Up the valley to Ruota and beyond (from the village)
Two minutes walk from the house, you will see this cross.
Right next to it is the start of a set of mapped out walks up the valley.
Much is through shady woods with running streams and the occasional olive grove or isolated house. Not well signposted and relatively easy to take a wrong path, but you won’t get truly lost and will surely come back to Colle or hit the road if you keep on going.
Circuit round the lower village and into Castelvecchio
A nice stroll through some of the better kept hoses and farms of the village with lovely views of Castelvecchio.
Head down to the main road on Via Vecchia di Ruota and Via della Quarra. Turn left for a short stretch on the main road to the turning for Il Giardinetto. Just past the restaurant, bear right down Via di Ronchi and right again down Via delle Vigne. Where Via delle Vigne turns right, keep straight on and make the large loop returning on Via del Poggetto (Google Maps thinks you can’t make the loop, but it’s wrong). When you get back to the main road, duck straight back down via do Colombaia which will take you back to Il Giardinetto. When you get back to the main road, head back home on Via Nuova or Via della Quarra.
Aqueduct of Nottolini
Acquedotto Nottolini is an aqueduct built in the 19th century to bring fresh water from the mountains to the south of Lucca near San Quirico into the city. It is now disused and broken where the motorway passes through it (with a pedestrian footbridge to allow walkers to cross). The walk from end to end is about 2.5km so it’s a fairly easy flat there and back walk.
As you can see from the map below, it is associated with the Via Francigena which is a pilgrimage route from Canterbury through England, France, Switzerland and Italy down to the heel in Apulia where pilgrims could embark on a ship to the holy land. More details on the Via Francigena near Lucca.
This walk is best in the morning when the aqueduct casts some shadow across the path.
If you time things right, you can stop at Casina delle Rose on the route for lunch. It’s a workmen’s café Italian style with pretty good food at very good prices. We had 2 starters, 2 mains, 2 side dishes, a bottle of wine, a bottle of water and 2 coffees all for €22.
Lucca ramparts (13.5km)
Lucca is a walled city and the entire wall is in tact. The ramparts are a very popular place for walking and cycling. We love to walk them in the early evening when the sun is low and golden. The complete circuit is only about 4km. There’s a good bar for watching the world go by on the ramparts near Porta di San Jacopo.
Orecchiella Nature Reserve (75km)
Lovely place to walk with marked trails and paths up in the mountains north of Lucca. See this autumn trip we made.
Documented hiking trails
Check out the trails on wikiloc or on AllTrails.