Where to eat in Lucca: tordelli, buccellato and osterias within the walls

Lucca: eating well between Renaissance walls and medieval alleys

Lucca is one of the Tuscan cities where you eat best without spending a fortune. Enclosed within its magnificent Renaissance walls, this human-scale city offers cuisine distinctly different from Florence: more delicate, tied to ancient grains and herbs, with influences from the nearby mountainous Garfagnana. Here you won't find bistecca alla fiorentina on every menu, but authentic dishes telling a different tradition.

Must-try local dishes

Tordelli lucchesi are the signature first course: fresh pasta stuffed with meat (beef and pork) dressed with meat ragu. Unlike other Tuscan tortelli, these have an already-cooked, spiced filling. Garfagnana spelt soup (with beans, black kale and IGP spelt) is the other identity dish, perfect on cool evenings.

Other unmissable dishes: garmugia (spring soup with peas, artichokes, asparagus and pancetta), bread soup (Lucchese ribollita), rabbit alla cacciatora, and biroldo (blood sausage with spices — try it without prejudice).

Buccellato is the historic sweet: a ring-shaped sweet bread with raisins and anise, sold in historic pastry shops on via Santa Croce. Try it at breakfast with coffee.

Best areas for eating

Via Fillungo and northern centre

Lucca's main shopping street and side streets (via Buia, via dell'Anfiteatro) host historic trattorias and osterias with medieval vaults. Lively area, varied menus from quick lunches to elaborate dinners. Piazza dell'Anfiteatro has touristy restaurants on the square but excellent hidden osterias in adjacent streets.

San Frediano and western area

The quarter around the San Frediano basilica is less touristy and more residential. Here you'll find family trattorias with blackboard daily menus, frequented by locals. Lower prices and more generous portions than the centre.

Southern area: Santa Maria Forisportam and San Francesco

The southern part of the walled city hosts osterias and wine bars with a younger, more informal atmosphere. Great for aperitivi with Tuscan boards and dinners of reinterpreted traditional dishes.

Recommended trattorias and osterias

• Historic trattorias on via Fillungo and via Buia serve tordelli and garmugia with recipes unchanged for decades. Lunch menus 12-18 euros.
• Wine osterias in the San Frediano quarter pair Lucchese cooking with Colline Lucchesi DOC wines (little-known but excellent reds and whites).
• Slice pizzerias in centre side streets offer cecina (chickpea flatbread, similar to Ligurian farinata): crispy, hot, at 2-3 euros per piece.

Street food and markets

The piazza del Carmine market is the most authentic daily food market: stalls of vegetables, cured meats, Garfagnana cheeses and potato bread. On Saturdays, the weekly market along the walls (viale Agostino Marti) adds local producers with oil, honey and chestnut flours.

For Lucchese street food, cecina (chickpea flour focaccia baked in a tray) reigns supreme. Eaten alone or inside bread ("cinque e cinque"). Historic bakeries in the centre prepare it all day. Necci (chestnut flour crepes filled with ricotta) appear in cooler months.

Budget tips

• Cecina in bread (cinque e cinque) costs 3-4 euros and is a substantial lunch.
• Lunch menus at trattorias off piazza dell'Anfiteatro cost 12-16 euros (first + side + water).
• Colline Lucchesi wine by the carafe is inexpensive and underrated.
• For breakfast, buccellato with coffee at the bar costs 3-4 euros and is the typical Lucchese breakfast.
• Avoid piazza dell'Anfiteatro for eating: beautiful to see but with 30-40% price markup.

Unique food experiences

Cycle the walls stopping for an aperitivo with views at osterias overlooking the promenade. In autumn, head to the Garfagnana (30 minutes) for chestnut gathering and mountain inn lunches with neccio polenta, porcini mushrooms and pecorino. Join a new oil tasting (November-December) at a Lucchese hills olive mill: Tuscan oil here has a different character, softer and fruitier.

Complete your trip to Lucca

Also discover Where to stay in Lucca for perfect accommodation, What to see in Lucca in 2 days for an itinerary through Romanesque churches and towers, and How to get to Lucca to plan your travel.