Lucca in 2 days, on foot

This 2-day self-guided walking plan for Lucca covers 13 narrated sights in an easy day-by-day order. Each day is split into a morning and an afternoon loop, and every stop has a two to three minute audio story in the Gingerguide app.

You set the pace: this is a suggested order, not a schedule. Walk it in 2 days, or stretch it out. Reorder freely; Lucca rewards a detour.

The Lucca route at a glance

• Day 1
• Day 2

Day 1

Day 1 covers 7 stops and about 2.1 km on foot, from Palazzo Pfanner to Via Fillungo. ≈ 2.1 km of walking, about 25 min

Morning

1. Palazzo Pfanner: Palazzo Pfanner in Lucca, a seventeenth-century palace of silk merchants with a grand outdoor staircase and a Baroque garden of statues and lemon trees, also seen from the city walls. 0.4 km on foot (5 min) to the next stop
2. Puccini Museum: The Puccini Museum in Lucca, the house in Corte San Lorenzo where the opera composer Giacomo Puccini was born in 1858, with his piano, scores, letters and costumes from his operas. 0.2 km on foot (3 min) to the next stop
3. San Michele in Foro: San Michele in Foro, the church on the Roman forum of Lucca, with a tall white marble front of four rows of small arches and a great statue of the Archangel Michael on top. 0.5 km on foot (6 min) to the next stop
4. Walls of Lucca: The walls of Lucca, a complete ring of Renaissance ramparts about four kilometres long around the old town, with eleven bastions and a broad, tree-lined path on top for walking and cycling. 0.4 km on foot (5 min) to the next stop

Afternoon

1. Cathedral of San Martino: The cathedral of San Martino in Lucca, with a carved Romanesque front, the Volto Santo, an ancient wooden crucifix, and the marble tomb of Ilaria del Carretto by Jacopo della Quercia. 0.5 km on foot (6 min) to the next stop
2. Torre delle Ore: The Torre delle Ore on Via Fillungo, the clock tower of Lucca, about 50 metres tall, with a clock mechanism of 1754 still in place and a famous local ghost legend. 80 m on foot (1 min) to the next stop
3. Via Fillungo: Via Fillungo, the main street of old Lucca, a long, winding medieval street of shops, cafés and old palaces, with the Torre delle Ore rising halfway along it.

Day 2

Day 2 covers 6 stops and about 0.5 km on foot, from Guinigi Tower to Villa Puccini, Torre del Lago. 3 longer hops are best done by public transport or taxi. ≈ 0.5 km of walking, about 5 min

Morning

1. Guinigi Tower: The Guinigi Tower in Lucca, a medieval brick tower about 45 metres tall built by a family of rich merchants, with a small garden of holm oaks growing on its roof. 0.3 km on foot (3 min) to the next stop
2. Piazza dell'Anfiteatro: Piazza dell'Anfiteatro in Lucca, an oval square ringed by houses that were built into the remains of a Roman amphitheatre, now lined with cafés and shops. 0.2 km on foot (2 min) to the next stop
3. Basilica of San Frediano: The basilica of San Frediano in the north of old Lucca, a Romanesque church of the twelfth century with a great golden mosaic of the Ascension on its front and the body of Saint Zita inside. 7.3 km to the next stop: take transport

Afternoon

1. Villa Reale di Marlia: The Villa Reale di Marlia, a few kilometres north-east of Lucca, a grand villa bought in 1806 by Elisa Bonaparte, sister of Napoleon, set in a park of historic gardens and a green theatre of hedges. 9.5 km to the next stop: take transport
2. Ponte della Maddalena (Devil's Bridge): The Ponte della Maddalena at Borgo a Mozzano, about 20 km north of Lucca, a steep medieval stone bridge over the Serchio with a tall main arch, known as the Devil's Bridge. 26 km to the next stop: take transport
3. Villa Puccini, Torre del Lago: Villa Puccini at Torre del Lago, about 25 km from Lucca by road, the lakeside home where Giacomo Puccini lived from 1900 to 1921 and wrote much of his music, and where he is buried.

Walking distances and times follow streets and footpaths (routing by openrouteservice.org, map data © OpenStreetMap contributors). Times are walking only, at an easy pace; add time at each stop.

Updated: October 26, 2026

Full Lucca guide and all stops →