Lucca Food Guide: Markets, Local Specialities and What to Eat

Lucca is a compact, wealthy walled city in Tuscany — not on most visitors’ first itineraries, but consistently rated among the most liveable cities in Italy. The circuit of Renaissance walls, walkable on foot or by bicycle, encloses an intact medieval centre with more churches per square kilometre than almost anywhere in Tuscany. The food is specific, regional and largely unknown outside the city. A food tour is one of the best ways to experience the city’s character.

What to Eat in Lucca

Buccellato is Lucca’s signature sweet — a large ring-shaped bread leavened with yeast and enriched with anise seeds and raisins. The name comes from the Latin for “bread baked in a ring”. It is sold in the historic bakery of Pasticceria Taddeucci in Piazza San Michele, which has been making it since 1881. Torta di Erbi is a savoury tart of wild greens, ricotta and Parmigiano baked in a short-crust pastry — a recipe of Lenten origin found throughout the Garfagnana valley north of the city. Biroldo della Garfagnana is a blood sausage made with spiced pig offal and blood, unique to the Lucca area, eaten cold or griddled.

Olive oil from the hills around Lucca has held DOP status since 1998; the Tuscan olive oil mills pressing Lucca DOP oil are in the Lucchesia hills above the city; the local variety is Frantoio, producing an oil with pronounced green-fruit flavour and a peppery finish. It is used liberally in the local kitchen and sold in the city’s specialist food shops.

The Markets

The covered market (Mercato del Carmine) near Piazza dei Servi operates Tuesday through Saturday mornings and is the most useful for local produce — the stalls inside sell seasonal vegetables, local cheeses, salumi and fresh pasta. An antique market fills Piazza San Giusto on the third weekend of each month. The general street market at Piazza San Jacopo runs on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

The City on Foot

The medieval centre is entirely walkable. The Torre Guinigi — a 14th-century tower with a small garden of holm oaks growing from its roof — is unique in Italy and worth the climb for the views over the rooftops. Piazza dell’Anfiteatro, an oval square built directly over the seating tiers of the Roman amphitheatre, is the most atmospheric spot in the city for an aperitivo. The Palazzo Pfanner has one of the few Italian-style baroque gardens in Tuscany, accessible from both inside and from the walls above. Puccini was born in Lucca — the house in Corte San Lorenzo contains a small museum.

A food tour from Florence, Pisa or the coast combines well with a half-day in the city — Lucca is one of the easiest day trips from Florence. For cruise visitors arriving at La Spezia, our shore excursion from La Spezia to Lucca includes transport from the port. For a comprehensive overview of the city see the Lucca travel guide.