Hotel Ilaria Lucca

The 4-star Hotel Ilaria is truly a gem within the walls of Lucca. It’s one of those hotels where you feel welcomed at the door with open arms, like an old friend. Kind but not overbearing, available but not intrusive.

We’re a modern hotel with an ancient soul. Many years ago the buildings served as the stables for the thoroughbred horses of Elisa Baciocchi, sister of Napoleon. Several of our rooms are built into Lucca’s walls – dating back to 1200. When you stay here, you literally step back in time.

Lucca really is a city designed to stroll through or explore by bike. A charming collection of narrow streets flanked by historic palazzi, cafes of charm and specialty shops. When you stay at Hotel Ilaria everything is at your doorstep, easy to reach on foot or with one of our free bikes.

ROOMS
It’s not everyday you can sleep inside a old city wall, but you can at the Hotel Ilaria in Lucca. Our hotel was once the stables of the Villa Bottini, the beloved residence of Elisa Baciocchi, sister of Napoleon Bonaparte and Princess of Lucca and Piombino.

And that’s not all: our most-beautiful rooms are inside the 13th-century walls of Lucca, just 50 metres from the main hotel building, in Porta San Gervasio and adjacent to the 14th-century Alba Residence. There’s no more evocative location in all of Lucca, here you can breathe in the very special atmosphere, with echoes of fable and history.

SUITES
The Suites at the Hotel Ilaria are our most unique rooms. They are located 50 metres from the main hotel building in an historic setting like no other. The Suites were created from the ex Alba Oratory, a 14th-century church, and they go over two floors, with mezzanine. It’s impossible to describe how special these rooms are, you’ll just have to try them for yourself.

SERVICES
To us, we are so much more than a hotel. We want to help make your holiday as good as it can be: offering useful tips, giving you a taste of our life in Lucca, letting you fully relax and be happy for having chosen to stay with us.

BREAKFAST
Our buffet breakfast is a real pleasure, served between 7:30am and 10:30am in a beautiful glassed-in terrace beneath the natural shade of some ancient plane trees, which offer especially good protection in summer. We bring coffee and tea to your table.

At the buffet you’ll find a variety of fruit, local cheeses, fresh mozzarella, Tuscan cold meats, croissants, muffins and pastries, freshly-baked tarts, focaccia, white and whole-wheat bread, bacon, scrambled and boiled eggs, wieners, cereals, dried fruit, biscuits, yoghourt, gluten-free products, fruit juices and prosecco. We can also offer freshly-squeezed orange and lemon juice, omelettes and more.

BAR BUFFET
This is a distinctive treat offered at our hotel. Our free open bar corner is available everyday between 12am and 7pm and includes cold and hot drinks, beers, prosecco, fruit juices, snacks, homemade tarts, focaccia, biscuits, pastries, crisps and nuts. Anytime you come home from a busy day out you can have a quick aperitivo or get something tasty for the kids.

TERRACE WITH JACUZZI
after spending the day out and about, you deserve a way to relax. Our terrace is perfumed with camelias, hibiscus and jasmine with lounge chairs to stretch out in the sun or chill out with a good book. Between April and October you can relax even more in our hot tub (for 6) which is open from 9am to 9pm.

MEETINGS
Arrange a meeting or conference in an exceptional location. The Hotel Ilaria’s meeting room, which accommodates up to 45 people, is actually in the 14-century chapel of the old Alba oratory and maintains the original fresco of the Annunciation. There is free Wi-Fi, a microphone with sound system, 67-inch smart TV, heating and controllable air conditioning.

RECEPTION
We’ve been assured that we are “very helpful”, and all four of us here to help our guests. Reception is open 24 hours a day to advise you and help with any unexpected situations. If you want to set up a trip out of the city, get tickets or book a restaurant, just ask.

FREE BYCICLES
There’s no better way to explore Lucca than by bike and so we always have bikes available for guest use, free of charge.

PET FRIENDLY HOTEL
we welcome all types of four-legged pets, with no restrictions, as long as you let us know in advance of your arrival.

DISABLED ROOMS
The Hotel Ilaria has four rooms adapted for use by those with mobility issues. Two small double rooms in the main hotel building and one superior rooms in the historic building a few metres from reception.

PRIVATE PARKING
We offer private parking to all guests arriving by car or by moto for €18 per night, according to availability.

DISCOVER LUCCA
Lucca is a slow city, meant for strolling, for jogging, for a pleasurable cycle. Traffic is just a distant sound and you can do everything you want nice and easily.

Hotel Ilaria has taken on this philosophy: being right in the historic centre of Lucca, our guests can quickly reach all the sights and interesting corners of the city in just a short walk or with one of our free bikes. If you join us as our guest, we’ll make sure you try the taste of slowness, the essential ingredient for any decent exploration.

