Lucca is a city in Tuscany, in northern central Italy, situated on the river Serchio near the Tyrrhenian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Lucca and became a Roman colony in 180 B.C. Lucca overlooks the Arno river valley and has a population approximately 86,000.

Lucca is lovely city, full of good restaurants, shops and cafes. There are many wonderful towns in the mountains north of the Arno valley - north of Pistoia and Lucca.

The countryside around Lucca is filled with big villas. These towns are not museums. People live in them, shop in them, and gather on the main street every evening for the passagiata. They drive their cars through town gates that may be over 2000 years old (built by the Etruscans and remodeled by the Romans). The walls around the old town retained intact as the city expanded and modernized. As the wide walls lost their military importance, they became a pedestrian promenade ringing around the old town.

At nearby Torre del Lago there is a Puccini opera festival every year in July/August. Lucca hosts the Lucca Summer Festival every year. The 2006 edition saw Eric Clapton, Placebo, Massive Attack, Roger Waters, Tracy Chapman and Santana play live in the Piazza Napoleone.