But besides beeing a town rich in art and history, Lucca is surrounded by a picturesque countryside, beautiful hills, ancient villas, centuries-old olive groves, vineyards and stone parish churches with lofty bell-towers. All areas around the city are attractive for different reasons: morphology, facilities, itineraties. They are inclosed in what is called “Lucca Hills and Montecarlo Wine Road” (“Strada del Vino delle Colline Lucchesi e di Montecarlo”).
In the south, in the "Compitese" area, between rolling hills, Pieve and S.Andrea di Compito, two old small villages, are famouse for Camellias, marvellous flowers cultivated since centuries in this land. If you don't know yet that Tea is a special kind of Camellia, you will be able to discover it at Sant'Andrea di Compito, where an incredible man started the first Italian experimental Tea plantation, one of the two only plantations in Europe (the other one is in Azzorre). Reserving previously your visit to this small plantation, surrounded by century-old Camelia trees, you can taste and buy this special and limited kind of homemade tea.Pieve di Compito and Sant'Andrea di Compito are also the ideal starting point for easy walks or bike tours along the surrounding hills.
Going to north, instead, along the Serchio Valley, hilltop villages, vineyards and olive groves are the wonderful setting of historical villas, farmhouses, wineries and friendly osterias. You can reach the first villas, Villa Reale, Villa Grabau, Villa Oliva-Buonvisi on the plain around Marlia, on the east side of Serchio. Entrance tickets are around 6-7 euros per person. These Renaissance buildings, welcome visitors in their historical gardens for guided visits and, some of them, are qualified to put up events and ceremonies.
Continuing the route towards Matraia, first you meet Osteria del Vecchio Pazzo, a friendly osteria where tasting typical Lucca and Garfagnana foods, then Fattoria Colle Verde, a farmhouse producing good wines and excellent extra-virgin olive oil.The small street between the chief road to Matraia and Fattoria Colle Verde, is particularly enchanting, because it is a narrow road full immersed in olive groves and vineyards, far from human-caused noises, where a sweet group of ponies grazes just a few centimeters from you.
Colle Verde's workers welcome tourists visiting their farmhouse, guiding them from the vineyard to the cellar and to the oil mill, making them taste their products.Naturally, it is necessary book a visit before going to whatever farmhouse, above all for few persons, because each farm has its own timetable and rules.
Then you can continue your tour along “Colline Lucchesi” wine road, passing through Matraia (where it is suggested to stop at the osteria “da Severino” for a snack based on various kinds of cold meats and salami ), Valgiano, S. Pietro a Marcigliano until Petrognano, where Fattoria di Petrognano, a little hilltop hamlet, is an old farmhouse partly transformed into tourist accomodations, where you can visit a small winery and a picturesque oil mill, tasting wine and oil from the fattoria. If you visit Fattoria di Petrognano in the afternoon or on Sunday, you can also stop at its nice stone country restaurant, “Il Ristoro delle Colline”, just inside the farm.
Going downhill you reach other villas to be visited, as Villa Torrigiani and Villa Mansi (check if Villa Mansi is still in restoration before visiting it). Entrance tickets are more or less the same as for Villa Reale, Villa Grabau and Villa Oliva-Buonvisi, 6-7 euros. Not far from here, don't forget to stop at another nice hilltop village famous for its wineries, Montecarlo, where Montecarlo d.o.c. wines are produced.
Also, the area in the west side of Serchio river, along the road to Camaiore, is characterized by typical stonehouses, farmhouses and friendly wineries, either on the plain or on surrounding hills, as Fattoria Sardi Giustiniani, Fattoria al Dotto, Terre del Sillabo, Fabbrica San Martino, Valle del Sole and others.
So, Lucca countryside is the ideal area for a typical food tasting and an uncommon wine tour, visiting small farms producing wine and excellent extra virgin olive oil, where you can be surprised in seeing some horses, ponies or sweet donkeys taking care of the natural fertilization and weeding of the olive groves and of the vineyards.A mild climate, given by the surrounding heights protecting from the northern cold, contributes to the creation of a strong, healthy wine with high sugar content and intense bouquets. This is the land where the DOC wines “Colline Lucchesi” and “Montecarlo” are produced.
Some of this farms are easily reachable also by bike, so that they are the ideal break point for fantastic bike tours along Lucca countryside.
Not Ordinary Ways is a local agency, situated in Lucca historical centre, wich plans tours and events in this wonderfull but less known area, making tourists taste Tuscan way of life. This could be a starting point to discover Lucca countryside, which isn't as famous as Chianti or Val d'Orcia, but offers certainly many reasons to attract a slow and pleasant tourism.
