We will be staying 3 nights in Lucca, then on to Florence. We'd like to take a day trip from Lucca on public transportation. (Have been to just the touristy part of Pisa & San G.)
My husband is a serious photographer (black & white - street scenes, people - not landscape). He's looking for a small town where there'd be locals to photograph (with their permission, of course).
He got some great pictures in a hill town in Sicily outside of Taormina (Casteleone) & is hoping for something similar. He was wondering about Pescia & the non-touristy parts of Pisa.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
(Please don't suggest renting a car.)
Thanks in advance.

I don't know if I would venture to Pescia again.....once was enough! I bravely thought I would set out for Pescia to take my 3 year old to the Pinocchio Park/Villa Garzoni sites located in nearby Collodi. Armed with the advice of fellow Fodorite travelers that there were busses from the train station to take me to Collodi, I set out for Pescia on August 21. I took the train from Lucca and arrived mid-day at a very desolate station. There were indeed two bus stops outside, but the busses didn't bother stopping. After attempting to flag down, chase four busses, and generally exhaust myself in vain for nearly 3 hours, I gave up and returned to Lucca. Perhaps this occurred because the busses (or drivers?) were still on their "ferie" schedule? or in August people just weren't adherring to any reasonable schedules at all because it was hot? I will never know. What I do know is that I had a very sad 3 year old on my hands who had been looking forward to seeing Pinocchio all week - but to no avail. I said all that to say that the town of Pescia is a bit of a distance from the train station and without a car (and reliable busses) it might be hard to photograph -- unless of course you would like photos of the locals hanging out at the station (and I met quite a few interesting characters in my 3 hour wait there!). Perhaps taking a train to the University area in Pisa, or to the pretty Torre del Lago town of Puccini's lakeside home, or even going to Empoli might give your husband the unique scenes he is looking to photograph.

Don't know about public transportation but if it's available I'd highly recommend a day trip from Lucca to Montecatini Terme. The "locals" you'll find there are not the craggy old grandmothers you might be thinking of for people/street scenes but rather elderly Italian and other nationals who are themselves tourists at this elegant but old-world spa town. The architecture and interior design alone at the Testuccio spa would make wonderful pictures. The place would be different from the Sicilian hill town you speak of but an interesting contrast.

Thank you both for your very helpful responses.
Huitres - I couldn't help but laugh over the post of your travel experience - reminded me of our frustrating attempts to travel by bus in Portulgal (we laugh about it now but at the time, it was very frustrating).

Couple years ago I took bus (about than 30 minutes) from Lucca to Barga-a lovely little hill town with winding medieval section,not many tourists venture over there.

There is a little square where locals sitting around under the wintery sun. From the piazza outside Dromo following the narrow streets downhill, you will meet locals busy about the daily chores.