Pisa | Magnificent Centuries of History in the Shadow of an Iconic Leaning Tower

 

Pisa, a historic city founded by  the Ligurians, later a flourishing Etruscan colony and a strategic Roman Imperial base, located at the mouth of the Arno river,  in a flat basin called Valdarno near the north of the Pisan Mountains, a center that reached its dawn and glory in the Middle Ages as one of the four great Italic Maritime Republic.

This centre with magnificent centuries of history in the shadow of an iconic leaning tower boasts a great artistic and monumental heritage, Pisa still retains the profile and shape of the old city with districts developed in a checkerboard pattern where authentic architectural treasures are scattered, the city that gave birth to the famous physicist, atronomist, writer, mathematician, philosopher and considered the father of modern science Galileo Galilei.

Some legends are linked to this city, one of which tells that it was founded by a group of Greek refugees from a site near Olympia called Pisa located in a valley where the river Alpheus flows  in the geographical area of the Peloponnese and for this reason the Pisans are nicknamed "Alfei".

1st Day – Piazza dei Miracoli - Duomo -  Baptistery - Leaning Tower -  Camposanto -  Museo dell' Opera del Duomo

I suggest starting the visit from the iconic Piazza dei Miracoli, a monumental urban space that beautifully preserves its Romanesque jewels, namely the Cathedral, the nearby Baptistery, the legendary Leaning Tower and the famous Cemetery.

In this large square these main works were built starting from 1064 with the first operations conducted by the local architect Buscheto when the first stone was laid for the construction of the Cathedral dedicated to Santa Maria Assunta.

This magnificent example of medieval art boasts a superlative façade monumentally embellished with statues, sculptures, ornate loggias and columns of fine marble, a magnificent religious structure that brings together in its layout distinct architectural styles such as elements of Lombard, Emilian, Byzantine and even Islamic origin.

The building was developed between the eleventh and thirteenth centuries, also loyally using all the architectural canons of the Tuscan Romanesque and changes made by the architect Rainaldo who continued the work of his predecessor Buscheto with aesthetic changes that benefited its appearance included with the construction of three extraordinary bronze portals.

The interior in the shape of a Latin cross changed from an original Greek cross with five naves with apse and transept with three naves, the space from some perspectives appears with evident Middle Eastern influences due to the presence of raised arches, white marble as the primary building material used and the elliptical dome that generate some similarities with a mosque while the presence of the pair of raised women's galleries developed in the naves reveal a clear Byzantine inspiration.

The seventeenth-century gilded coffered ceiling of the Florentine school by Domenico and Bartolomeo Atticiati  is stupendous, where the coat of arms of the Medici dynasty which was the legendary noble family of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany also appears, a work that replaced a previous elaboration consisting of exposed wooden trusses.

The Duomo apart from these purely architectural wonders. houses stupendous artistic treasures by illustrious masters such as Cimabue, Andrea del Sarto, Giambologna, Sodoma, Sogliani and many others next to the extraordinary pulpit of the 300 called pulpit made by the genius Giovanni Pisano with sculpted episodes of the Life of Christ reassembled in 1926 after a fire, the stupendous inlaid stalls dating back to the fourteenth century and the relics of San Ranieri, patron saint of the city.

Continuation with the Baptistery, the largest in Italy in size, with a circumference of 107.24 meters for a height of over 54.0 meters, erected in 1152 in honor of St. John the Baptist following a project by Diotisalvi, despite the fact that it was completed in the following century by the very Granada Giovanni and Nicola Pisano and in the 1800s it was the subject of a complete restoration by the architect Alessandro Gherardesca who included rebuilding some portals and replacing basic decorative elements.

Built on a circular plan and embellished with sinuous blind arches, magnificent pierced cusps, high school mullioned windows, sculptures inserted with great aesthetic criterion with a wonderful portal refinedly embellished with beautiful reliefs.

A notable highlight of this construction is certainly the very large truncated conical dome covered with red tiles and lead plates.

The interior contains masterpieces of enormous importance such as refined reliefs narrating stages of the life of Christ executed by Nicola Pisano and the extraordinary baptismal  font sculpted by Guido da Como.

Then you will find yourself in front of the legendary Leaning Tower which reaches a height of 57.0 meters, built in 1173 following a project by the architect Bonanno Pisano although some historical documents attribute the work and the project to Diotisalvi who was working in the Baptistery at the time.

This building, emblem of Pisa and of the whole of Italy, was raised to represent the bell tower of the church, which is why it is also known as  the Tower of Santa Maria, a structure built on a circular plan with two rooms at the ends, one at the base and one at the top with the execution of a set of blind arches crowned by six splendid orders of loggias and as a terminal a belfry accompanied by small arches.

