval of medieval buildings constructed directly on the footprint of a Roman amphitheatre, its curved facades following the original seating tiers. The Duomo di San Martino contains one of Tuscany’s finest collections of Romanesque sculpture, and the Torre Guinigi is a 14th-century tower with a cluster of oak trees growing from the top. Lucca is also the birthplace of Giacomo Puccini; the Puccini Museum occupies his childhood home near the church of San Michele. For a conference traveler, the city is compact and entirely walkable - the IMT Campus at San Ponziano, the main hotels, and the best restaurants are all within 10 minutes on foot. Pisa is 22 km west and easily reached by train in about 30 minutes, making it a good day trip or arrival point. Florence is 90 minutes by regional train and worth the journey for anyone extending their stay.

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