Lucca or Florence: Which Should You Choose for Your Tuscany Itinerary?

Florence is unquestionably Italy’s most famous open-air museum. The Uffizi Gallery, the Accademia with Michelangelo’s David, the Duomo with Brunelleschi’s dome, Ponte Vecchio: the concentration of masterpieces is so extraordinary that you can almost feel the Renaissance come alive as you walk through the city. Visiting Florence’s great museums means immersing yourself in an unparalleled cultural experience: a journey through the genius of Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci, and Michelangelo.
The city also offers excellent rail connections: trains leave Santa Maria Novella station every 30 minutes for destinations throughout Tuscany. Getting around couldn’t be easier. But such fame comes at a price, and it’s something worth considering.
High season—and not only high season—brings considerable crowds of visitors to the city. If you choose to stay in Florence, you’ll experience its vibrant urban energy and the atmosphere of a world-renowned destination, but also the feeling of being part of a constant flow of tourists. It can be exhilarating, but it can also come with a fair amount of stress.

While Florence impresses with its unrivaled cultural heritage, Lucca stands out for its atmosphere and the ease of exploring a city entirely enclosed by Renaissance walls, where our Hotel Ilaria welcomes you.
Lucca doesn’t compete with Florence when it comes to world-famous masterpieces. Instead, it offers something different: the experience of a medieval city that is still very much lived in, where the walls aren’t simply monuments to photograph, but part of everyday life - a public park where locals stroll and meet each day. Today, the Renaissance walls form a tree-lined promenade stretching for 4 kilometers, perfect for walking, jogging, or cycling.
The historic center is compact and a pleasure to explore on foot. Piazza dell’Anfiteatro, built on the remains of a Roman amphitheater, still carries echoes of the city’s ancient history beneath its foundations. The Cathedral of San Martino features a distinctive Romanesque façade, while its interior houses works from different historical periods. Perhaps more than any other landmark, the Guinigi Tower, crowned by centuries-old holm oaks, is the perfect symbol of a city that has never stopped living and breathing its own history. And as you wander through the center, everything is within a 10-minute walk. You don’t need a map. You can simply blend in with the locals and experience Lucca as they always have.

From Hotel Ilaria’s strategic location in the heart of Lucca, Tuscany opens up around you in every direction. In just over an hour and a half by train, you can immerse yourself in Florence’s Renaissance wonders for a day of museum-hopping, then return whenever you like—perhaps at sunset, when the crowds begin to thin and Lucca settles back into its quieter rhythm. If you wake up craving the sea, Viareggio is only 20 minutes away. Enjoy a light breakfast, hop in the car or take the train, and before long you’ll be on the coast with the salty sea breeze in your hair.
Then there’s Garfagnana, with its medieval villages perched on the hills like sentinels guarding a past in no hurry to become legend. This is where you discover what rural Tuscany truly means - not in a photograph, but by walking along narrow stone streets where time seems to have stood still.
That is the real luxury: exploring Tuscany’s spectacular landscapes during the day and returning in the evening to the comfort of Hotel Ilaria, embraced by Lucca’s historic walls. 

It’s not about which city is “better.” It’s about the kind of Tuscany you want to discover: the one filled with masterpieces celebrated around the world, or the one where trees still grow on top of medieval towers and people sit in the piazza simply to chat? Perhaps you want both. In that case, make Lucca your home base and enjoy Florence as a wonderful day trip. 

Book your stay at Hotel Ilaria and discover how Lucca reveals a quieter, more captivating side of Tuscany.