Tuscany · Lucca
Barga
A medieval hilltop town in the Serchio valley, where Giovanni Pascoli wrote his last poems and the August festival serves fish and chips.
By Peter Benei
Written about. No. 1.
The letter
Barga got its letter. One town at a time, free. The photo, the food, the festa.
Visiting
- Best time
- Apr–Oct
- By car
- 1 h 14 min from Pisa
- By train
- Station in the comune
- Population
- 9,461
- J10°
- F12°
- M13°
- A16°
- M20°
- J25°
- J29°
- A28°
- S23°
- O19°
- N14°
- D10°
- Best
- Hot or crowded
- Quiet
- Mostly closed
Daytime air temperature, averages for 2020–2024. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com.
Why come
The town sits on the Colle Remeggio above the Serchio river, the Apennine ridge rising to the east as a counterpart to the Apuan Alps on the western side of the valley. The walled centro storico climbs the hill from Porta Reale, its stone houses narrowing as the streets rise toward the highest terrace, where the collegiate church stands. The Colle di Caprona, a separate rise from the walled town itself, holds the house where Pascoli lived out his last years and the chapel where he is buried.
The town also carries a Scottish thread: a wave of late nineteenth-century emigration sent generations of Barga families into the chip shop trade in Glasgow, and their descendants' festival now fills the streets every August with fish and chips rather than any dish more expected of the Tuscan hills. A hill town built in stone around a Romanesque church, with a poet's house on one rise and a Glasgow-born sagra filling its streets each summer, holds more than its size would suggest.
How to get there
From Pisa (PSA), about 1 h 31 min by car.
Bologna (BLQ) is about 2 h 26 min away.
By car from the center of Pisa 1 h 14 min or Florence 1 h 45 min.
There is a railway station in the comune, so you can arrive without a car.
Coming from Pisa, Florence or Bologna?
Coming by train into Livorno Centrale? Barga is about 1 h 22 min away by road.
Every town within reach of Pisa airport.
First time driving in Italy? Read our complete manual.
What to see
Duomo di San Cristoforo
The church climbs from the eleventh century into the sixteenth, four red marble columns of the pulpit resting on stone lions. It occupies the highest terrace of the town, above the streets that lead up to it.
Casa Museo Giovanni Pascoli
The house is preserved with its original furnishings and library, the chapel next door holding the poet's tomb.
Centro storico
Walled medieval town climbing the hill, narrow streets of stone houses leading from Porta Reale up to the church on the highest terrace.
Alpi Apuane
Marble peaks rising sharply west of the valley, the Pania della Croce visible from the church terrace, the source of Carrara stone.
Teatro dei Differenti
Theater inside the walls built by the Accademia dei Differenti, founded in 1688, rebuilt and reopened in 1795, host to the Opera Barga summer festival of chamber and lyric performances.
Living here
Could you live here?
Barga meets all 3 of our rules for a small town.
- 9,461 people, inside our sweet spot of 5,000 to 20,000: a real town, still one community.
- Lucca, a city of 89,002, is 49 min by car. Inside our 30 to 60 minutes: close for the services, far enough to keep its own life.
- A station of its own. Trains are the overlooked way to get around Italy: no parking, straight into the center.
The rules come from our series Where to Move in Italy, written from the places we have lived: Part 1, The End of the Road · Part 2, The Small Town · Part 3, The City · Part 4, The Postcard · Part 5, The Other Half. The towns we would pick are in Part 6, The Best Towns.
- Population 9,461, down 6.4% since 2015
- Nearest city Lucca, 49 min drive
- Train station in the comune
- A national health service hospital in the comune · how healthcare works in Italy
- Homes in the center: €900 to €1,300 per m² to buy, €3.30 to €4.90 per m² a month to rent
Weighing a move here? See the moving year.
All the numbers Common questions, designations, lists and sources.
More about living here
- Remote
- Pharmacy in town
- High school within a 30-minute drive
- Full fibre reaches 17% of homes
- Primary school in the comune
- Earthquake zone 2, medium hazard
- Florence airport (FLR), 1 h 29 min drive, the nearest with scheduled flights
- Regional capital Florence, 1 h 45 min drive
If you are moving here
Who lives here
10% of residents are foreign citizens, most often from Albania, Morocco and Romania, against 9% across Italy. 146 of them come from English-speaking countries or western and northern Europe, mostly the United Kingdom, France and the United States. There are 294 people over 65 for every 100 children under 15, against 216 across Italy. 29% of homes have no resident, holiday homes and empty ones counted together, against 27% across Italy. Lucca province ranks 58th of 107 in Il Sole 24 Ore's quality of life ranking for 2025.
Health and schools
The nearest emergency room is in Castelnuovo di Garfagnana, 9 km as the crow flies. The nearest major one is in Pisa, 46 km away. The nearest children's emergency room is in Camaiore, 21 km away. The nearest IB school is International School of Modena, 65 km as the crow flies. The nearest school listed as international is Bilingual Preschool and Primary School Mimosa, 25 km away.
Information, not medical advice. Confirm with a professional.
