News and information

What to do and to see in Lucca and its surroundings

You can book your stay in Lucca in concurrence with the events and shows organized by the facilities members of 'La via delle Pievi' and by the municipality itself.

• Food & Wine
• Marble and bronze in Pietrasanta
• Music... on the traces of Giacomo Puccini
• The Carnival of Viareggio
• Comic strips and 'Lucca Comics & Games'
• Lucca, green city
• Jewels and the treasures of Lucca… statuettes, jewellery, weaving art

Food & Wine

Cooking classes
It is possible to organize excellent cooking classes and tastings of local products, for groups as well as for individuals. .

Wine and olive oil tastings
The hill region around Lucca is characterized not only by rare historical and artistic beauties, but also by an excellent production of wine and olive oil: paths rich in traditions, hills covered by olive groves and vineyards, churches and 'pievi' built amidst them… These are the enchanting atmospheres of the 'Strade del Vino' of our province. Tourists walking along these 'strade', or pathways, will thus have the chance to discover the wineries and wine products that since many centuries are characterizing the ancient wine road, as well as the handicrafts and typical local food.

Museums and artistic workshops

Pietrasanta is constantly growing as a place of high artistic handicraft, which gave life to a productive and cultural fabric, never idle, extremely innovative and original, made up of more than 200 marble-carving workshops and about ten artistic foundries.

Today in Pietrasanta it is possible to organize interesting guided tours of the artistic marble- and bronze-carving workshops, watching the work of skillful artisans while they realize their masterpieces.

 

The 'Puccini Festival' and 'Puccini and his Lucca'

'Lucca and the Puccini Festival' (July-August)
A unique chance to experience the magical atmosphere created by the harmonies of the great Maestro as well as to discover the places that inspired his immortal works, feeling the fantastic sensation of being carried away by a melody made of art, culture, gastronomy, in the land of Toscana.

"Discovering the land of Puccini... between history and music'
Lucca, with its many places bound to the Maestro, like his native home Museum Puccini in Lucca, the Teatro del Giglio, as well as Torre del Lago, with the villa where the Maestro composed his major works, are absolutely worth a visit. In Torre del Lago the museum-house in Celle Puccini, where the Puccini family was born, can be visited.

 

The Carnival of Viareggio

'Carnival in Viareggio'
The Carnival of Viareggio is very famous for its shows with masks and carnival floats full of satire and allegories. The mastery of artist able to create real masterpieces carries the participants away in a joyful, exciting atmosphere along the boulevards to the seaside.

According to the year, every Sunday from end of January, through February, to the beginning of March. Look up the official website www.viareggio.ilcarnevale.com for further information.

"Lucca Comics & Games"
Lucca Comics & Games is a sectorial exhibition taking place in Lucca 5 days long at the beginning of November and lasting all over the year with some specific initiatives.
Lucca Comics & Games is divided into five main sections: Comics, Games, Junior, Music & Comics and Cosplay. There is the will to address and to involve a young public, from school age to post-teen-age. Obviously also the interest of the adult public is essential and highly welcome. Comics have always a cross-reading feature and this event is being visited by 155,000 persons in average during the five days. Look up the official website Lucca Comics & Games Lucca Comics & Games for further information.

Moreover, in Lucca you can visit the Italian Museum of Comics and Image in the building of the former Lorenzini barracks. Look up the official website www.museoitalianodelfumetto.it for further information.

Lucca, green city

Flower growing, vegetable gardens, environment

Verdemura is an exhibition market of gardening, typical products and outdoor living. It takes place at the end of March on the historical and wonderful urban walls of Lucca. Look up the official website www.verdemura.it for further information.

The exhibition 'Antiche Camelie della Lucchesia' takes place in S. Andrea and Pieve di Compito in Capannori, as well as in many villas in the north and south of the territory. It is an exciting event to discover this old flower, the camellia, that is coming up again in the connoisseurs' gardens thanks to the strength of its beauty. Look up the official website www.camelielucchesia.it for further information.

The Azalea Festival EXHIBITION MARKET AZALEA in the municipality of Borgo a Mozzano (LU) takes place in April for all the lovers and professionals of azaleas. During this period Borgo a Mozzano becomes an amazing explosion of flowers. Look up the official website of the municipality of Borgo a Mozzano comune di Borgo a Mozzano for further information.