Lucca is known as the “city of a hundred churches” and while it is indeed rich in religious and artistic heritage, inside and outside its walls, this Tuscan city offers many other types of beauty.

Allow yourself to get lost and wander through the cobblestoned streets of the centre, browse the local craft shops, take a seat at an outdoor cafe in the Piazza dell’Anfiteatro and take a walk along the city walls and take in the scent of limes.

Via Fillungo is Lucca’s shopping street par excellence. Some of the locally-made highlights include shirt-maker Cerri and silk-maker Zazzi. At the corner with via dell’Arancio you’ll see the Torre delle Ore, the oldest tower in the city. More than 200 steps will bring you up to the manual clock mechanism, a small wonder of engineering, which is one of the oldest still functioning in Europe.

Lucca’s city walls are a rare example in Europe of still-intact modern fortifications. The walls were constructed in the 16th and 17th centuries and are completely encircled by a four-kilometre path.

Originally intended to protect the city from the expansionistic designs of Florence, in the 19th century the Bourbon princess Maria Luisa saw the opportunity to turn them into a pedestrian feature. They are now the locals’ most treasured feature, used for walking, jogging and just relaxing in front of the beauty of Lucca.

Take a trip back in time to explore the origins and history of the great Italian composer Giacomo Puccini, creator of operas like Turandot, La Bohème and Madame Butterfly.

PIAZZA SAN FREDIANO
This long, narrow piazza holds one of the most beautiful churches in Lucca: the Basilica of San Frediano. Its facade is embedded with Byzantine-style mosaics in gold while inside the vaults are supported by 40 Roman columns, each different from the other.

PIAZZA SAN MICHELE
When you enter this square you are faced with a true masterpiece. The medieval palazzi all look on, through their polypore windows and arches.

At the centre is the wonderful white marble Church of San Michele in Foro, in typical Pisan Romanesque style, with precious treasures inside: the Madonna and Child by Andrea della Robbia, the Pala Magrini by Filippo Lippi and the Virgin in high relief by Raffaello da Montelupo.

PIAZZA DELL’ANFITEATRO
Not just a piazza, but a world to watch, a museum, a theatre. Built right on the ruins of the Roman Amphitheatre, with its elliptical shape and the asymmetrical buildings surrounding it, this is still the place to meet, to stop and chat and sit outdoors with a drink waiting for the evening, just as people have done for centuries.

NATIONAL MUSEUM
This beautiful 15th-century villa once belonged to the lords of the city. Today you can discover the treasure of Lucca: ecclesiastical and civil artefacts, archaeological remains. Among other works are Donatello’s terracotta of the Madonna and Child, Etruscan remains and Guido Reni’s Christ Crucified.

TORRE GUINIGI
This is one of the few towers still standing out of the 250 that once towered over Lucca. It was built by the powerful Guinigi family, patrons of the city and its profile is easy to spot by the oaks that stand on top, symbol of power and rebirth. Tackle its 230 steps and you’ll be rewarded by a wonderful panorama over the whole of Lucca.

BOTANICAL GARDEN
The Bourbon Maria Luisa founded these gardens in 1820. Today, after almost two centuries of history, you’re rewarded by two extra hectares of nature where you can enjoy green space in the heart of the city. The pathways are flanked by magnolia, perfumed olive trees, Balearic boxwood and by the garden’s own symbol, the cedar of Lebanon

EASTER IN LUCCA
Unmissable are the events that for Easter and Easter Monday animate the city and its surroundings. The Procession de ‘Crocioni in Castiglione di Garfagnana, which takes place on Holy Thursday after the mass, is formed by the faithful who, after leaving the church, follow a man processionally dressed in Christ, with large chains on his feet and loaded with a heavy cross of wood.

Nobody knows the identity of the penitent, with the exception of the prior of the local confraternity. The Tragedia dei Vagli takes place this year in Vagli di Sopra, a town that alternates every three years with Vagli di Sotto and Roggio.

Planned for the evening of Good Friday, the streets of the town become the setting for a Tragedy, which represents the Passion and death of Christ, thanks to some costumed actors who recite a prose text taken directly from the Gospel source.

On Easter Monday, the Egg Hunt, the treasure hunt for children organized by the ANIMAta…mente association, reaches its fourth edition. The big Easter bunny will hide the colored chocolate eggs in the garden of Villa Bottini in via Elisa or, in case of rain, at Happy Party in San Marco. The fun task of finding them for children. The reward? To be able to bring home everyone they find.

The initiative will take place from 15.30 to 17.30 and, in addition to the egg hunt, there will be space for other fun activities such as the possibility for children to wear make-up, a snack, inflatables, photographs and balloons.

