Lucca is a Tuscan city whose sixteenth-century walls survive complete, enclosing the historic centre, and for five days around the 1 November holiday the entire enclosure becomes a convention: pavilions in every square, publishers and games companies in the churches and palazzi, and a cosplay population that occupies the walls themselves.
Running since 1966, it is the largest event of its kind in Europe and among the largest anywhere.
The organisers publish attendance per edition and it is a figure worth collecting precisely; we have not got a dated one in this pass.
The planning difficulty is acute. Lucca is small, the event coincides with a national holiday, and accommodation across the Lucchesia and down to Pisa and Viareggio is committed months ahead. Day tickets sell out by type and date.
PlanningA window around the 1 November holiday; tickets and beds both go months ahead.