Continuation with the Camposanto, a monumental building developed in 1278 on a quadrangular plan that houses numerous works of importance including frescoes by illustrious artists such as Veneziano and Bonaiuti and ancient epigraphs and sarcophagi from the Roman era.

The complex of Piazza dei Miracoli also includes the Museum of Sinopie which represents in its own way a journey through the history of the technical preparation of the fresco, or the drawings created by the artist with red earth called Sinope  a place located in present-day Turkey.

This exhibition houses the drawing projects produced by famous masters such as Gozzoli, Traini, Gaddi, Buffalmacco, Piero di Puccio and Spinello Aretino.

Afterwards you can visit of the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo located in a fifteenth-century building that was the residence of the cloistered Cistercian Benedictine nuns containing the Treasury of the Duomo which shows a collection of archaeological finds, vestments and religious missals, graphic works of the medieval era, ecclesiastical furnishings, wooden inlays and above all magnificent sculptures by the great artists Giovanni and Nicola Pisano.

Time for your lunch, I recommend starting with an appetizer – Bruschetta-based appetizer, first courses to choose between Pappardelle with Hare Sauce or Gnocchetti with Pisan Pesto, second courses to choose between Stewed Bacon Rolls with Sautéed Mushrooms or Grilled Pork Chop with Mixed Salad.

In the afternoon free time to relax or continuing to discover the beauties of Pisa, dinner, free evening at leisure and overnight stay in the chosen hotel.

2nd Day – Church of San Zeno -  Church of Santa Caterina -  Church of San Francesco -  National Museum of San Matteo -  Church of San Michele al Borgo

The fascinating and historic Pisa offers many attractions and on this day I recommend visiting a site that was once called Porta Monetaria by the Pisans but better known as Porta di San Zeno, one of the historical gates of the then Pisan Republic.

Here stands the beautiful Church of San Zeno erected shortly before 1000 by the Monastic Order of the Benedictines on what remained of an ancient temple of the Roman era.

Later the 12th century  structure was remodelled and expanded in a traditional Romanesque style and in 1809 deconsecrated to be used as a municipal warehouse and as a hall for musical concerts.

You can linger in front of the magnificent façade made of tuff with a portico that respects the canons of that medieval architectural matrix included in the geometric decorations and with an interior developed on three naves with colonnade embellished with capitals.

Continuation with the Church of Santa Caterina built on a square of the same name between 1251 and 1300 by the Dominican Monks,  an ecclesiastical building with a marble façade that boasts a beautiful rose window dating back to 1325, two  refined Gothic-style loggias and where next to it stands a high bell tower raised in terracotta with ceramic decorations.

The visit of the interior very interesting allows you to discover magnificent masterpieces such as a fifteenth-century marble dossal work of the school of the great Florentine sculptor Donatello, a sculptural group of 1360 represented by the Annunciation and the Archangel Gabriele executed by Nino Pisano who also executed the sepulchral monument of Bishop Simone Saltarelli in 1432 and the tomb of Gherardo Compagni dated to the end of the 1300s.

In terms of painting, you can admire a masterpiece dating back to 1350 by Francesco Traini in an altarpiece depicting the Apotheosis of St. Thomas and a painting by Fra' Bartolomeo from the 500s.

You will then arrive near the Arno River to admire another Pisan medieval masterpiece, namely the Church of San Francesco d'Assisi, an ecclesiastical building dating back to the 13th century.

The first stone was laid in 1211 following a visit by the Umbrian saint to Pisa,  an initial work attributed to two Franciscan Friars but remained unfinished for some years.

Work resumed between 1265 and 1270 with structural work completed in  the 14th century despite the façade being completed in 1603.

The Franciscan matrix is evident from the poor materials used and as usual developing the construction in a large dimension.

The bell tower with a Gothic spire was erected in a rather peculiar way, that is, not on the ground but supported on the two sides of the nave with large corbelled stones grafted as supports.

The single-nave interior with six chapels houses various works dating from  the 13th century but include others dating back to the 14th and 17th centuries and the tomb of the Count of Donoratico Ugolino della Gherardesca.

Walking along the Lungarno Mediceo you will come to the National Museum of San Matteo which boasts inside numerous masterpieces by sublime artists such as Masaccio, Simone Martini, Il Ghirlandaio, Donatello, Beato Angelico, Gentile da Fabriano sculptures of the Pisan school created by Giovanni and Nicola Pisano, medieval Tuscan, Pisan and other ceramics from the Islamic world, various archaeological finds from the Etruscan and Roman era and codices illuminated.

