Staying in Sant'Anna, Lucca: the western quarter outside Porta Sant'Anna and Porta San Donato

Who should stay in Sant'Anna?

Sant'Anna is for travellers who want a bed and breakfast or an apartment with a parking space, at a short walk from the centre, in a neighbourhood with ordinary shops and no tourist crowds. It works well for people touring Tuscany by car, for visitors who plan day trips by regional bus, since the terminal is at the gate, and for longer stays in which a kitchen and a quiet street count for more than a view.

It is not the place for anyone who wants a hotel: there is none in this area. Nor does it suit travellers who arrive by train and want the shortest walk from the platform, or those who want medieval streets outside the door. The architecture is plain, and the walk to the gate follows busy avenues.

What kind of accommodation is there?

The 47 properties listed here are small and privately run: about 30 apartments, ten bed and breakfasts, five guest houses, two villas and one holiday home. No property declares a star rating and none mentions a swimming pool. The best-known addresses are bed and breakfasts and guest houses in villas, such as Villa San Donato B&B, La Chiusa delle Monache, Lucca Relais and the guest house Relais Puccini.

About three in four offer free parking, usually in a private courtyard or garden, and roughly half accept pets. Nine listings state that they have no parking at all, typically the apartments closest to the walls, so check that line of the listing if you are driving.

How far is it from the centre?

Distances from Piazza San Michele run from about 700 m to 2.1 km, with the typical property at 1.2 km: between 10 and 25 minutes on foot. Four in five listings are within 1 km of Porta Sant'Anna, and three in four are within 1 km of Piazzale Verdi. From the gate, Piazza San Michele is about 500 m farther along Via San Paolino, the straight street that crosses the west of the centre.

Piazza dell'Anfiteatro and the cathedral are on the other side of the centre, 1.3 to 1.6 km in a straight line from the middle of the quarter, so reckon on 20 to 25 minutes. The railway station is about 1.5 to 1.8 km away as the crow flies, on the south side of the walls: a walk of 25 minutes or more around the ring avenues.

Which gate do you use, and where are the buses?

Porta Sant'Anna was opened in 1910 and 1911 to connect the growing suburb with the city, and it leads straight into Piazzale Verdi. The square is the hub of the Autolinee Toscane buses, with regional services to Pisa, Viareggio and Florence, and it has a tourist information point and public toilets. Porta San Donato, built between 1629 and 1639, is one of the three historic gates; beside it are a second information point, dedicated to the walls and public toilets.

During Lucca Comics & Games the western gate is not a way in for cars: in 2025 Porta Sant'Anna was closed to unauthorised vehicles around the clock for the days of the festival.

Where do you park?

Outside the walls on this side there are two large paid car parks run by the municipal company. Palatucci, in Via delle Tagliate di Sant'Anna to the north-west, is the cheapest of the main paid car parks according to the tariffs published in 2025 and 2026: €0.50 for the first hour, €1 for each following hour, a daily maximum of €8 and no charge at night. Carducci, on Viale Carducci along the south-western stretch of the ring road, has 510 spaces at €1 an hour, with the same €8 daily ceiling and free parking from 20:00 to 08:00.

On the nights of the big Lucca Summer Festival concerts the rules change: for the shows of 4, 16 and 19 July 2026 Palatucci was among the car parks placed under event management. The city's motorhome area, open 24 hours a day, is also in this quarter, in Viale Luporini.

What is there in the neighbourhood?

Sant'Anna is a place to live rather than to sightsee. Its landmarks are the parish church of Sant'Anna, which nearly every property has within 1 km, the neighbourhood park and the everyday shops of a residential district along Viale Puccini. At the western edge the San Pietro bridge crosses the Serchio, and the riverside park begins there: an 11 km circuit for walkers and cyclists follows the river upstream to the San Quirico bridge and back.

Is it noisy, and when does it fill up?

Viale Puccini, Via Pisana and the ring avenues carry steady traffic by day, and rooms facing them hear it; the side lanes, many of them numbered as traverse of the main avenue, are residential and much calmer at night.

Demand peaks with the rest of the city during Lucca Comics & Games, from 28 October to 1 November in 2026, when rooms are taken months ahead. The concert nights of the Lucca Summer Festival, between late June and late July, fill the quarter too.