In a longstanding family tradition, every year Original Travel Co-founder Tom Barber takes his children and parents on a bike ride around the medieval walls of the lovely Tuscan city of Lucca. It’s the perfect 3G (Three Generational) experience. Most of the time.
It’s official: my children are spoilt rotten. Having a father who founded a travel company specialising in tailor-made family holidays means they’ve been lucky enough to visit some of the most magical destinations in the world. They’ve dived with dolphins in the Maldives, been on riding safari in South Africa, swum in cenote sinkholes in Mexico, sailed around the Cyclades, snorkelled in Oman… I could go on, but like I say, spoilt rotten.
And yet... when I recently asked the four of them (now aged 12 to 16) what their single favourite travel experience has been, it turns out not to have been anything particularly far-flung, or terribly glamorous. Nope, in fact, they unanimously agreed (a rarity in itself) that best of all was cycling around the medieval walls of the charming and understated Tuscan city of Lucca.
Turns out they were (relatively) cheap dates all along, and I’m secretly relieved that all those lovely research trips and holidays haven’t turned them entirely into entitled little monsters. But to the uninitiated, I imagine this begs the question: what’s so special about Lucca? Well, quite a lot, actually.
To start with, we’re talking about the sweetest of sweet spots; arguably the best bit of the best country in the world for family travel. Italy is the gift that keeps on giving for anyone with children. The weather, the landscapes, the accessible (for the most part) cultural highlights, the array of activities on offer, the friendly locals and, of course, the food, which includes most children’s holy trinity of pizza, pasta and ice cream. You know all this already, but it’s a delicious combination, and the reason Italy is still Original Travel’s most popular destination.
And while a Roman city break, Dolomite ski trip or Sardinian beach week can swiftly become family favourites, time spent in Tuscany is also a classic consideration. Pop to under-rated Pisa for the obligatory ‘holding up the Leaning Tower’ photo opp; introduce tweens and teens to the Renaissance in all its glory in Florence; stay in a glorious hilltop villa with pool surrounded by cypress trees; Tuscany works its magic in many ways, but the inclusion of a day exploring Lucca should be, in my humble opinion, non-negotiable.
First, the history bit: Lucca was one of the Italian peninsula’s most prominent city-states in the centuries before the country’s reunification, with power, influence and wealth centred on the medieval gem of a city itself. At first glance, the city might seem like many others in Tuscany – that beguiling combination of cobbled streets, faded saffron yellow walls and red terracotta roofs, but what sets Lucca apart are the entirely intact medieval walls (fun fact: the second longest in Europe, after those of Nicosia in Cyprus) that enclose the old town within. Not only are these beautiful red brick walls long, but they are also extremely thick, to the extent that they accommodate a tree-lined ring road (minus the cars), several parks and the occasional museum and restaurant.
When you arrive at the city, enter through the grand Santa Maria gates and wander across to Poli, the horizontally laidback bicycle hire shop. They might (or might not) ask you for a passport or driver’s licence as a deposit, but you only pay when you return the bikes. And then it’s decision time because, boy, have they got some cycles to choose from. Bikes for all ages, bikes with baskets, mountain bikes, bikes with 'stables' (as Athena, our youngest, used to call stabilisers), tandem bikes and more. If it’s looking likely to rain, they even stretch to covered six-seater riscio (rickshaws), which are excruciatingly touristy but good for team bonding or family rows (delete as applicable) as you must coordinate the pedalling to go up any inclines.
Incidentally, this might be the point at which to sing the praises of Lucca for 3G (Three Generational) holidays as well. The reason for my family’s repeated visits to the city is that my mother and (sadly departed) stepfather live 20 minutes away and a day in Lucca became the perfect way for grandparents and grandchildren to spend time together (united – so the saying goes – by a common enemy). The riscios are also an excellent way for grandparents who are no longer so keen on biking to join in the fun without having to pedal too much; they can instead delegate that task to younger generations.
Weather and age permitting, though, everyone should ride their own bikes. The full circuit takes about 20 minutes at a leisurely pace with wonderful views of the city within the walls from on high. You can all meander along at your own pace, safe in the knowledge that there’s only one way to go and making sure to peer down into grand gardens, including the particularly lovely botanical garden, commissioned by Maria Luisa, a Spanish infanta and later Duchess of Lucca, in the 19th century. Depending on the time of year, you know the garden is coming up from the scent of either azaleas or pinecones drifting through the air. Another of the many pleasures on the walls is seeing the ever-elegant Lucchese (residents of Lucca) going about their business. More often than not, the children demand to go round at least twice, so you’ll often see the same super-stylish joggers, dog walkers, young lovers and old chaps playing dominoes on your circumnavigations.