Festa di S. Zita. Saint Zita is celebrated on 27th April: since the citizens of Lucca highly venerates her, there are many events during the day, among which an important exhibition of flowers and plants organized in the center of the city.

Look up the official website of the municipality of Luccal comune di Lucca for further information.

Murabilia – Mura in Fiore (beginning of September) is an exhibition market devoted to quality amateur gardening, organized by the municipality of Lucca and by the 'Opera delle Mura' of Lucca, in collaboration with A.Di.P.A. (Association for the diffusion of Plants for Amateurs). The period of beginning September was chosen to symbolize the beginning of the celebrations of the 'Settembre Lucchese' as well as the resumption of the gardening activities after the Summer heat. It is a very successful, more than ten-year old event, that takes place on the bastions along the town walls and has become one of the most appealing national events for the connoisseurs of the green world. www.murabilia.com for further information.

Jewels and The treasures of Lucca... statuettes, jewellery, weaving art

Historical and cultural premise: handicraft is a resource for the whole territory.

There are many handicraft branches in this territory that can give life to a tourist product. Beside the paper handicraft, that links the Lucca area with Versilia, and the marble and bronze production in Pietrasanta, which have been covered separately, we chose three other sectors characterized by museum initiatives, events on the territory and willingness of the handicraft firms to collaborate to the tourist product in the Lucca territory. We also decided to concentrate our attention and the promotion of these products during the third and last weekend of the month, in concurrence with two repeat events that take place in the center of the city and fascinate the lovers of these products: the Little Market of Arts and Crafts in S. Giusto Square and the Market of Antique in S. Martino, S. Giusto and Giglio Square.

Goldsmith's art
As for the goldsmith's art, Lucca offers a wide fabric of handicraft firms, most of which are concentrated in the historical center of the city, willing to collaborate in a system that allows the immediate organization of a visit route to discover this handicraft. Moreover, the School of Goldsmith's Arts is active on the territory, as well as the event Lucca Preziosa, that takes place in Spring in Lucca.

"La via dei presepi" (Christmas' cribs route)
The traditional production of cribs statuettes is still located in the area of Bagni di Lucca, but today it has modern characteristics: statuettes are produced by some industrial plants and other small handicraft workshops where everything is still created by hand as it was in the past. Somebody uses also resins and plastic, however the models do not change and religious statuettes as well as the other crib figures still represent the main activity. As a supplement to the traditional plaster production, an important production activity has specialized in church ornaments manufactured using various materials, and above all in the artistic creation of decorations, mainly for the cribs.

In parallel to this activities, the exhibition 'Le vie del Presepe' has been created, which takes place every year in December in Bagni di Lucca and develops along different itineraries: street events, little markets and exhibitions, visit to the statues and church ornaments exhibitions mounted at the Circolo dei Forestieri in Bagni, as well as organized tours within the production workshops in the village and the surroundings.

Last but not least, the unique Museum of the Figurines in Coreglia preserves about 1300 plaster statuettes created by the local 'figurinai' along the centuries. The collection includes not only the works brought back in Italy by the 'figurinai', but also documents, passports, letters and tools that belonged to the emigrants. A workshop is set up in the basement where the different phases that lead to the creation of plaster statuettes can be watched.

'Weaving'
Recently the ancient manufacturing techniques and drawings of those fabrics and cloths have been resumed in Lucca, that used to be known in the courts of all Europe and were the pride and economic strength of the city. Nowadays a silk fabric called 'filaticcio' is produced using handlooms identical to those used in the seventeenth-century and that are still present in the territory of the Piana Lucchese. The word 'filaticcio' derives from the particular silk thread (filo) used in Lucca, that was called 'filugello' and derived from the vulgar Latin 'follicellum' (silkworm). In modern terminology this threat is called silk-waste, since it is the less valuable, residual part of the silk manufacturing. Once it was handicraft spun by the weavers, in this way it acquired an irregular thickness which is its peculiarity and gives the fabrics an unmistakable coarse-grained look.

Beside some handicraft production firms there is a specific section devoted to this activity in the National museum of Palazzo Mansi and a recently established association, open to the public, that is promoting the re-launching of this world.