Walls of Lucca

Walls of Lucca

A walk in the treetops

The Tuscan city of Lucca, in Italy, is wrapped in one of the most unusual and beloved sets of city walls in Europe. Broad, grassy and topped with rows of tall trees, the ramparts of Lucca form a complete green ring around the old town — and today they carry a wide path where people stroll, jog and cycle high above the streets, shaded by the trees. It is one of the most delightful walks in all of Italy.

Walls built for cannon

Lucca's walls were built mainly in the 1500s and 1600s, in the age when gunpowder and cannon had changed warfare forever. The old medieval walls of earlier times, tall and thin, would have been smashed to pieces by cannon fire. So the people of Lucca built a completely new kind of defence: low, immensely thick ramparts of brick and earth, designed to absorb cannonballs rather than shatter.

At each corner and along the walls, great arrow-shaped bastions jutted outward, so that defenders could fire along every face of the wall and catch attackers in a deadly crossfire. A wide ring of open ground was kept clear outside the walls so that no enemy could approach unseen. These were among the most modern and powerful city defences of their age.

A proud independent city

Lucca built such mighty walls because it was a proud independent republic, governing itself while powerful neighbours like Florence loomed nearby. The walls were a statement: Lucca was strong, free, and ready to defend its liberty. They worked so well as a deterrent that, remarkably, the walls were never attacked in a real war — their strength alone helped keep enemies away.

Saving the city from a flood

Although the walls never had to stop an army, they once saved Lucca from a different enemy: water. According to the city's history, during a great flood the gates in the walls were shut tight, and the thick ramparts held back the rising floodwaters like a dam, keeping the town inside dry while the country around was swamped. So the defences built against cannon ended up protecting the city from the river instead.

From defence to delight

By the 1800s, with the danger of war long gone, the people of Lucca turned their walls into something wonderful. They planted long rows of trees along the top and laid out a broad promenade, transforming the grim military ramparts into a beautiful park in the sky. Generations of families have walked there ever since.

Visiting today

Visitors can climb up onto the walls and follow the tree-lined path all the way around Lucca — a distance of about four kilometres — looking down on the red rooftops, towers and gardens of the old city on one side and the surrounding countryside on the other. Below, the streets of Lucca hide beautiful churches, towers and the birthplace of the great composer Puccini. Complete, green and gloriously peaceful, the walls of Lucca show how a fortress built for war can become a city's favourite garden.