Brocche di epoca pre-romana ritrovate a Querceta

The chronicles of the oldest narrator of Lucca events, the Dominican Tolomeo Fiadoni, who lived between the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, start from the year 1063.

Sercambi's (1348 - 1424) start from 1164. The oldest mention of Lucca comes from Livy, who reported that after the battle of Trebbia (218BC), Hannibal turned towards the Ligurians and the consul Sempronius retreated to Lucca.

There is some debate over whether Livy meant "Luna"or "Luca" in his passage, but it is more likely that the consul retreated to Lucca than Luni, a defenseless city located on the sea and under surveillance by the Carthaginian fleet. Are the origins of Lucca Ligurian or Etruscan? In the area between Luni and Pisa evidence of Ligurian occupation extends from the Lunigiana to Versilia, including Camaiore, is also found in the Serchio river valley and around Lucca. Other traces of the Ligurians can be found in Valdinievole. Etruscan remains have been discovered in the area of Bientina lake (probably an Etruscan name).

This proves that by the fifth century BC the Etruscans had crossed over to the north side of the Arno. And since Etruscan traces remain in the names of places in the Lunigiana, but not in the areas of Massa or Versilia, and appear again in the plains around Lucca, it is possible to hypothesize that the Etruscans penetrated the Lucca countryside from two directions: from the Arno river valley, and from the sea by travelling up the Magra and Carrione rivers, they did not move much towards the south however, because of the swampy conditions of the area. Therefore, Lucca can be basically considered Ligurian in origin, followed by an Etruscan influence between the fifth and fourth centuries BC, then recovered by the Ligurians at the beginning of the third century BC when the Etruscans were driven out during the battle of Sentino (295 BC).

The name Lucca also has a Celtic-Ligurian root (luk) which means "swampy area" and all place names in the Lucca area, in addition to the Roman and Medieval ones, also bear Etruscan traces and ancient roots of unclear ethnic origins. In the fight against the Etruscans, Rome tried to obtain the favor of part of the Ligurians, but most of them opposed Rome, few Ligurians were favorable to Rome, among these were the inhabitants of the ager pisanus which included Lucca.