In 1997, he was sent out on loan to Leffe in order to gain first team experience, making 29 league appearances with the side in 1997–98 Serie C2.

Playing for the first time in Serie A, Lucarelli avoided relegation with Piacenza in 1998–1999 but went down the following year after finishing bottom of the league.

Piacenza and Lucarelli secured an immediate return to the top division the next year with a second-place finish in Serie B.

After leaving Piacenza in the summer of 2002, Lucarelli moved to Palermo, then in Serie B, where he spent just one season, making 28 league appearances for the Rosanero, who finished just outside of the promotion places.

Livorno finished ninth in Serie A. Lucarelli moved to Reggina for the 2005–06 season and would spend two seasons at the club, twice achieving mid-table finishes before repeating the feat with Genoa in 2007–08, a club he had joined in the summer of 2007, having been exchanged to Siena from Reggina for Francesco Cozza, but immediately leaving for Genoa, where he signed a three-year contract.

On 4 November 2017, Lucarelli became Parma's record holder for league appearances, moving ahead of Ivo Cocconi on the all-time list.