4 weeks in Lucca next April/May

4 weeks is a very long time so staying in an apartment sounds wonderful to me! Lucca, within the walls, is certainly attractive. Personally, I'd search VRBO for rentals. You'll get a discount for that long a stay. I'd also email the owner frequently with specific questions - you're building a more personal relationship which is alway good. The train station is a short walk from the walls. For day trips, it will get you east/west fairly easily so you can make any north/south trips. As I recall, it's been a few years since I was last in Lucca, there is no parking inside the walls. My sister was there last year and said bus transportation to neighboring towns was good and easier than using the car. Lucca is beautiful and interesting during the day but my favorite times were at night when everything relaxes and life happens.

If you do not have a car, you will want to be inside the city walls, where shopping for essentials will be easy. You might consider lodgings not more than a 15-20 minute walk to the train station, so you will able to visit easily Pisa, Cinque Terre, etc. I have had good luck with Airbnb and Vrbo for finding apts. Most places will not have elevators, however, in the center of town. Nor AC, though that ought not matter the first half of May.

My wife and I did this on September/October and for a couple of weeks earlier this year in March. April/May would be a great time to be there - in the middle of March the trees were just getting green but seemed to visibly greener day by day.

The town inside the walls is 20 minutes side to side and 15 top to bottom at a brisk walk so there really isn't anywhere too far out of the way. That being said the north eastern corner and east side of the city tend to be larger buildings and institutions (these areas were outside the medieval walls) and while they are not "far away" they can be a (relatively) long walk down a street with no services to get to a coffee or gelato place. I know it doesn't sound like much but having a coffee/bar right around the corner gives it a neighborhood feel. The other thing to look for - which is hard from across the sea - is being near a parking lot or especially commercial trash collection for restaurants. Generally I would stay away from via Fillungo area because it is the concentration of shopping and eating so truck deliveries and trash collection can be early morning realities. My personal feeling is that Piazza San Salvatore (aka impolitely known as Piazza della Pupporona) is the center of everyday life in town - fountain for aqueduct water, great fruit and veg place, bakery, traditional food store, old school pizza and wine bar all in one small area - so I recommend around there if it works out.

The first time we rented from AirBnB which I personally didn't want to but they have sucked most of the oxygen out of the longer term rental market so realtors have largely stopped doing that. I tried local realtors but they literally referred me to AirBnB. The second time I rented from www.luccaapartmentsandvillas.co.uk and that went really well as well. I stumbled onto a local groups of rental owners from Lucca banding together but the dates/locations didn't work out for that trip. There is vacationinlucca.com but I'm not sure that was them but I'll keep looking to see if there was another place.

Paola Moschini paolamoschini.com - [email protected] is an amazing local guide who will create a tour for your interests. I asked her for a "life as a local tour" and she lead us through town pointing out monuments, original stores, the walls, fountains etc.

There is always music in Lucca. There are musical events all over and some are covered by the various websites but check the local flyers for most current events. Aside from the Puccini events most of the musical events are free or really cheap. We went to a "History of Tango" with guitar and accordion in the vault of the Botanical Garden of all things and it was surprisingly great so take some chances.
Grapevine Lucca is a local magazine and the best single source for what's happening: https://www.luccagrapevine.com/august2026/WO.pdf
These places are also helpful:
https://turismo.lucca.it/en/Lucca-events/
https://www.luccawhatson.com/calendar

One thing to keep in mind. Now we were going to see what living in town as locals was like so we leaned into that but we feel into it so easily we only did a few of the many day trips I had planned. It's incredibly easy to fall into local exploration, walks on the walls, and tower climbing and forget there's life outside that walls.
Some less known day trip ideas: Pietrasanta, Pistoia, Barga, Pisa, Sarzana/Lerici, Montecarlo, Castelnuovo di Garfagnana.

Have a great trip,
=Tod

We stayed west of Piazza San Michele on V. Galli Tassi. It was relatively quiet, good neighborhood coffee, laundromat, etc. There was a CONAD a few minutes short walk away. I really liked that it still felt like a neighborhood even within the walls. This is convenient-ish to the train station and the parking south of there.

Alternatively the area closer to Porta Santa Maria is more convenient to the massive surface parking lots and there's a larger Esselunga and a Tuday CONAD (American-sized grocery stores) near there.

When we don't stay in hotels, we purposely try to choose rental apartments that aren't purpose-converted rentals for income generation. The place we stayed was empty while a daughter was out of the country. It was worn in a comfortable lived-in way; filled with family photos and travel mementos.

Are you already familiar with the blog Two Parts Italy? An American who has been living in Lucca since 2018.
https://www.twopartsitaly.com/

I agree about the Two Parts Italy blog. I actually met her in the Conad by the Mercato building and she helped with some translations of the various Italian dairy products.

To add to that list if the "Life in Lucca with Andrea" podcast. Andrea is English but splits her time between England and Lucca and interviews people from the town. The interviews are far ranging and based more on the people and their stories but the conversation always turns back to the town.

Check the schedules to see about "English Mondays" which is an informal group that does cross language chat and practice as well that could be fun while you're there.

Enjoy,
=Tod