LUCCA, town and archiepiscopal see of Tuscany, Italy, (anc. Luca), capital of the province of Lucca, 13 m. by rail N.E. of Pisa. Pop. (1931) 37,999 (town) ; 81,807 (commune). It is 62 ft. above sea-level, in the fertile valley of the Serchio, and looks out for the most part on a horizon of hills and moun tains. The fortifications, pierced by four gates, begun in and completed in 1645, are still well-preserved and picturesque, with projecting bastions planted with trees.
The city is well-built and has numerous churches, mainly of well-marked basilican type, having richly decorated exteriors, fine apsidal ends and quadrangular campaniles, in some cases with bat tlemented summits, and windows increasing in number as they ascend. They follow Pisan style. The cathedral of St. Martin was begun in 1 o6o by Bishop Anselm (later Pope Alexander II.) ; but the great apse with its tall columnar arcades and the fine campanile are probably the only remnants of the early edifice, the nave and transepts having been rebuilt in Gothic style (14th cent.), while the west front is by Guido and Guidetto da Como (1204) and "consists of a vast portico of three magnificent arches, and above them three ranges of open galleries." The ground plan is a Latin cross, the nave being 273 ft. in length and 84 ft. in width, and the transepts 144 ft. in length. In the nave is a little octagonal shrine for the most precious of the relics of Lucca, a cedar-wood crucifix, carved, according to the legend, by Nicodemus, and mirac ulously conveyed to Lucca in 782. The Sacred Countenance (Volto Santo), of the Saviour is only shown thrice a year. The chapel was built in 1484 by Matteo Civitali, a local sculptor (1436– 1501). The cathedral contains several other works by him—the tomb of P. da Noceto, and the altar of S. Regulus as well as the tomb of Ilaria del Carretto by Jacopo della Quercia of Siena. In the cathedral choir is good stained glass of 1485. The church of St. Michael, founded in the 8th century, and built of marble within and without, has a magnificent western façade ( t2th–I3th cent. like that of the cathedral)—an architectural screen rising much above the roof of the church. The interior is good but rather bare. The basilican church of S. Martino at Arliano near
Lucca belongs to the first half of the 8th century. S. Frediano or Frigidian dates originally from the 7th century, but was built in Romanesque style in 1112-1147, though the interior, originally with four aisles and nave, shows traces of the earliest structure; the front occupies the site of the ancient apse ; in one of its chapels is the tomb of Santa Zita, patroness of servants and of Lucca itself. In S. Francesco, a fine Gothic church, is the tomb of Castruccio Castracane (d. 1328). San Giovanni (originally of the 12th century), S. Cristoforo, S. Giusto, San Romano (rebuilt in the 17th century, by Vincenzo Buonamici), and Santa Maria Fori sportam (of the 12th century) also deserve mention.
Among secular buildings are the old ducal palace, begun in 1578 by Ammanati, and now the residence of the prefect and seat of the provincial officers and the public picture gallery; the early Renaissance Palazzo Pretorio, or former residence of the podesta, now the seat of the civil and correctional courts; the palace, erected in the 15th century by a member of the Guinigi family, of brick, in Italian Gothic, the 16th-century palace of the marquis Guidiccioni, now a depository for the archives, the earliest docu ments going back to A.D. 79o. The Palazzo Mansi contains a col lection of Dutch pictures. There are several other fine late 16th century palaces. The principal market-place in the city has taken possession of the arena of the ancient amphitheatre, the outer arches of which can still be seen in surrounding buildings. The whole building, belonging probably to the early Empire, measured 135 by io5 yd., and the arena 874 by 58 yards. The outline of the ancient theatre can be traced in the Piazza delle Grazie, and some substructure walls are preserved. The ancient forum was on the site of the Piazza S. Michele. Remains of the city walls have also been found. The rectangular disposition of the streets in the centre of the town is a survival of Roman times. The archiepis copal library and archives are also important, while the treasury contains some fine goldsmith's work, including the 14th-century Croce dei Pisani, made by the Pisans for the cathedral.