Local's Guide To Lucca Outside the Walls

Itinerary Two

The composer Giacomo Puccini comes from Lucca and the city is celebrating the centenary of his death this year, in 2024.

The bike route I suggest in this itinerary is part of a route dedicated to Puccini that was awarded the “Italian Cycle Tourism Oscar” last year in 2023. The award goes to “green bike routes promoting slow travel”.

This is my favorite route out of Lucca because it goes to such an entirely local place and it provides a nice half-day biking excursion, on all on the flat, along with good food and a definite sense of getting off the beaten path.

I’m excited to share it with you! I figured out this fun itinerary (that includes some cool literary history) by exploring on my bike with no one to show me around.

I’m not a gadget person and have never used a cycling navigation app (I’d have to stop and put on my glasses to see it which is too much fuss) so I just set out, get lost, find my way and come up ultimately with a good itinerary. A mini Freya Stark. LOL 😆. If you read my memoir you’ll get my reference.

Even if you’re not interested in biking, but like to learn about significant historical figures—novelists and poets who roamed these parts and were inspired by Italy—I share something about that at the end of this itinerary which I think is super cool, and hopefully you will too!