Lucca huddles beneath the southern foothills of the Apuan Alps in a land beset by oak forests and rain-soaked quarries. This is northern Tuscany, where the scenery is mountainous and lush, where the salty breezes waft over from the Ligurian Sea, and long-forgotten hilltop towns cap off the bluffs like limpets that have been there for centuries.
Lucca itself is the jewel in the crown. Straddling a great bend in the Serchio River as it emerges from the Apennines, it’s known for its wonderfully intact ring of city walls. They’re a product of the ages – first Roman, then Renaissance. Today, they’ve been incorporated into the urban plan to offer one of the most fantastic pedestrian paths around – the Passeggiata delle Mure Urbane. Stroll up there and gaze back into the centre to spy out the handsome Torre delle Ore clocktower and the shadowy cobbled lanes of Lucca’s historic core.
The true joy of picking a luxury villa in the Lucca Area is that you can explore the incredible city and then return to the countryside. It’s a corner of Tuscany that’s rawer, wilder, greener than down south.
Go north, and you’ll be shrouded by the wooded valleys of the Garfagnana Mountains, which rise to the sculpted peaks of the Apuan Alps proper. They’ve been famed for their fine Carrara marble since ancient times, which is why the summits have been chipped away and hacked at like some unfinished Michelangelo bust. There’s hiking to enjoy, from the glistening lake of sleepy Gramolazzo to highland mountain huts serving pesto pasta and crisp Tuscan wines.
If you head for the coast from Lucca, you’ll be rewarded with the Belle Epoque majesty of Livorno, a workaday port town steeped in history and home to some of the best seafood cooking in Italy. It’s also the start of a coastline that runs north into the Ligurian Riviera, a wonderworld of pastel-painted villages that glow red and daffodil-yellow above lagoons of turquoise water.
More quintessential Tuscany is within reach, too. First, there’s Pisa, with its leaning monuments and immersive Centro Storico. Then there are the pretty hill towns of Lari and Volterra, paving the way to the cypress-peppered winelands for which this part of the country is best known.
Get in touch now to rent a private villa in the Lucca Area with a swimming pool, sprawling gardens, and spectacular countryside views to experience true relaxation in beautiful Tuscany.
See
- The jagged Apuan Alps
- Historic Garzoni Gardens
- The gorgeous beaches of the Ligurian coast
Experience
- Stroll around Lucca town on the well-preserved city walls
- Follow composers and film stars to the spa town of Montecatini
- Bathe in the hot springs of northern Tuscany
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