Lucca entdecken

The Walls of Lucca are a ring of Renaissance brick and earth fortifications, 4.2 km round, built between 1504 and 1648 to replace the medieval and Roman defences. Never used in war, they were turned into a public promenade in the 1820s; today a tree-lined path along the top, with eleven bastions and six gates, is used for walking and cycling.

Piazza dell'Anfiteatro is an oval square in the north-east of Lucca's old town. The ring of houses around it follows the outline of the Roman amphitheatre, whose remains lie about 3 m below today's pavement. The architect Lorenzo Nottolini cleared the interior in 1830 to create a market square; four gateways lead in, and cafés line the curve.

San Michele in Foro is a Romanesque church in Lucca, built over the Roman forum, first recorded in 795 and rebuilt after 1070. Its 13th-century marble facade rises in four tiers of small loggias and is crowned by a 4 m statue of the Archangel Michael; a Madonna by Matteo Civitali (1480) stands at its corner.