Appointment with the Ancient: Lucca Antique Market
Our city has always behaved as an elegant lady surrounded by high walls and stories of ancient times. Lucca cultivates the passion for antiques with renewed enthusiasm every third weekend of the month.
The third Sunday and the Saturday before, in fact, the citizens and vintage crafts lovers meet for a fixed appointment: the antique market in Lucca.
The historic centre dress ancient clothes
Despite the frequency, we enjoy the Lucca antique market every time as a special occasion: the festive atmosphere, the unveiled mysteries of unknown attics and the charm of the past create a magical combination. More than 220 exhibitors begin to set up the goods in early morning, placing each item in the most suitable spot on the stand.
Many stalls crowd the heart of the city, especially in the points of greatest passage such as Via del Battistero, Piazza San Martino, Piazza Antelminelli, Piazza San Giovanni, Piazza San Giusto and Piazza Bernardini. The perfect interlocking between the narrow streets and the antiques is probably the main reason for the success of the event. The feeling that you breathe here evokes a hug between souls of other times.
If you visit Lucca on the third Sunday of the month, abandon yourself at the passion for ancient things: you might find original artefacts, old paintings or little treasures. Jewellery, pieces of furniture, old toys, vintage accessories and disused work tools: the great offer hides surprises at every corner. Lucca antique market is one of the best known in Tuscany and is definitely worth a look around.
Passion of medieval origin
The antique market of Lucca was born in 1970, by the desire of antique dealers and restaurant owners to associate in an event involving the whole city. Since then the city calendar has been enriched by an event full of charm.
The power of attraction that the market nowadays retains on Lucca resides in the ancient passion for antiques. In Lucca, in fact, the antiquarian tradition has been cultivated since the Middle Ages.
At that time, the noblest families of the city used to send trusted people around Europe in search of precious items to decorate their sumptuous mansions. The taste for beauty of these families is handed down from generation to generation, spreading even to the middle class. Slowly, it became a heritage shared by citizens.
In that period many of the objects and furnishings that we now consider pieces of antiques took shape. A timeless essence enveloped them and the same essence resounds vividly every third Sunday of the month in the antique market in Lucca.