Lucca is a 600-year-old Italian city state. According to its website, lucca.info, the region of Tuscany was orginally inhabited by the warring Ligurian and Etruscan tribes; they shared a common enemy in the Germanic Lombards, who left traces of thier culture after they conqured the Ligurian coast in the early 640s. Lucca remained a stronghold of the Ligurians until the Romans came to Tuscany and allied with the Etruscans.
Lucca is located in the center of northwest Tuscany. It borders the city of Pisa, and is a 30-minute car drive from Florence and a short distance from the Versilia coast. The Apennine mountains surround Lucca and the Apuan Alps are only a few kilometres away.
Lucca is a walled city. The protective walls, once built to keep out marauding Etruscans, are now lined with trees and used as a scenic walking path by residents and visitors. Important architectural monuments include the Duomo of San Martino, originally built in the sixth century, and the Church of San Frediano, which is the only example of Lombardian architecture that has not been heavily altered.
The two original main streets in Lucca were "cardo maximo," which runs north and south and "decuman maximo," which runs east and west. Modern names for these streets are Via Fillungo and Via S. Croce, respectively. The Piazza San Michele lies at the center junction of these two streets and forms the social nucleus of Lucca.
Like many cities in the Tuscan region, Lucca is well known for wine production. Fine vintages from Lucca include both red and white wines. The olive oil from Lucca is famous the world over. One of the most unusual culinary products from Lucca may be they chestnut flour that is used to make "neccio," a traditional cake in the region.
