Lucca Comics at 60: a walled city now runs on its trains

How many people can a walled Tuscan city absorb before the festival becomes the queue? Lucca Comics & Games turns 60 this year, and the most revealing headline isn't about a guest or a game. It's about trains.

What Tuscany just put on the rails

For the 60th edition, running October 28 to November 1, the Region of Tuscany, Trenitalia and RFI are offering 160 extra trains and more than 450,000 seats, about 20 trains and 50,000 seats more than in 2025, with higher-capacity rolling stock. The big change falls on Saturday, October 31 and Sunday, November 1. Lucca becomes the terminus of the main lines, with dedicated shuttle services from Florence, Pisa and Viareggio. Florence alone accounts for roughly 44% of travelers heading to the festival, according to the same release.

The station itself is being reorganized. As gonews.it reports, each destination gets its own platforms and entrance, waiting is managed outside the station, and Civil Protection staff are supporting the extra personnel. Travelers are urged to arrive early with a ticket already in hand.

The festival is no longer the product; the access is

We think this is the real story. When a city boxed in by its walls hosts a festival that keeps growing, the program stops being the bottleneck. The bottleneck is the last kilometer: platforms, underpasses, who walks where. Tuscany's answer is to treat the station as festival infrastructure, and that's the right instinct. Separating the lines so a delay on one doesn't ripple into the others is unglamorous, smart design.

It also has a cost, and the documentation admits it. The new timetables change service for commuters and regular riders who have nothing to do with comics. The station underpass can't be used as a pedestrian shortcut during the day on October 31 and November 1. Even official advice anticipates longer travel times. A festival this size borrows the city from the people who live in it, and we'd argue that's the honest way to describe it, not an accident to be apologized for.

Capacity is generous; certainty is not

Here's what we'd be wary of. More seats are not the same as a guaranteed trip. Trenitalia itself warns that a national strike has been called for Thursday, October 29 evening through Friday, October 30 evening. If confirmed, it could affect the whole FS Group, and because trains must be repositioned, the effects could spill into the Saturday morning plan. Nobody can promise the model will run in full. Planning around that is the visitor's job.

Another point in favor of the extra capacity: the new long-distance links. Direct trains from Rome, La Spezia and Chiusi are being introduced for the first time, one pair of trains per route, according to LuccaInDiretta. That widens the pool of people who can come without a car. It also, probably, widens the crowd. Rail operators and regions chase growth, and nothing in what we've seen suggests a ceiling on visitors. The documentation talks about managing flows, not limiting them. That's the open question for the next decade.

Go like a pilgrim, not a commuter

Our recommendation is simple. Treat Lucca Comics as a pilgrimage: a trip with a fixed date, a crowded final stretch and a ritual of preparation. Buy your train ticket days ahead, as officials advise. Check the updated timetables on Trenitalia's site. Learn which platform and entrance your return train uses before you need it. Consider the quieter weekdays, October 28 to 30, when the service follows a model close to past years with about 20 extra trains, instead of the peak weekend. Weigh the strike risk if you're traveling around October 30.

And carry the pilgrim's attitude to the walls: arrive early, wait outside when asked, and remember that the city is a living one, not a set. A festival that reaches 60 by growing has earned its fans. Whether Lucca can keep absorbing them is a question trains alone won't answer. For now, show up prepared, and the city rewards you.