Walls of Lucca

Lucca's massive Renaissance walls, built between 1504 and 1648, form a complete 4.2-kilometre circuit around the old city—one of the best-preserved defensive rings in Europe. Studded with eleven bastions and up to 30 metres wide at the base, they were state-of-the-art fortifications designed to withstand cannon, yet they were never tested in battle; no enemy ever assaulted them. Ironically, their greatest service came in 1812, when the walls held back a catastrophic flood of the Serchio river. In the 19th century Duchess Marie Louise, Napoleon's widow, had the redundant ramparts planted with plane trees and turned into a public park. Today Lucchesi and visitors stroll, cycle, and picnic atop the walls, encircling the city on a green boulevard in the sky.