Lucca to Siena on the Via Francigena — Seven Stages, 129 km

If the Via Francigena has a heartland, it is the week between Lucca's walls and Siena's Campo. It has the towns everyone has heard of — San Gimignano, Monteriggioni — and several they have not, the densest pilgrim accommodation on the route, a railway station at each end, and a profile that climbs enough to feel like Tuscany without ever being brutal. It is the section this site's competitors sell most, and the one most people mean when they say they have "walked the Francigena".

This guide is the section hub: the seven stages with their published figures, what each day is like, the towns, and how to get to Lucca and away from Siena.

The seven stages

The shape is easy to read: two flat-to-gentle days out of Lucca, two hilly days in the middle, three short days to finish. The climbing is front-loaded into stages 65 and 66, which between them carry 1,094 m of the week's 2,418 m.

Day by day

Stage 63, Lucca to Altopascio (18 km). Out through the walls and east across the flat Luccan plain. The stage data lists 81 m of ascent — the second-flattest Tuscan stage — and warns it is flat and exposed with little shade in summer. Altopascio was the seat of the Knights of the Tau, the medieval order that protected pilgrims on this road; the stage page notes the hospital bell that still tolls at sunset.

Stage 64, Altopascio to San Miniato (24 km). Across the Arno valley, the old boundary between northern and central Tuscany, and up to the hilltop town of San Miniato under Frederick II's tower. Easy grade, but the data flags the final climb into town as steep. Water abundant, shade partial.

Stage 65, San Miniato to Gambassi Terme (24 km). The first proper Tuscan day: ridges, cypresses, the 10th-century Pieve di Chianni. It is also the biggest climb of the week at 642 m, with the warnings "undulating terrain — cumulative climb" and "limited water between villages" — water is marked moderate, shade partial. Gambassi has thermal springs, which the stage page recommends for the feet.

Stage 66, Gambassi Terme to San Gimignano (14 km). Short, but 452 m of ascent in 14 km makes it the steepest day of the section per kilometre (32 m/km — seventh steepest on the whole route). The reward is San Gimignano and its fourteen surviving towers; the data warns it is very crowded in summer and to arrive early, which the short distance makes easy.

Stage 67, San Gimignano to Colle di Val d'Elsa (16 km). Down through vineyards, losing 478 m, to a town split between a modern lower half and the ridge-top Colle Alta. Easy, full shade, abundant water, and rail access flagged in the data.

Stage 68, Colle di Val d'Elsa to Monteriggioni (13 km). The shortest day of the week and, the stage page argues, ideal for a long lunch: Monteriggioni is the perfect walled village that Dante compared to a ring of giants. Easy, full shade, abundant water.

Stage 69, Monteriggioni to Siena (20 km). In through the Porta Camollia — "Siena opens her heart to you wider than this gate" — and down to the shell-shaped Piazza del Campo. Moderate, 382 m of ascent, and the one warning is the busy urban approach: follow the waymarks. The stage page says Siena demands a rest day, and it is right.

How many days

Seven as published. Six if you walk stages 67 and 68 together (29 km, 602 m of ascent — a moderate day, and still in Monteriggioni by mid-afternoon). Eight with a rest day, and the choice is San Gimignano — where an evening after the day-trippers have left is the whole point — or Siena at the end. If you are continuing to Rome, take the rest day in Siena and read the Siena to Rome guide: the three days that follow are the longest and most exposed in Tuscany.

Water, shade and season

From the stage data: water is abundant on five stages and moderate on two (65 and 66); shade is full on stages 66, 67 and 68, partial on the other four. Nothing here is marked scarce — that starts south of Siena. The best months listed for every one of the seven stages are April to June and September to October; five of the seven add March and November. July and August are listed for none of them. This is a spring and autumn walk; see best time to walk for the month-by-month picture.

The towns

• Lucca — the cathedral of San Martino with the Volto Santo, the basilica of San Frediano, and the Renaissance walls you can walk the whole way round. The site's cathedral page suggests asking the sacristy for a stamp.
• San Miniato — Frederick II's tower and white truffles (stage 64).
• San Gimignano — the towers, Piazza della Cisterna, Vernaccia wine (stage 66).
• Monteriggioni — the walled village (stage 68).
• Siena — the Campo, the Duomo, and Santa Maria della Scala, the old pilgrim hospital, which the culture page names as a place to ask for a timbro.

Where to sleep

This is the best-served week on the route for pilgrim accommodation: the accommodation guide names Ostello San Frediano in Lucca and Alma Domus in Siena among the ostelli and convents, and notes that from Tuscany south in spring and autumn the beds fill and a call a day or two ahead is sensible. The stays directory lists what sits at each stage end. You will need the credential for most of it — see the credential guide.

Getting to Lucca

Lucca's railway station is in Piazza Ricasoli, a few minutes' walk from the walls. Lucca Tourism lists the main connections as Florence Santa Maria Novella, Pisa Centrale and Pisa San Rossore, and Viareggio, and notes that the Pisa Mover shuttle links Pisa airport to the railway. If you are flying, Pisa is the closer airport and Florence the alternative. Buses arrive at Piazzale Verdi in the historic centre, with connections from Florence, Pisa and Viareggio.

Leaving Siena

Siena's station is about twenty minutes' walk below the old town — the site's Siena page notes the escalators that link the two. Terre di Siena, the local tourism body, lists regional trains to Florence in under two hours, and two routes to Rome: via Florence Santa Maria Novella, or via Chiusi–Chianciano Terme without passing through Florence. Florence airport is the nearest at about 55 km; Pisa is around 160 km. Autolinee Toscane runs the bus network around Siena, which also covers Colle Val d'Elsa, Poggibonsi and San Gimignano — useful if you need to leave the section mid-week.

If a week is too much, or not enough

Too much: start at San Miniato (stages 65–69, five days, 87 km) — it has rail access in the data — or at San Gimignano for the three short days into Siena. Not enough: continue south. Siena to Rome is another fourteen stages, and Lucca to Rome in one trip is 21 stages and 412 km, three weeks with rest days.