Italy: 2 schemes to know about before you drive in.
Lucca has 2 driving restrictions on our books: the Zona Verde / Area LEZ (Low Emission Zone) del Comune di Lucca and the Zone a Traffico Limitato del Centro Storico (ZTL A, ZTL B, ZTL C) (limited traffic zone). What is a low emission zone?
Sources last read on 2026-09-22, from the authorities' own pages. The next scheduled check is 2026-12-21.
Lucca's older-vehicle ban is a separate scheme from the walled centre's ZTL and it covers far more ground: the "Zona Verde/Area LEZ", signposted across the built-up part of the municipality, where a list of vehicle classes is simply forbidden to drive — "è istituito il divieto di transito per i seguenti veicoli".
It is an air-quality measure against PM10, made by mayoral order in 2019 and in force since 1 November 2019 "fino a nuova disposizione": no hours, no season, no charge and no permit to buy.
What is banned, as the city's February 2026 rulebook states it, is Euro 0 petrol cars; Euro 0, Euro 1, Euro 2 and Euro 3 diesel cars and motor caravans; Euro 0 and Euro 1 mopeds and motorcycles; Euro 0 to Euro 2 diesel goods vehicles both under and over 3.5 tonnes; Euro 0 special-purpose vehicles; and Euro 0 buses, whether on public service or on tourist work.
Twelve named through-routes stay open so that traffic can cross the area without entering it, and eleven categories of vehicle are exempt — emergency and utility services, funeral processions, cars carrying a disabled person's badge, people travelling to booked medical appointments, vehicles on their way to a scheduled roadworthiness test, historic vehicles with a certificate carried on board, and diesels fitted with a type-approved particulate filter.
A visitor's car is not exempt merely for being foreign or hired, and the ban applies whether or not you also hold a ZTL permit.
Everything inside Lucca's city walls is regulated, but not all of it the same way, and the difference is the one thing worth knowing before you drive there. The rulebook in force — the Piano Attuativo della Mobilità e della Sosta, Disciplinare of February 2026 — divides the walled centre into three zones with "una progressiva e crescente azione delle regole di accesso, transito e sosta".
In ZTL C only the vehicle matters: no permit is needed to drive in, but the whole historic centre caps you at 3.5 tonnes, 6.50 m long, 2.20 m wide and 30 km/h, and parking is in paid blue bays. In ZTL B you may not enter at all without a permit.
In ZTL A "l'accesso e la sosta sono sempre vietati" except for authorised permit holders, and inside ZTL A a further list of streets — via Fillungo, via Roma, via Beccheria, via San Paolino, piazza Anfiteatro, piazza San Frediano and others — is closed to traffic and parking entirely between 10:30–14:00 and 18:00–21:00.
Entry and exit are camera-controlled, and a vehicle that is still inside ZTL B or A more than 10 minutes after its permitted period has ended is treated as an offence. Nothing here is sold to a visitor: every permit category in the tariff table belongs to a resident, a trade or an institution.
The visitor's lawful route in is the accommodation registration — a hotel, guesthouse or B&B inside ZTL B or A enters your plate itself, free of charge, and that covers the shortest way to its door and 30 minutes with a parking disc, after which the car has to leave the zone. The permits are administered for the city by Lucca Plus S.r.l., which runs the permit office and the web portal the accommodation uses.