When we stop for a breather, the children love to count the city’s medieval torri (towers). Of the hundreds that sprouted skywards as familial status symbols in the city during the 14th century, only nine remain, including the iconic Torre Guinigi, 150ft tall and easily identifiable by the holm oak trees that grow on the roof. Top tip: climbing the 233 steps to the roof is an excellent way of burning off any residual post-gelato sugar highs, and the views are suitably spectacular.
Back on the walls, and in the spirit of being a repetitive father, I make sure to point out the enormous arrowhead-shaped protrusions known as baluardi (bastions) and explain that they were designed to allow defenders to fire back on attackers attempting to scale the main city walls. Assorted other ‘dad facts’ tend to follow, from identifying the street in which the great operatic composer Puccini (of Tosca and Madame Butterfly fame) was born, Dante and Napoleon’s Lucca connections and an explanation of how the city was where Pompey, Caesar and Crassus reaffirmed the partnership – the Triumvirate – that would lead inexorably to the downfall of the Roman Republic and the era of the emperors. I'm not entirely convinced the children take it all (or any) in, but what they could absolutely tell you, without hesitation, and down to details on the finest flavours and best consistency cones, is Lucca’s best gelaterias. On that chosen specialist subject, the children are truly encyclopaedic.
On the subject of food, once everyone has worked up a good appetite, deliver the bikes back to Poli and tuck into a decent pizza at the imaginatively named Pizzeria in Santa Maria next door. For a swankier but still child-friendly lunch, try Da Giulio, about a third of the way around the walls from Piazza Santa Maria and accessed by another of the ramps, so you can freewheel down and leave the bikes outside. The children invariably order the penne al ragu, but grown-ups should definitely try the matuffi, a soft polenta dish that’s a local Lucchese speciality. There’s another ideal little playground next door where children can play while you enjoy a doppio (double espresso) before resuming the ride.
Lucca’s walls are never on big tour groups’ agendas, so they tend to be tourist-free, but over the years, we have definitely noticed an increase in the number of tourists (we don’t count, you see, what with Mum being a local resident) as Lucca belatedly begins to blip on the radar. In town, as is so often the case, you only need take one turn off the jumble of main streets, and you won’t glimpse a single rolled-up yellow umbrella or trail of tourists, just life moving elegantly along in much the same way it always has. Even better, come evening, and when it’s time for the passeggiata, that most Italian of traditions, the day-trippers from Florence have gone completely.
As elsewhere in Italy, Lucca’s passeggiata sees locals take to the streets to walk, chat (another national pastime), and people watch. Wander with the flow along the main drag, Via Fillungo, and you can show the children the stunning gold leaf mosaics on the outside of the Romanesque Basilica of San Frediano (if kid-free, you should definitely explore the interior too) and the lovely elliptical Piazza dell’Anfiteatro, built, as the name suggests, on the foundations of the original Roman amphitheatre and now a venue for concerts throughout the summer. There’s even some decent retail therapy to be had on Fillungo. Dads can stock up on dapper shirts in Cerri, Mums on leathergoods in Pelletteria Allegrini Filippo and younger children on goodies in the Citta del Sole toy shop and art suppliers Cartoleria Biagioni. Teens tend to gravitate to fashion, with George adding to his collection of Italian football shirts from the stall outside the amphitheatre and the twins, India and Siena, to their large portfolio of tiny miniskirts (cue my ‘are you sure that’s not a belt?’ comments).
Writing this, it has dawned on me that a day in Lucca might be the perfect example of what we call ‘stealth learning’, where children are picking up knowledge almost by osmosis at the same time as having enormous amounts of fun. There’s history and art at every turn in the city; music to young ears thanks to Puccini’s perfectly formed arias; religious studies in the form of Lucca’s glorious churches; biology galore in the botanical gardens and treelined walls; drama at Lucca’s film and theatre festivals; maths in every flea market haggle and, of course, speaking Italian, that most lovely of languages. It would be a stretch to credit one city alone, but collective experiences and memories made in Lucca, Rome, Paris and Amsterdam have unquestionably made their mark on the children. It’s not a coincidence that for their A-Levels, the twins have chosen to do History of Art (both), French (both) and Italian (Siena, in a perfect example of nominative determinism). Quite simply, travel inspires in a way that the classroom often can’t. Whether the children listen or otherwise, I’m definitely taking some credit for that.
Written by Tom Barber | Header image by Kateryna Senkevych/Unsplash
