Lucca and Pietrasanta were the birthplace of the brilliant inventors of the internal combustion engine: Father Eugenio Barsanti (1821-1864) and Felice Matteucci (1808-1887).

In the historic center of Lucca, in the Antica Loggetta dei Guinigi, is the Barsanti and Matteucci Museum: a permanent exhibition dedicated to the two scientists who began working together in 1851 to create a continuous cycle engine that used the explosion of a gaseous mixture to produce movement; in two years, with the theoretical contributions of Barsanti and the mechanical skills of Matteucci, they built the first internal combustion engine.

The Museum traces the history of this discovery, from the scale reproductions of the four engine models designed to a synthesis of the documents that tell the birth and evolution of the studies of the two scientists, from the life stories of Barsanti and Matteucci to the acknowledgments collected, up to the essential elements that proved the birthright of the internal combustion engine.

In Pietrasanta, in the historic centre, lies the Padre Eugenio Barsanti Museum, located on the first floor of Palazzo Panichi.

The museum itinerary offers the opportunity to retrace the life of Eugenio Barsanti, member of the Piarist religious order, who was born in Pietrasanta in 1821. The museum preserves some relics that belonged to the inventor, but above all autographed documents and some prototypes of internal combustion engines.