While I was staying at the amazing Italian Hospitality Collection hotels in Tuscany we spent a day in Lucca - and wonderful Sunday morning it turned out to be. 

We hired a couple of those bicycle-cars and pedalled around the old city walls - which was hard work but fun.

Lucca, on the Serchio river, is renowned for those Renaissance walls - they are very well preserved and encircle the entire historic part of the city - and it’s hardly surprising the broad, tree-lined pathways along the tops of these massive 16th- and 17th-century ramparts are popular for strolling and cycling.

Walk inside the old town and you cannot fail to be chaired by its cobblestone streets. There are a number of public squares, most notably the Piazza dell'Anfiteatro, site of ancient Roman amphitheatre.

We also enjoyed strolling through Piazzale Verdi; Piazza Napoleone'; and Piazza San Michele and passing Casa di Puccini, where the great opera composer was born, now a museum.