Monuments and ticketing
Botanical Garden
The Botanical Garden of Lucca is an island of greenery and biodiversity set in the historic center, where it covers about two hectares in the southeastern part of the city, bordering the imposing Renaissance-era city walls. The entrance is from the barracks of Baluardo S. Regolo, on Via delle Mura Urbane no. 5.
The Botanical Garden preserves living collections of plants in a journey of colors, sounds and smells that takes us around the world illustrating species from distant countries to the discovery of local flora and biodiversity treasures.
There are over two hundred species of trees and shrubs in the Arboretum. The Pond and Bog, a body of water for an oasis of silence and a habitat for conservation. Rhododendrons and Camellias: great protagonists of the nineteenth-century gardens and parks of the patrician villas of Lucca. The Montagnola on which are the evergreen trees and shrubs and native flora. The Greenhouses that contain greenery from tropical and subtropical zones from around the world and the ‘Cesare Bicchi’ Botanical Museum within which are kept precious legacies from the past
The Botanical Garden of Lucca until March 20, 2025 will be open only on Saturdays and Sundays from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Guinigi Tower
The Guinigi Tower stands proud and elegant, at 45 meters high, at the corner of Via Sant’Andrea and Via delle Chiavi d’Oro. With the passage of time it has become, along with the equally famous City Walls, one of the unmistakable symbols of Lucca, thanks to the “plume” of holm oaks growing in the hanging garden at the top.
A typical example of Lucchese Romanesque-Gothic architecture, the tower is built of stone and brick. It is impossible to know when the garden was built, but an image in the Chronicles of Giovanni Sercambi (15th century) shows one, among the many towers of Lucca, crowned with trees.
To reach the terrace one must climb 230 steps. A climb rewarded by a spectacular view. On a clear day, the city appears in all its beauty: in the shade of the large holm oaks, you can admire the glimpses of the squares and churches, the tall bell towers, the red roofs of the houses, the narrow streets, and all around the landscape of green hills and mountains, the Apuan Alps to the northwest, the Apennines to the northeast, and Monte Pisano to the south.
The Guinigi Tower is open daily from 10:00 am to 7:00 pm. The last entrance allowed is at 6:45 p.m.
Tower of Hours
In the Middle Ages Lucca had more than 130 towers, built by wealthy merchant families alongside their homes as a symbol of power and a tool for defense and control of the surrounding territory. The Tower of the Hours, at 50 meters, is the tallest in the city. It is located on the central Via Fillungo at the corner with Via dell’Arancio.
Climbing the 207 steps of the wooden staircase, one reaches the belfry, and there, from the large arched windows, one can admire a splendid view from above: the austere palaces and narrow streets, the red roofs and church steeples, in the distance the hills and mountains framing the city. Immediately below inside, the actual clock is visible, an 18th-century mechanism with perfect gears that regulate the number of chimes. One of the most interesting examples still working in Europe.
The first clock was placed in 1390, made by a great master goldsmith of the time, Lambruccio Cerlotti: it marked the hours with only the tolling of a bell. A century later the dial was applied to it, so that the passage of time was visible, as well as audible.
The Tower of Hours is open daily from 10:00 am to 7:00 pm. The last entrance allowed is at 6:45 p.m.
