Lucca

Lucca is a real nice little town, still enclosed in its old XVI century city walls.

Why visit Lucca? It is just a lovely town. You will enjoy visiting the Cathedral, the Torre Guinigi or its beautiful villas, but most of all you will love its atmosphere: take a walk along it's charming streets, admiring the old buildings, have a coffee on the Piazza del Amphiteatro, shaped after the Roman circus that it replaced, or take a stroll on the city walls, and you will really understand life in Lucca.

Places to visit

Most people only spend a few hours in Lucca, usually on a day trip from Florence, often visiting Lucca and Pisa on the same day. In this case, the best thing to do is just to wander along the narrow streets, enjoying the atmosphere of the city. Go to Piazza San Michele, then down the busy Via Filungo to Piazza del Amphiteatro, built where the old Roman amphiteater once was, then head towards the walls, for a quiet walk, admiring the roofs of Lucca on one side, and the hills that surround the city on the other side.

See the map for detailed locations.

Our favourite places in Lucca

Restaurants

L'Olivo

1 Piazza San Quiriquo

0583 496264

€40-60

One of the best restaurant I have tested in Lucca so far. It's not cheap, but it's good, traditional Tuscan cuisine. [more]

Ristaurante del Teatro

This restaurant was a very pleasant surprised. and I think it is well worth a visit. Beyond the various a la carte options, it also offers a 13 euro set menu for lunch that is a real bargain.

Gli Orti di via Elisa

Via Elisa, 17

0583 491241

€15-35

An other solid restaurant, the food is good. The menu lacks a bit of variety though. Sometimes fully booked by tour buses.

Bucca San Antonio

Bucca San Antonio is probably the most renowned restaurant in Lucca. I must say I was a little disapointed when we went there though.

The atmosphere great, the rooms are nicely decorated in rustic Tuscan style, the waiting staff is efficient and friendly, our waiter spoke English (and French). The appetizer were very good, I had lardo di Colonata , which I always like. The grilled meats were excellent too. I just had a problem with my entree, which was textbook trippe a la Lucchese (tripes Lucca style). Which saddly means that it was a little bland. i would have appreciated a little more invention, or just a little more spices. It definitely wasn't as good as my granma's hot tripes.

Trattorias

Trattorias are family-run, casual restaurants that usually serve home-style cooking. They are usually cheaper than restaurants. Here are our favourites:

Trattoria da Leo

Via Tegrini 1

Tel: 0583 492236

€20-40

An excellent family-style restaurant, a favourite of many Luchesi. Service is quite chaotic but always very friendly, food is very good. All this for a very reasonable price. Highly recommended. [more]

Antiqua Drogheria

via Elisa

€10-25

An extensive menu including a wide range of pizza and calzones, big salads, regular dishes and special of the day, reasonable prices and the fact that it is open every day make this one of our usual cantines.

La Locanda di Bacco

via San Giorgio, 36

Tel: 0583 493136

€15-30

A good trattoria, in a quiet part of town. The quality of the food, and the prices, are slightly above most trattoria. I liked the risotto, the rice was cooked perfectly, and the grilled meat. Service was on the slow side, but maybe because we went there late.

Locanda Buatino

Via Borgo Giannotti, 508

Tel: 0583 343207

€10-25

An unassuming trattoria ouside of the walls (but still within walking distance). The place is always full at lunchtime. It offers the classic trattoria menu: mixed appetizers, soup, or zuppa di farro . The pasta is cheap and can make a (small) meal by itself, I like the spicy penne a l'arrabiata . The entrées include the classic Trippa alla lucchese . Overall one of our favourite places for a quick lunch outside of the center.

Pizzeria

Oddly enough there aren't that many pizzerias in Lucca, although you can often get pizzeria in trattorias ( Antiqua Drogheria for example has a wood oven and a large selection of pizzas and calzones).

Mara Meo

Piazza San Francesco

under €10

A very popular pizza place. Pizza are good, huge and cheap. Atmosphere is casual (is not getting silverware for your pizza casual enough?). Often full, but the wait should not be too long.

See /mara_meo.it .

Pizzeria Rousseau

We have never tried this pizzeria on via Vittorio Emmanuelle, very close to Piazza Napoleone, but our friends Lisa and Stefano recommend it.

Bars

Di Simo

Via Filungo, one of the most famous bars in Lucca. Puccini used to hang out there. This is one of our favourite bars in Lucca.

Di Simo also serves a very good lunch. Closed at night.

Millenium Bar

Via Santa Croce, near Porta Elisa. Our neighbourhood bar has a very friendly staff (Andrea speaks very good English), good coffee (this is Italy!), decent hot plates for lunch, and a nice inside garden to boot.

Outdoors

A lot of bars in Lucca have tables outside, in Via Filungo, or on Piazza San Michele and they are all very pleasant when it's sunny.

When we want to eat out and we feel that our son has too much energy to stay inside a restaurant, we head towards our 2 favourite spots though:

Da Gherardo

This bar / restaurant on Piazza Amphiteatro is quite good. Contrary to most bars, who serve pre-prepared food, they have a kitchen and a cook. They pizzas are very decent, and the farro salad is one of our favourite. And of course the piazza provides plenty of space to run around, as well as pigeons to chase, for those of us who can't stay sit for long.

There are lots of other bars around the Piazza, but we like Da Gherardo so we have actually never tried the others.

Piazza Napoleone

Piazza Napoleone, also know in Lucca as Piazza Grande (the Big Square), is home to the R Restaurante del Teatro , but also a reasonably priced bar next door, that serves honest meals for lunch.

Finally

Piccolo Mondo

Piccolo Mondo is located on via Filungo, very close to Piazza San Michele, somewhat hidden behind a news stand.

It is a small restaurant, with a terrace and a room upstairs, that's fairly cheap and rather good.

We mostly go there to get take out though.

Try their pizzas, roastbeef or chicken, add some piselli (green peas) or deep fried zucchini, don't forget some fresh pasta fritta (salted fried dough), and head towards the walls for a perfect picnic!