Travelling via train from the Cinque Terra to Siena. Is a side trip to Lucca for just a brief afternoon visit too much for one day's itinerary? Looks like we could spend about 4 hours in Lucca. Is this a folly? If not, how should we spend the 4 hours?

We took a day trip to Lucca from Lerici, where we stayed when we visited the Cinque Terre, Yes, Yes, Yes, go to Lucca if you can, I thought it was fascinating and 4 hours would be enough. It's a walled city with very interesting architecture.

Great! We'll just do a "passegiatta" around the wall or rent some bikes. Does anyone know if there is a "left luggage" place at the Lucca station?

Yes, I agree, by all means go to Lucca..it is one of my favorite places..have some gelato, buy some great olive oil, enjoy the walkway on the wall. You will love it. I don't know about the "left luggage" places. Justine

We were in Lucca just long enough to walk the walls and have a wonderful lunch at a small cafe. It was perfect.

Found an answer to my own question. According to Rick Steves book, there is no place for left luggage in the Lucca train station.

There's a fairly large tourist-info office at one of the entry points in the wall (can't recall which one) and it occurs to me that they might accommodate you with your luggage. I suggest you try emailing to them.

Not too far from this tourist info storefront, there is a bike rental shop. Thay were very accommodating to my group and there was no problem leaving some belongings with them. I would think they would help you out if you rent bikes, which is a very nice thing to do, bike around the walls and have some great gelato. Wonderful way to spend a ferw hours in Lucca. Have fun!