Antiquity The territory of present-day Lucca was certainly settled by the
Etruscans, and it also has traces of a probable earlier
Ligurian presence (called
Luk meaning "marsh", which was previously speculated as a possible origin of the city's name), dating from the 3rd century BC. However, it was only with the arrival of the
Romans that the area took on the appearance of a real town. It obtained the status of a Roman colony in 180 BC and of a municipality (
municipium) in 89 BC. The
rectangular grid of its historical centre preserves the Roman street plan, and the Piazza San Michele occupies the site of the ancient
forum. The outline of the Roman
amphitheatre is still seen in the
Piazza dell'Anfiteatro, and the outline of a
Roman theater is visible in
Piazza Sant'Agostino. Fragments of the
Roman-era walls are incorporated into the church of Santa Maria della Rosa. At the
Lucca Conference, in 56 BC,
Julius Caesar,
Pompey, and
Crassus reaffirmed their political alliance known as the
First Triumvirate.
Middle Ages and the
Basilica of San Frediano Frediano, an
Irish monk, was
bishop of Lucca in the early sixth century. At one point, Lucca was plundered by
Odoacer, the first Germanic
king of Italy. Lucca was an important city and fortress even in the sixth century, when
Narses besieged it for several months in 553. From 576 to 797, under the
Lombards, it was the capital of a duchy, known as
Duchy of Tuscia, which included a large part of today's Tuscany and the
province of Viterbo; during this time the city also minted its own coins. The
Holy Face of Lucca (or Volto Santo), a major relic supposedly carved by
Nicodemus, arrived in 742. Among the population that inhabited Lucca in the medieval era, there was also a significant presence of
Jews. The first mention of their presence in the city is from a document from the year 859. The Jewish community was led by the
Kalonymos family (which later became a major component of proto-
Ashkenazic Jewry). Thanks above all to the
Holy Face and to the relics of important saints, such as
San Regolo and
Saint Fridianus, the city was one of the main destinations of the
Via Francigena, the major pilgrimage route to Rome from the north. Lucca cloth was a silk fabric that was woven with gold or silver threads. It was a popular type of textile in Lucca throughout the mediaeval period. Lucca became prosperous through the
silk trade that began in the eleventh century, and came to rival the silks of
Byzantium. During the tenth–eleventh centuries Lucca was the capital of the feudal
margraviate of Tuscany, more or less independent but owing nominal allegiance to the
Holy Roman emperor. In 1057,
Anselm of Baggio (later Pope Alexander II) was appointed bishop of Lucca, a position he held also during the papacy. As bishop of Lucca he managed to rebuild the patrimony of the
Church of Lucca, recovering alienated assets and obtaining numerous donations thanks to his prestige, and had the
Cathedral of the city rebuilt. From 1073 to 1086, the bishop of Lucca was his nephew
Anselm II, a prominent figure in the
Investiture Controversy. During the High Middle Ages, one of the most illustrious dynasties of Lucca was the noble Allucingoli family, which managed to forge strong ties with the Church. Among the family members were Ubaldo Allucingoli, who was elected to the Papacy as
Pope Lucius III in 1181, and the
Cardinals Gerardo Allucingoli and
Uberto Allucingoli.
Republican period (12th to 19th century) After the death of
Matilda of Tuscany, the city began to constitute itself as an independent
commune with a charter in 1160. For almost 500 years, Lucca remained an independent republic. There were many minor provinces in the region between southern
Liguria and northern Tuscany dominated by the
Malaspina; Tuscany in this time was a part of feudal Europe.
Dante's
Divine Comedy includes many references to the great feudal families who had huge jurisdictions with administrative and judicial rights. Dante spent some of his exile in Lucca. In 1273 and again in 1277, Lucca was ruled by a
Guelph capitano del popolo (captain of the people) named
Luchetto Gattilusio. In 1314, internal discord allowed
Uguccione della Faggiuola of Pisa to make himself lord of Lucca. The Lucchesi expelled him two years later, and handed over the city to another
condottiero,
Castruccio Castracani, under whose rule it became a leading state in central Italy. Lucca rivalled
Florence until Castracani's death in 1328. On 22 and 23 September 1325, in the
battle of Altopascio, Castracani defeated
Florence's Guelphs. For this he was nominated by
Louis IV the Bavarian to become duke of Lucca. Castracani's tomb is in the church of San Francesco. His biography is
Machiavelli's third famous book on political rule. Occupied by the troops of Louis of Bavaria, the city was sold to a rich Genoese, Gherardino Spinola, then seized by John, king of Bohemia. Pawned to the Rossi of Parma, by them it was ceded to
Mastino II della Scala of
Verona, sold to the Florentines, surrendered to the Pisans, and then nominally liberated by the emperor
Charles IV and governed by his vicar. In 1408, Lucca hosted a
convocation organized by
Pope Gregory XII with his cardinals intended to end the schism in the papacy. Lucca managed, at first as a
democracy, and after 1628 as an
oligarchy, to maintain its independence alongside of
Venice and
Genoa, and painted the word
Libertas on its banner until the French Revolution in 1789.
Early modern period , garden view Lucca had been the second largest Italian city state (after
Venice) with a republican constitution ("comune") to remain independent over the centuries. Between 1799 and 1800, it was contested by the French and Austrian armies. Finally the French prevailed and granted a democratic constitution in the 1801. However, already in 1805 the Republic of Lucca was converted into a monarchy by
Napoleon, who installed his sister
Elisa Bonaparte Baciocchi as "Princess of Lucca". From 1815 to 1847, it was a
Bourbon-Parma duchy. The only reigning dukes of Lucca were
Maria Luisa of Spain, and her son
Charles II, Duke of Parma, who succeeded her in 1824. Meanwhile, the
Duchy of Parma had been assigned for life to
Marie Louise, Duchess of Parma, the second wife of
Napoleon. In accordance with the
Treaty of Vienna (1815), upon the death of
Marie Louise, Duchess of Parma in 1847, Parma reverted to
Charles II, Duke of Parma, while Lucca lost independence and was annexed to the
Grand Duchy of Tuscany. As part of Tuscany, it became part of the
Kingdom of Sardinia in 1860 and finally part of the
Italian State in 1861.
World War II internment camp In 1942, during
World War II, a
prisoner-of-war camp was established at the village of
Colle di Compito, in the municipality of
Capannori, about from Lucca. Its official number was P.G. (
prigionieri di guerra) 60, and it was usually referred to as PG 60 Lucca. Although it never had permanent structures and accommodation consisted of tents in an area prone to flooding, it housed more than 3,000 British and
Commonwealth prisoners of war during the period of its existence. It was handed over to the Germans on 10 September 1943, not long after the signing of the
Italian armistice. During the
Italian Social Republic, as a
puppet state of the Germans,
political prisoners, foreigners,
common law prisoners and
Jews were interned there, and it functioned as a
concentration camp. In June 1944, the prisoners were moved to
Bagni di Lucca. == Climate ==