JUNE & JULY – LUCCA SUMMER FESTIVAL
By now one of the best-known musical festivals in Italy, the concerts take place in the city centre at the wonderful Piazza Napoleone and in Campo Balilla.

Performers this year include the ex-Beatle Ringo Starr, Gorillaz, Lenny Kravitz, and Italian groups Caparezza, Gianni Morandi and Max Nek Renga with many more.

JULY – VERSILIANA FESTIVAL
The Versiliana Festival, organized every year in the homonymous pine woods of Viareggio, is one of the most prestigious events of the whole summer in Tuscany. Talks, concerts, book presentations and plays: the festival boasts a rich calendar with important local and national personalities.

In the midst of the pine woods is the Caffè della Versiliana, the place of choice for cultural evenings, political and sociological discussions with the presence of well-known names. A special stage hosts dancers and children ‘s entertainers, an interesting art exhibition is set up at the Park Villa every year.

JULY & AUGUST – THE PUCCINI FESTIVAL
The Puccini Festival is a not to be missed event for opera lovers. In Torre del Lago, birthplace of Giacomo Puccini, every summer a rich calendar of musical performances, written by the great composer, goes on stage.

The mood featured in this occasion is truly suggestive: the notes of the Bohème and the famous Tosca resound in the sweet summer nights, between the starry sky and the Lake of Massaciuccoli. The main lyric festival in Italy takes place between mid-July and mid-August.

AUGUST – SEPTEMBER 
The Nozzano Castle is located in the Piana di Lucca, in a medieval village rich in history and magic. Of uncertain origins, the fortress comes back to life every year between late August and September, in three days of celebration and folklore. An exciting medieval event animates the characteristic village of Nozzano, with artisans, knights, merchants and beautiful ladies.

Among historical parades, games and amazing performances, remember to change your euros into Matildi, Matildini and Sercambi – coins of the time – for your medieval purchases. The event has an entrance ticket.

13TH SEPTEMBER – LA LUMINARA DI SANTA CROCE
Each year on the 14th of September, Lucca celebrates the festival of the Holy Face, where a wooden crucifix is carried in procession from the Basilica di San Frediano to the cathedral of San Martino. What makes this procession special is the lights illuminating the town: everyone carries a candle, and all the windows lining the route are also lit up, recreating a magical scene.

OCTOBER & NOVEMBER – LUCCA COMICS
This is the most anticipated event of the year: Italy’s largest convention for animation, comics and video games. It’s easy to enjoy Lucca Comics – just take a stroll through the city and take in the amazing costumes of the cosplayers, people dressed as their favourite superheroes.

This is a chance to pick up some unique products, take part in the many events and check out some of the concerts.

NOVEMBER – DECEMBER
Visiting Lucca in fall is a pleasure, especially for lovers of quality food and wine. In fact, between the end of November and the beginning of December, takes place Il Desco, a free entrance market exhibition marked by moments of entertainment and foods for thought. Many exhibitors participate as proud representatives of the delights of the Lucca area and of our local traditions.

Alongside the gourmet products – from Garfagnana cold cuts to goat cheeses and IGP spelt, accompanied by excellent local wines – you can walk along an itinerary of flavours, that starts from Lucca and reaches the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines, touching Versilia and the Serchio Valley.

FEBRUARY & MARCH – CARNIVAL OF VIAREGGIO
The Carnival of Viareggio, a few kilometres from our hotel in Lucca, is the largest parade of papier-mâché floats in the world and one of the most beloved Carnivals in Italy.

Born in 1873 by a group of young people at the famous Caffè Del Casinò, still today it attracts enthusiasts from all over the country. Every year the celebration repeats, but it amazes with innovative technologies and surprises.

Among confetti, sounds and dances the allegorical floats streams through the main streets of the city: a grotesque procession representing famous people and events of politics. The preparation of the carts lasts a whole year and is entrusted to the expert Italian Masters of Viareggio, supported by volunteers and citizens.

FEBRUARY – CARNEVALMARLIA
In the hamlet of Marlia, a few kilometers from Lucca, a particular and evocative Carnival takes place every year. This is the CarnevalMarlia, which began at the beginning of the twentieth century, with authentic photos dating back to 1904.

In the following decades, the event improved in quality more and more, but just in recent years the parades of large papier-mâché carts, emblems of this carnival, have become unmissable appointments.

Throughout the month of February, every Sunday, you can observe the Marlia masked courses parades, led by the cart of the clown Marillone, the symbol of the event: locals and tourists can only be drawn into this exciting local festival. Food stands, craft markets, games and entertainment for children complete the program of the event.

Rooms: 41

Price: from 106 EUR per night

Source: www.hotelilaria.com