Click here to view short film clips of Via del Battistero and the Antique Market area. The download will take about a minute...

As we mentioned earlier, the Via del Battistero and adjacent roads are a reference point for visitors who want to soak up its very special atmosphere and surely need a few suggestions on who works there: let’s begin our "guided tour" with Costantino Carli Gallery. This gallery opened in Via del Battistero in the 1950s although it began doing business some years before that. One of the first antiques dealers in Lucca, the Carli family is originally from Lucca and its members also handle all renovation works. The Costantino gallery presents fine furnishings, rare objects, glass and porcelain in three splendid rooms, with that special touch of aristocratic familiarity that only a Lucca gallery with so many important Lucchese pieces can impart.
Pieces date to the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries although there are many other rarities. Also in Via del Battistero is the SIMI gallery. Simi might be called a true dynasty because since 1933, Lelio and his sons have continued to work with superior professionalism in restoring the bindings of rare books, splendid and personalised construction of enamelled and gilt frames, famous around Italy and recognized around the world. Nearby the workshop that displays the hand presses and collections of friezes for gilding books is the gallery with its desks, tables, cabinets, corner pieces and small beds in wrought iron. The spirit of SIMI is cultured and refined like the spirit of the Lucchese merchants, demonstrating utmost professionalism and service to their customers.
At no. 28 of Via del Battistero we find the ANTIQUA Gallery (formerly known as Ilaria Gallery). The owner was born and raised in the family home until adolescence, surrounded by furnishings, paintings, and antique objects that have become essential parts of his daily life.
Di Gregorio can recognize and date paintings, objects and furnishings with a quick glance. The gallery is personally managed by this antiques dealer, who has made his work his reason for being. The furniture of the gallery is almost always Tuscan; splendid cherry wood, rosewood, and walnut from the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries.
The Galleria da Carlino, as well in Via del Battistero is in Piazza del Suffragio (Carlino is one of the veterans of antique's market and its research for furniture and antique objects dates to 1940, even if the exhibition spaces opened some years later). An unfailing researcher, he has become a sophisticated antiques dealer and famous collector as well as expert on porcelains. The furniture in its galleries date back to the 16th and 19th centuries, as do the artefacts: famous porcelains of the 1800s, rare stone materials and fabulous wrought iron pieces.

Kraag gallery.
This antique shop is a meeting point for diverse cultures, a very unique space for furnishings, sofas, paintings, silver pieces, and Eastern porcelains, an ideal spot to admire the culture of oriental art. Visitors come from all over the world because the antiques dealer Kraag knows no limits, while giving preference to everything that in Lucca was famous around the world in the past centuries.
Also in Via del Battistero, we find the Old Lucca Gallery, a shop that dates back to the 1950s and the only gallery in Via del Battistero that bears an English adjective.Everything in this shop is Tuscan, from the terra cotta to the beams from the beautiful 18th- and 19th-century furnishings. Essential items of Lucchese décor are the main proposals. Bookshelves, toilets and kitchen utensils that evoke a special cultural life and show a deep Lucchese trait. The tables in these rooms are furnishings that distinguish and characterise the gallery: Louis XVI round tables with centre bowl and four rectangular legs, folding tables, leaf tables, all in Tuscan wood, especially warm in olive wood. Tables of the Old Lucca, even the base of a culture typical of Lucchese cuisine.
Another curiosity is represented by the vintage billiard tables, which are prominent in the second room for the brilliance of their green felt.
The Frediani Gallery (formerly Finstesmayer until 1933) proposes gorgeous Imperial-era objects. The owner, Madame Renata Frediani, loves the Imperial style, whether this is the clean, linear and essential Lucchese brand of Imperial furnishings or the more opulent French style.
It was a difficult decision, but her dedication to this period has made it possible for her to keep the gallery going and continues its fortunes on a very unusual and unique antique choice. This is the specialization of a cultured and strong-willed person that is able to pursue and unearth furniture, mirrors, consoles, gueridon, sofas and chandeliers that are unique in their genre. Mainly Lucchese and French 18th-century paintings are on offer here.
The colours of the objects show off the pale rose tones of the porcelains, light blues and brilliant whites with gilt edging. The same figure of Madame Renata is inserted magically in this very unusual ambience.
