The Water of Lucca

Lucca’s delicious drinking water originates from the surrounding Appenine Mountains which feeds the aquifer and springs in the hillside outside the medieval walls of town. Maria Luisa Borbonne decreed the royal architect Lorenzo Nottolini to design the aqueduct to supply the people of Lucca with clean, fresh water. The project was completed in the early 19th century and the mountain spring water still flows from the fountains throughout town. One of our favorite hikes is to walk along Nottolini’s aqueduct and along the stone culvert zig-zagging down the hill channeling the spring water to the aqueduct (featured foto). Some of the structures along the way house the springs.