Lucca City Walls Basement


Useful Information

Location: Startin point is the Piazzale Verdi, Lucca.
Open: Only for groups after appointment. [2019]
Fee: Per group EUR 120. [2019]
Classification: SubterraneaCasemates
Light: LightIncandescent Electric Light System
Dimension:
Guided tours: D=3 h.
Photography: allowed
Accessibility: wheelchair accessible
Bibliography:
Address: Lucca City Walls Basement, GEETRIPS, Via Lanino 5 Milano 20144 (MI), Tel: +39-0800.661.343. E-mail:
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then.
Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

1513 begin of construction of city walls.
1650 city walls completed.
19th century converted into a pedestrian promenade.

Description

F090-034
Lucca City Walls. Public Domain.

The city walls of Lucca are 4.2 km long and reach up to 12 m in height. They are massive fortifications, but still not that massive as they contain underground passages and casemates. Eight of the eleven bastions contain underground galleries of different shape and size. Most were used as casemates, warehouses for guns, cannon balls and gunpowder. Others called Sallies were tunnels to hidden exits which were used to make quick raids to attack the camp of the besiegers and surprise the enemy by hitting behind the troops who attacked the walls.

The underground structures are open for groups after appointment, at the moment there seem to be no possibilities for individual visitors. The tour starts at the bastion San Paolino in the southwest, then walks to the Santa Croce bulwark in the northwest. After the San Martino rampart on the northern wall the tour goes underground, into newly renovated underground tunnels with brick vaults.

The tours are very professional, held in multiple langueges including English, Italian, Spanish, Castilian, and German. The maximum number of participants per group is 60, and six groups are possible at the same time. It starts at the Piazzale Verdi and ends at the Piazza Santa Maria, and takes three hours.