Mercato del Carmine

Mercato del Carmine is a historic building located on Piazza del Carmine, with a history that stretches back nearly a thousand years. From the 14th century onwards it housed a Carmelite convent that occupied the site for almost six centuries before the complex was decommissioned following the suppression of religious orders in 1866. In 1932, the city decided to transform this former religious space into a covered market in order to relocate the food market that had until then been held in Piazza dell’Anfiteatro, so the church and cloister were adapted to accommodate shops and stalls while the former bell tower became a clock tower. The market remained a central part of daily life in Lucca until 1974 before being moved to larger premises, and for several decades the building was largely unused before undergoing restoration work from the 2010s onwards. Today it occasionally hosts exhibitions, cultural events and food markets while preserving the arches and volumes inherited from its religious past.