For Wealthy Medieval Families — The Tallest Tower Wins

In Italy, Lucca’s Guinigi Tower boasts a garden of oak trees.

While we spent time in the region of Tuscany, specifically the city of Lucca, we discovered some amazing sights. One of them was Lucca’s Torre di Guinigi (Guinigi Tower).

Lucca is about 1 hour’s drive or train ride from Florence, or 30 minutes from Pisa. It’s a medieval walled city, where inside the wall, the historic city center is located. It’s obvious, while treading the cobblestone streets, the city is kept with less modernization to preserve it’s history.

In our recent visit to Lucca, we scaled the 230 steps to the top of the Guinigi Tower and posted our video of the experience on YouTube. Check it out for a first hand view.

Guinigi Tower’s History
Successful landowners in the Middle Ages built towers atop their homes to display their wealth and especially their power. Towers served to showcase the family’s position and also as a lookout and defense structure. Families would compete to have the tallest tower. I don’t know for sure, but I heard from the locals that the Guinigi family planted the oak trees at the top to make their tower at the time…. THE Tallest.

At one time, Lucca boasted 250 towers, but now only a handful have survived. The Guinigi tower has become a landmark of Lucca and is pictured on many postcards and artwork that a tourist might pick up as a souvenir. It’s like what the leaning tower is to Pisa.

Anyway after a somewhat tiresome climb, we reached the top, which did not disappoint. The panoramic view was amazing where we could see not only Lucca, but other neighboring towns.

Tickets were easy to buy by just walking in. Bring your sneakers and be ready to take some sweet pics and video from the top.

Thanks for reading! If you want to read or hear more about traveling in Italy from me, please follow me @fiveinitaly. I post on Medium, Instagram and travel videos on our YouTube channel.