Lucca, Italy

Lucca is a Tuscan city of roughly 88,000 residents located on the Serchio river in central Italy. Its 4.2-kilometer brick walls, started in the 1500s and finished in 1648, encircle the entire historic core and remain walkable today beneath a canopy of trees. Inside the walls stand the 11th-century cathedral of San Martino, which houses the Volto Santo, an 8th-century wooden crucifix, and the 14th-century Guinigi Tower, crowned with ilex trees first planted in the 1600s. The oval Piazza dell'Anfiteatro, rebuilt in 1830, traces the footprint of the Roman amphitheatre that once stood on the site. Lucca is also the birthplace of composer Giacomo Puccini, born here in 1858.