« Back to Lucca
Arrival and information
Lucca’s train station (information tel 1478.88.088) is just outside the walls to the south. Frequent Lazzi and CLAP buses from Florence, and Lazzi ones from Pisa and Livorno, arrive at the western Piazzale Verdi. The focus of Lucca’s compact historic centre is the vast Piazza Napoleone, but its social heart is Piazza San Michele just to the north. The “long thread”, Via Fillungo, heads northeast to the extraordinary circular Piazza Anfiteatro . Further east, beyond the Fosso (”ditch”), lies San Francesco. The main tourist office is in the north of town, at Piazza Santa Maria (daily: April-Sept 9am-7pm; Oct-March 9am-5pm; tel 0583.53.549, www.lucca.turismo.toscana.it ). Other offices are in the Cortile degli Svizzeri, behind Piazza Napoleone (same times; tel 0583.4171) and on Piazzale Verdi (daily: April-Sept 9am-7pm; Oct-March 9am-2pm; tel 0583.419.689). They all have (English) audioguides for a self-guided town achievement (L15,000/¬7.75) which lasts one hour twenty minutes, or you can dot around between the sights. The Lucchese Settembre festival features plenty of activity throughout September, centred on a candlelit procession on the 13th. Consult the tourist office for details of affiliated events, such as talking and classical concerts (including Puccini opera) and art shows.