Taxes
A home that is not your main one pays 1.06% a year in property tax at the 2025 rate, charged on the cadastral value rather than the price. A main home pays none unless it is in a luxury category. The town adds 0.8% to your income tax, with nothing due on income under €13,000. 7% pensioner tax: this town is not in a qualifying area.
Information, not tax advice. Confirm with a professional.
What it costs
The average household in Tuscany spends about €2,410 a month, €540 of it on food, against about €2,170 across Italy. A family of three pays about €770 a year for water, on the Tuscany average. In Lucca, the provincial capital, in September 2026, an espresso cost €1.30 and a meal in a pizzeria €10.85.
Climate and risk
It is in climate zone E, on a scale from A, the warmest, to F, the coldest, and heating may run from October 15 to April 15, up to 14 hours a day, unless the mayor changes it. 6% of residents live in a zone the national maps rate high for floods, 11% in a high or medium one. 21% live in a zone rated high or very high for landslides.
These shares cover the whole comune, not any one street. Check an address on IdroGEO.
Moving from abroad? Which visa you need. Sources: ISTAT, the Ministry of Health, ISPRA, the Finance Ministry, the Ministry of Enterprise, Poste Italiane, the comuni, the IB, International Schools Database, Il Sole 24 Ore, Cittadinanzattiva.
Known for
GIOVANNI PASCOLI
The poet lived in Barga from 1895 to 1912, wrote his last collections here, and is buried beside his Casa Museo on the Colle di Caprona.
FISH AND CHIPS
The Sagra del Pesce e Patate has run every August since the early 1980s, the legacy of late nineteenth-century emigration to Glasgow's chip shops.
DUOMO ROMANICO
Eleventh-century collegiate church with Guido Bigarelli's red marble pulpit, the 3.5-meter wooden Saint Christopher, and Apuan Alps view from the terrace.
FARINA DI NECCIO DELLA GARFAGNANA
The commune lies inside the Farina di Neccio della Garfagnana DOP production zone.
Common questions
- What is Barga known for?
- Barga is a medieval hilltop town at 410 meters in the Serchio valley, where Giovanni Pascoli wrote his last poems and the August festival serves fish and chips.
- Where is Barga?
- Barga is a comune in the province of Lucca, in Tuscany.
- What is the nearest airport to Barga?
- The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Florence (FLR), about 1 h 29 min by car.
- Can you get to Barga without a car?
- Yes. There is a railway station in the comune, so you can arrive by train.
- How long is the drive from Pisa to Barga?
- About 1 h 14 min by car.
- When is the best time to visit Barga?
- Best in Apr–Oct. July is the warmest month, averaging 29 degrees, and December the wettest, with about 16 rain days.
- Which other towns are like Barga?
- Matelica, Oriolo Romano and Pontremoli.
- How many people live in Barga?
- 9,461 residents, by ISTAT's count on 1 January 2025.
- Is Barga a good place to live?
- By the rules in our Where to Move in Italy series, Barga is a small town that meets all 3 of our rules. The nearest city, Lucca, is 49 min away by car. There is a national health service hospital in the comune. Full fibre reaches 17% of homes.
Tags & data designations · numbers · sources
Recognized as
Landscape
The numbers
- Elevation: 410 m
- Population: 9,461
- Surface area: 66.47 km²
These figures were compiled from public directories: ISTAT, OpenStreetMap and Wikidata, and from the official listings of the guides named on this page. Town details change; verify with official sources before you travel.
The ranked lists
Lists Barga appears in
- The prettiest villages that live slowly in TuscanyTuscanyprettiest villagesslow living6 towns · smallest 2,309 residents
- The best towns known for what they grow within two hours of PisaNear Pisawithin 2 hoursproduce zone7 towns · smallest 2,309 residents · closest 70 min away
- The prettiest villages you can reach by train in TuscanyTuscanyby trainprettiest villages7 towns · smallest 2,964 residents
- The 8 best towns you can reach by train in the province of LuccaLucca provinceby train8 towns · smallest 4,402 residents
- The best hill towns within 90 minutes of PisaNear Pisahill townwithin 90 min8 towns · smallest 2,892 residents · closest 33 min away
- The 9 best hill towns that live slowly in TuscanyTuscanyhill townslow living9 towns · smallest 2,309 residents
Near here, with a letter
- Written about. No. 71.
Stazzema
Province: Lucca
A mountain commune of seventeen hamlets in the Apuan Alps, site of the August 1944 Sant'Anna massacre and Italy's National Park of Peace.
17 km away
- Written about. No. 9.
Castelnuovo di Garfagnana
Province: Lucca
The Garfagnana capital where the fortified medieval borgo sits at the confluence of the Serchio and the Turrite, where the Tuscan Apennines meet the Alpi Apuane.
27 min by car
- Written about. No. 2.
Camaiore
Province: Lucca
The Versilia commune that runs from the mountains to the sea, a Roman Campus Maior on the Via Francigena with a beach at its western end.
21 km away
The letter
Barga got its letter. One town at a time, free. The photo, the food, the festa.
Paid plans, the moving year and the books are on the membership page.