All pics are shooted by @stewie.wieno
My first Lucca Comics & Games dates back to 2006. It was the first year that the event moved from the sports hall to the city center. Since then, until 2015, I have always gone on the same day, often accompanying buses that were organized from my city to bring fans to the event.
Since 2015 I have instead started to stop for the whole period, organizing myself with friends.

In 2020 the pandemic arrived and the physical manifestation did not take place, in 2021, however, there was but in a very small form and size.

This 2022 was the year of redemption.

The enter of Carducci pavillion

With a group of friends a little different than usual we decided to participate, for three of the five days that the event lasts. We rented an apartment just outside the walls (read 650m from the nearest walls). The city is in fact entirely surrounded by high medieval walls still standing and completely pedestrian. A green ring that surrounds the old historic center, which makes the city very characteristic and which delineates the contours of the fair for good or bad.

Lucca Comics & Games is the second largest event of its kind in the world, second only to the Tokyo Comiket. This year, also thanks to the good weather, it reached the record figure of 319,926 paying participants, to which we must add the visitors who come to the city just to breathe the festive air of these days. Yes, because Lucca for a week turns into a land of toys: board games, video games, paper and live role-playing games, Cosplay, Music, Comics, Manga, Illustration, Fantasy and Sci-Fi literature. There is no area of ​​Pop Culture that the event does not touch. The streets are filled with costumed characters, always willing to be immortalized in a photo, there are numerous events, rallies, concerts or meetings with authors.

Our way of seeing and experiencing the event is a mix between the curious and the passionate. We are interested and curious about all the sectors that make up the event and generally we try to see and try each pavilion or area. With more days at our disposal we are allowed to take a little more calm but this edition has put us in front of the reality that things are changing.

The signing session of Alfredo Castelli

The 2022 Edition

319,926 detached tickets. Three days sold out. All this in a city of 89,000 inhabitants and a historic center that normally hosts 9,000. Organizing this event requires pharaonic effort and very high stress levels. Yet this year the friendliness of every staff member, from the first to the last, even on the fifth day was impeccable. I don't know how they managed to train the rhythms, perhaps with a better shift system and more staff, but still they deserve all the best compliments.

Even the police, security and medical forces were a constant presence, but polite and discreet. Perhaps you are aware that the people who come to Lucca for comics come with an atmosphere of joyful celebration, but without excess.

The exhibits are always great. From this year they are no longer open to everyone, but only to those who have paid for the ticket. A pity on the one hand, but also a way to justify, perhaps, the price increase. The event grows and the prices, alas, too.

I love Cosplayers

New spaces for Japan and content creators. Moving the area dedicated to Japanese culture out of the city center has certainly displeased many fans, but it has actually diluted the throng of people who showed up in the city by a lot. We were the first to cover the thirty minutes that led to the exhibition center both outward and return. It was tiring, but not impossible. I understand, however, that I am speaking from the point of view of a person who did not move with backpacks loaded with action figures, swords, costumes or comics. Perhaps the connections should be rethought, but I would say that for now it has worked well enough.
The spaces that were in the city before the Japan Palace have now been dedicated to content creators. Direct streaming and the like took place from here. A space that I did not think could be successful and that instead was always full and participated. They are probably off target for these things.

But it's not all gold. The big problem was the queues to access some pavilions. Perhaps due to a design error of the same (a pavilion, such as the Amazon Prime Video one that allows only 700 - 1000 people to be visited a day when there are 75,000 tickets detached is obviously not adequate) or because a turnout of the gender.
Furthermore, there was a general feeling that there was less ambition than usual. On everything except video games on trial (excluding Nintendo) and a largely subdued Lego exposition.

Access to some events should be completely revised. In 2022, while amusement parks use apps to virtually queue, queuing up to attend meetings or concerts is no longer tolerable. For Tim Burton, I queued at six in the morning to find out I was 70th past the ticket deadline. Many complaints have been read for the click day to participate in the screening of the One Piece film, but I would have preferred to be excluded like this, than not queuing for two hours in the cold for nothing.

Salani Editions show (books editor) was amazing

From what I have gathered, it has been a great year for the exhibitors, but it must be welcomed by the organization as a challenge for the future. Surfaces and areas need to be upgraded to be ready to accommodate growing demand. For our part, we returned home tired