Lucca or Volterra

If you are looking fro a hill town, Volterra. Lucca is in the valley, and outside the old city walls, it a modern industrial city. It's Green Bay's sister city in Italy (2 toilet paper machinery capitals).

Volterra hands down is my vote. Although Lucca has a very nice walled old town, Volterra is more typical of a Tuscan hill town. Volterra is close to San Gimignano and that is worth a visit. My 2 favorites are Montalcino and Montepulciano however. Just my preferences!

Lucca is over by Pisa, and it's where they ride bicycles on the city walls. If you were going to Cinque Terre, it's be a great place to start from. Otherwise, it's kind of quiet.

Volterra is about 35 miles from Siena, and it's a really nice day trip from where you'll be staying. It's quite an impressive sight. We also toured San Gimignano the same day.

We headed for Venice on our extra day, which was about 175 miles from our agriturismo outside Certaldo; all by controlled access roads. And Venice was worth the effort of the trip.

I spent time in both Volterra and Lucca just a couple weeks ago. As others have indicated, they are quite different. Volterra is a hill town with ruins of a very old Roman theater and an even older Etruscan Arch and a fine Estrucan Museum. Lucca is itself flat, and surrounded by a large intact wall, the top of which was 200 years ago turned into a very enjoyable park for walking, running, biking, etc. Both are very enjoyable, both have some good food, both have churches, towers, etc. to visit. Lucca has Puccini concerts every single evening of the year, as I understood it, (Puccini was from Lucca) and Grom gelato, delicious as always. If forced to choose one, I think I myself would choose Lucca, it is a very lively and livable old town.

Lucca is just 30 minutes from Pisa by train, if you want to take part of a day to visit the Tower, Duomo, and Basilica. The rest of Pisa is quite a big city that did not do much for me.

If you have a car, it takes only about 30 minutes to get from Volterra to San Gimignano, although two hours each way if making the trip by bus.

Another great choice for a night or two would be San Gimignano itself, where I also stayed. While it is crowded with tour groups in the middle of the day, even more in the summer I'm sure, it is a beautiful town, and the evenings and early mornings are wonderful there, lots of towers, churches, some great shops, and gorgeous views of the Tuscan countryside. At the main square, there are two excellent dueling gelatarias, with one of the owners being part of a couple of national prize-winning gelato teams, and the other with its sign boasting that it has the best gelato anywhere in the world. I found they were both really good. Strangely enough, the small town of San Gimignano also has three different Torture Museums, none of which claimed any of my time.

I much preferred Volterra over Lucca. We visited Volterra as a day trip (from a farmhouse in Siena) and loved it. It's an interesting hill town that offers a variety of things to do. You can visit alabaster shops and see artists working with the alabaster, visit the Etruscan Museum which was fascinating, see an old Roman amphitheater, etc. Lucca is nice to walk around but I just didn't enjoy it as much as Volterra. As others have said, Volterra is close to San Gimignano which is definitely worth a visit as well. I also enjoyed Pienza and Montepulciano. Have a great trip.

I haven't been to Volterra but I can tell you that we were a bit underwhelmed by Lucca. For one thing, it's flat. For some people that will be a plus, but it means no sweeping views of the surrounding valley that you do get with hilltop towns.

I enjoyed both places. We did a day trip to Volterra and spent a night in Lucca. If I had to choose and wanted a 'typical' Tuscan hilltown experience I would have to say Volterra. On the otherhand, Volterra is an easy day trip from the area you will be staying in for the week, where as Lucca is further away. Will you have a car?

We did day trips to both when in Tuscany this fall. I rode the wall in Lucca, which was a neat experience. But I enjoyed wandering Volterra more. One note....the alabaster craftsmen shops are closed part of the day.....maybe 11-4 or something similar. Other readers may know exact times. I can't imagine going wrong with any Tuscan hill town.

Love Lucca. One of my favorite towns in Italy. Very unique and full of good food, events and shopping. Must do is to stroll or bike the ramparts! Stay inside the walls for the best experience.

Thank you for the many replies. To answer one questions. Yes, we will have a car.

We have been to San Gimignano and loved it; we have also been to Montepulciano and will probably return next summer. From reading the posts and reading RS 2013 Tuscany book, it looks like I am thinking more about Volterra, because it seems that it has a variety of things to do: Etruscan history, albaster artisan, etc. and may require more time than just a few hours of a day trip. Just to give our travel philosophy, we prefer to focus on a region or town even if it means not visiting other areas or towns. If we have to miss Lucca entirely, maybe we would enjoy Volterra more because we could experience it in the morning and evenings when you can really get a feel for a town. Hopefully this will give additional info, so that you can give us advice for our travel style.

Thanks!

Nick, I agree with your thought pattern. We visited Volterra solely as a day trip and combined it with San Gimignano in the same day and I wish we had spent more time in Volterra. You might also consider a half-day tour with Annie Adair if she still conducts tours. She was featured in Rick's segment on Volterra and we found her tour to be very informative. She will tailor it to your interests but we learned more than we would have on our own. If you're interested, I can dig up her e-mail address. Have a great trip!

There are only a handful of reasons I'd recommend Lucca to anyone. One, it's easier to reach than other "hill" towns - which is probably why it's high on Rick's list. Two, it's flat; if you have mobility issues, you will be able to get around much easier than a real hill town. Three, since it's pretty dull and not particularly scenic, it isn't likely to be as crowded as some of the more popular hill towns.

If your mind's eye is imagining a real hill town, however, Volterra is hands down the better choice.

I'll never visit Lucca again, but I have found it in my heart to forgive Rick for recommending it in the first place.

We have spent a week in each. Volterra is not to be missed. The ride up to it is breathtaking, it's what we imagined Italy to be. But as much as we loved Lucca, Volterra was the town we returned to three times.