Time for your lunch with first courses to choose between Pisan Soup or Risotto alla Pisana, among the second courses options between Stewed Hare with Toasted Slice of Polenta or Pork Livers with Rapini.

After lunch you can continue with the Church of San Michele in Borgo probably erected before the year 1000 although officially consecrated in the 11th century.

The building with a refined façade with three portals and corresponding naves has a contemporary marble by the Pisano sculptors and a fresco dating back to the 13th century with an immortalized St. Michael the Archangel.

Moving then to the historic Piazza dei Cavalieri which has been  the historical heart of Pisa since the 16th century due to the presence of the Knights of St. Stephen who strenuously fought the Saracens along the entire Mediterranean Sea,  a Templar order founded in 1561 by Cosimo I de' Medici.

The palace is developed on the urban space where the Roman Forum  was built, also known as Piazza delle Sette Vie.

This place represents the venue where the well-known medieval tournament called Mazzascudo is celebrated, in the middle of the Renaissance period the rather decadent and worn medieval buildings were replaced by rampant palaces designed by the master Giorgio Vasari.

On the square surrounded by beautiful buildings of  the 16th century stands the statue of Cosimo I de' Medici, the work of the Florentine sculptor Francavilla who executed a project by Giambologna in 1596 and the Church of Santo Stefano dei Cavalieri flanked by a soaring bell tower dating back to the second half of the sixteenth century.

The interior boasts a magnificent wooden ceiling with decorations and painting, a beautiful Baroque altar and on the walls the trophies of the Knights won in the battles against the Saracens.

Then you can stop in front of the Palazzo dei Cavalieri also called della Carovana opposite a fountain, a building created by Giorgio Vasari with a curvilinear façade and an elaborate double flight staircase with the insertion of a statue, now home to the Scuola Normale Superiore founded in the Napoleonic period.

Another noteworthy building is the Palazzo dell'Orologio erected by Vasari in 1607 characterized by a large arch, known for the story of Count Ugolino della Gherardesca who died of hunger in the tower, which was called for that event "tower of hunger" or "tower of the Muda" episode mentioned by Dante Alighieri in the Inferno of the Divine Comedy.

At the end of this visit free time at leisure continuing your day in beautiful Pisa.

3rd Day – Cittadella - Church of San Paolo a Ripa d' Arno -  Church of Santa Maria della Spina -  Palazzo Gambacorti

I recommend starting your visit with the Old Fortress or Citadel built in 1406 as an arsenal.

The Florentines who conquered Pisa transformed it into a stronghold that was called the Old Citadel not to be confused with the New Citadel erected in 1440 on the east side of the city.

The Guelph Tower, built in  the 15th century,  was destroyed in 1944 by bombing during World War II and rebuilt on the original design twelve years later, boasting inside the banners and coats of arms of the noble Florentine families who resided in Pisa.

Crossing the bridge over the Arno you can visit the Church of San Paolo a Ripa d'Arno built in  the 9th century, known as the Duomo Vecchio and as the Citadel damaged by the bombings of the Second World War while preserving in any case a beautiful façade with blind arches and refined loggias.

 The interior with three naves contains masterpieces by Cimabue and Simone Martini as well as a sarcophagus from the Roman era.

Near Ponte Solferino you will find yourself in front of the beautiful Church of Santa Maria della Spina , a masterpiece of Pisan Romanesque-Gothic architecture.

 Built in  the 13th century originally on the banks of the Arno and moved to its current location in 1871 to preserve it from flooding.

The façade is wonderful with extraordinary four-light windows, three-mullioned windows, arches and decorated with spires, pinnacles with significant sculptures by the Pisan school inside.

 As a last stop I recommend reaching Palazzo Gambacorti dating back to  the 14th century municipal seat in today's times. The building boasts a beautiful stone façade decorated with marble details, noble coats of arms and mullioned windows.

The interior is rich of wonderful decorations that revive the glorious past of Pisa as a legendary Maritime Republic.

Time for your lunch I recommend single courses to choose between Stewed Pisana Tripe with Rye Croutons or Combined Dish with Bruschetta, Chickpea Soup and Ham Roll.

Pisa is a historic city with a great artistic and cultural heritage of immense importance that offers a lot to the visitor in every urban corner, visiting it is always a pleasure discovering unique treasures.

Link : https://www.turismo.pisa.it/

Where to Stay | Recommended Accommodation 

Hotel Repubblica Marinara 

Hotel Pisa Tower