There are famous Tuscan cities — Florence, Siena, Pisa — and then there is Lucca, which quietly gets on with being magnificent while the crowds go elsewhere. Surrounded by its Renaissance walls so wide you can cycle on top of them, Lucca has a calm, lived-in elegance that immediately feels different. This is a city where people actually live, work and eat — not just one that exists for tourism.

The heart of Lucca is the Piazza dell'Anfiteatro — an oval piazza built directly on the foundations of a Roman amphitheatre from the 2nd century AD. The medieval buildings that replaced it followed the exact elliptical outline of the arena. Sit at a table under the arches with an espresso and look around you: you are sitting inside a 2,000-year-old Roman building that doesn't know it's a ruin.

Puccini was born here. The Cathedral of San Martino contains the Volto Santo, a wooden crucifix venerated across medieval Europe. The church of San Michele in Foro sits on the ancient Roman forum and has one of the most theatrical façades in Italy. And everywhere — up every alley, behind every piazza — there are olive oil shops, paper makers, leather craftsmen and bakeries selling buccellato, the local sweet bread that has been made here since the Middle Ages.

Lucca rewards those who slow down. No single monument to tick off and leave — just a city to absorb, lane by lane, hour by hour.