LUCCA FROM UMAMMA

Lucca is the one our guests come back from surprised. It has no single monument that everyone queues for, which is exactly why it is still a town people live in rather than a ticket line. From Umamma it is 35 km, about 35 minutes by car.

THE WALLS ARE THE POINT

Lucca's Renaissance ramparts survived intact, and the top of them is now a tree-lined park 4.2 km around, ten metres above the street, shaded by centuries-old plane and lime trees. Rent a bicycle at one of the gates — there is a shop right at Porta Santa Maria — and ride the full circuit. It is the best introduction to any Tuscan city we know, because you look down into gardens, cloisters and the backs of houses that no visitor at street level ever sees.

INSIDE THE WALLS

The Piazza dell'Anfiteatro is built into the oval of a Roman amphitheatre, so the square itself is the shape of the arena that once stood there. San Michele in Foro and the cathedral of San Martino are both a short walk away. Climb the Torre Guinigi for the holm oaks growing out of the top of it, which is exactly as strange as it sounds. Puccini was born here, and the house he was born in is open to visitors.

EASY IN A WAY FLORENCE IS NOT

There is no ZTL trap. Park outside the walls and walk in. The centre is flat, small and entirely walkable — one of the few Tuscan cities where you can leave the car and forget about it for the whole day. On the way home the Versilia coast is twenty minutes further west, if the afternoon turns hot.