In photos: A weekend in Lucca, Tuscany

Italy will always be the old friend whose light dims slightly in my memory. Although I know him to be a loyal, charming, generous old friend, distance makes me quick to forget how warm, how charismatic and how stop-me-in-my-tracks beautiful he is.

My recent visit to Tuscany only served to remind me of this... and more.

We stayed in a holiday villa just twenty minutes drive away and thanks to a swimming pool, a BBQ and unseasonably warm weather during our time there, we only ventured into Lucca itself a few times. This trip to Lucca reminded me how many smaller, picturesque towns and villages Italy has to offer, and you can see a very fine collection of them in this list of beautiful small towns in Italy.

Lucca and Tuscany are also very easy destinations to get to from international airports, and if you did want to use it as a place to stay and only explore Lucca, you would be in a great place. Here's a great travel guide to Lucca so you can see how many things there are to do. But if you're planning on travelling more within Italy you can easily get there from the capital city or head on to Rome after, and if you do, here's some information for travelling to Rome.

These are the photos I took...