The "MEZZALUNA" represents a rare and interesting print and historic etching renovation and exhibition workshop. Raffaella Manfredini has successfully restored the original splendour to screens, fans, and objects from a romantic past. Her speciality is renovation of paper objects, such as wieldy historic notarial tomes, bursting with historical mercantile information and contracts. The transition from renovation to sale of antique etchings and incisions explodes in the display space. The subjects of these antique objects range from flowers, portraits of noble women, and landscapes that tell of ancient places. In the L'Archetto Gallery, a small but grand gallery, the display space leads the visitor around an ancient world. The owner, Mr. Fambrini, began his career as a renovator and was assisted by this trade when he made the natural transition to furniture, curios and rare artefacts of centuries past. The desire to own beauty stimulates the antiques dealer to offer customers only antiques with a capital "A."
The Vannucci Gallery. Although he opened the gallery in the 1980s, this gallery owner has successfully entrenched himself in Lucca and in Tuscany with his superior quality antiques, many of which are published. Two rooms laden with Lucchese art, especially the beds: a singular and invaluable proposal because these are unique pieces, where many crowned heads have rested and dreamed. Also in this gallery, we sense the continuing presence of Imperial Lucca, an extraordinary period for antiques. Another example of great professionalism is the L'Arca Gallery, at No. 13 of Via del Battistero. These rooms carry on the tradition of those in the 1940s who dealt in the beautiful figurines of two aristocratic Lucca women. Today, the Arca continues the tradition of a Lucca, which to some may seem severe, because the furnishings of the 16th to the 19th centuries that are on display remind visitors of the large, historic and stately homes of a Ducal Lucca. The cabinets, bureaus, credenzas, secretaires, and sofas demonstrate an attentive admiration and appreciation for Lucca furniture. While first the atmosphere of the Arca was characterised by brocades and low lighting, it has been redone so that the pristine white washed rooms are dominated by the sound of music, mainly Boccherini, Gemignani, and Puccini.
Since the world has taken notice of Lucca, the Arca attempts to offer a selection of beautiful objects. At no. 24 Via del Gallo, a splendid robin's egg blue room holds and displays furnishings that can be found only in this gallery. This is the Mario Giorgi Gallery, whose owner, Mario Giorgi (a true connoisseur), after a long period of renovation has reached perfection and an unexpected beauty. This brand of professionalism led Giorgi to open other antiques shops, where he presents his most select furnishings (nothing else reaches this gallery). Paintings and sculptures reveal the gallery owner's acute eye for value. The blue box fills with light for pairing the fabrics with the soft "Mances."
Porcelain, glass, unique pieces underline the elegant style of antiques dealer. Also in Via del Gallo we find the Romano Vecci Gallery. There is plenty of space and rooms in this gallery. It is probably the most comprehensive in Lucca, because every need can be met here: furnishings, paintings, sculptures (marble and wood), bureaus, Japanned sofas and chairs, dormeuse, chests of drawers, tables, chandeliers, table lamps, opals, silvers, porcelains, clocks and etcetera: plenty of historic curiosities. In Via del Gallo, no. 20, owned by Romano and Maria Pia Vecci, it is easy to find an array of invaluable antiques. The deep antique dealing culture marries with a strong sensitivity for all that is art and an attentive art aficionado can witness the passage of time in this beautiful gallery, by following the styles, shapes and colours. Another example of utmost professionalism is the SETTE ARTI Gallery, with two sites, one in Via dei Borghi and the other in Via Fillungo. They propose their invaluable pieces to customers, with courtesy and expertise. Returning to the area of Via del Battistero, we should also mention the Gallery Bacci of Capaci (in Corte Gallo). Recently opened, it is a gallery that deals almost exclusively in paintings. However, the Gallery is hardly limiting because the Filippo Bacci Gallery, with its canvases by great masters, has already gained the respect of a wide public of collectors from all over Italy. The paintings, many from the 19th century and past centuries, continue with painters of the 20th century, capturing the attention of visitors and customers, because they are shown in a magical space, where the colours of the paintings blend with the warm and elegant tones of the walls: Nomellini, Ulivi, Adolfo Tommasi, Angiolo Tommasi, Ludovico Tommasi and Natali, Filippelli, and Rosati. The canvases and panels, large and small, tell the story of a past very close to us Tuscans with conviction and pride. Landscapes, figures, and still lifes highlight a strong and pleasant path. What distinguishes this gallery owner is doubtless the research done and his selection of Lucchese painters or “adopted” by Lucca: Alceste Campriani, Viani, Moses Levy, Lucchesi, Galileio Chini, and Meschi.