Visitor Information
The main tourist office is inside the north side of the walls at Piazza Santa Maria 35 (www.luccaturismo.it; (tel. 0583-919-931; daily 9am–7pm, sometimes later in summer). The comune also has a small local info office on Piazzale Verdi (tel. 0583-442-944), which keeps similar hours.
For events and concert listings, pick up the English-language monthly Grapevine.
Festivals & Markets
Musical festivals celebrate the town's melodious history. In addition to the town's nightly Puccini concerts, all September long, Settembre Lucchese brings concerts and operas by the city's favorite son to the theater where many premiered, the Teatro Comunale on Piazza del Giglio. The shore of nearby Lago di Massaciuccoli provides the backdrop to the summer Puccini Festival (tel. 0584-359-322; www.puccinifestival.it), the biggest annual date in a local opera lover's calendar. There's a seasonal ticket office at Viale Puccini 257a, in Torre del Lago, or book tickets online. Prices range from 35€ to 125€. With every year that passes, Lucca's July Summer Festival (www.summer-festival.com) grows in size and profile. Recent headline acts to grace the outdoor stage in Piazza Napoleone have included Grammy winners Arcade Fire, Elton John, and Amy Winehouse. On September 13, an 8pm candlelit procession from San Frediano to the Duomo honors Lucca's most prized holy relic, the Volto Santo statue of Christ that tradition holds was carved by Nicodemus himself.
A huge antiques market, one of Italy's most important, is held the third Sunday (and preceding Sat) of every month in Piazza Antelminelli and the streets around the Duomo. It's great fun but it makes hotel rooms hard to find and restaurants booked, especially at lunch (even those normally closed Sun reopen for this one). It's spawned a local art market on Piazza del Arancio on the same dates, and the final Sunday of the month sees an artisans' market on Piazza San Giusto.
For a few days at the end of October, the city is overrun with several hundred thousand attendees of the Lucca Comics & Games convention (www.luccacomicsandgames.com). Depending on whether you want to share the streets and squares with a multitude of costumed Darth Vaders and other fantasy figures, you might want to stay away from Lucca then.
Note: This information was accurate when it was published, but can change without notice. Please be sure to confirm all rates and details directly with the companies in question before planning your trip.
