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VISIT PISA
INFORMATION AND SMALL GUIDE
Pisa, or Pisa, for the river melody that makes your rest
so sweet, I will praise you as the one who saw the
immemorial evil of his heart flow the blood of the dawn
and the flame of vespers and the crying of the
adamantine stars and the filter of the oblique moon.
Gabriele D'Annunzio
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Pisa, thanks to its inclined
tower is one of the most famous places in the world, but it is also the city of
discoveries, the famous
University, a city that holds treasures of inestimable value that make it
among the most important Italian cities of art, because it offers visitors the
unique scenery of Piazza dei Miracoli (UNESCO World Heritage Site since
1987) and is also the gateway to Tuscany.
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 Thanks
to the international airport "Galileo Galilei" and the excellent rail
links, Pisa is the ideal base for exploring the region and the nearby cities
of
Florence,
Siena,
Lucca,
Livorno,
Pistoia. When a foreigner thinks of Italy, often the
Tower of Pisa is among the first things that come to mind, a unique symbol,
but Pisa is not only this: it has a beautiful old town with narrow streets
and wide squares, Renaissance buildings, medieval tower houses, churches in
Romanesque and Gothic style, the beautiful Lungarno, and offers unique views
where to go shopping (as under the ancient loggias of Borgo Stretto) or buy
fresh fruits and vegetables (the characteristic Piazza delle Vettovaglie).
 Anyone
who wants to walk through its streets and browse the stately buildings
transformed into university buildings, would find a reference to the history
of scientific research that since 1343, the years of foundation of his
university, has marked the life of the city. The birth certificate of the
University of Pisa is the Bull "In Sipremae dignitatis" by Pope
Clement VI, almost seven centuries have passed since then. Pisa has a
population of about 100,000 inhabitants and 35,000 are the students, so the
cultural life is lively, there are many events, festivals and events held
here every year and there is a wide choice of clubs, restaurants
and discos.
 Pisa
is the capital of the homonymous Tuscan province, like Florence, is
crossed by the river Arno. It was one of the four ancient
Maritime Republics,
has become a thriving city with its monuments known throughout the world as
the Leaning Tower, the Cathedral and the Baptistery in
Piazza dei Miracoli. These buildings are really miracles of
architecture and testify to the power and wealth of the city in the Middle
Ages, when Pisa had trade relations with the Arab world and the
Mediterranean countries. There are many interesting museums in Pisa: along
the Arno there are the Museum of San Matteo, the Museum of
Contemporary Graphics, the Blue Palace and the last great work by
Keith Haring, the mural "Tuttomondo" (1989).
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Campo dei Miracoli
Unesco World Heritage Site
The Leaning Tower belongs to a set of four imposing buildings located
at the "Field of Miracles" (Piazza dei Miracoli), UNESCO World
Heritage Site: the Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta of the XI-XII
century, the Bell Tower (the Leaning Tower that was actually a bell
tower) of 1173, the Baptistery, with its 18 meters in diameter, the
twelfth-fourteenth century and the cemetery (Cemetery). The Duomo is the
greatest example of Pisan Romanesque architecture. A monumental work, which
houses priceless works by artists such as Ghirlandaio, Beccafumi,
Andrea Del Sarto, Cimabue, Giovanni Pisano,
Giambologna.
 There
are also other notable buildings such as the churches of San Frediano
(11th-12th centuries), Santa Caterina (13th-14th centuries), Santo
Stefano dei Cavalieri (1569) and the Palazzi dell'Orologio e dei
Cavalieri. During your visit to the city you will cross Piazza dei
Cavalieri, the second most important square in Pisa after Piazza del
Miracoli, so called because it was the seat of the ancient military order of
the Sacred Order of Santo Stefano, a chivalric order of papal
foundation. In the square overlook the most important palaces and churches
of the Grand Duchy of Pisa, first of all the Palace of the Knights
with its majestic facade, home to the prestigious Scuola Normale
Superiore di Pisa; the Palazzo dell'Orologio where he was starved
to death, along with two children and two grandchildren, Count Ugolino
della Gherardesca, accused of treason to his city, to whom Dante
dedicated 90 verses of the XXXIII canto of the Inferno, condemning
him for eternity to anthropophagy, that is to cannibalism, eating for the
eternity of the head of his enemy, Bishop Ruggeri.
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Strolling through Pisa
 Continuing
along Via Santa Maria towards the banks of the river Arno, you will
find the beautiful Gothic Church of Santa Maria della Spina.
Considered a masterpiece of Gothic art in Italy. The name derives from a
thorn from the crown of Christ, which a local merchant brought to Pisa on
his return from the Holy Land. The church, which is now located on the
Lungarno Gambacorti, was at the time of its construction, in 1230, on
the right bank of the Arno. In the nineteenth century it was dismantled and
moved to prevent it from being damaged by frequent flooding of the river, a
fate that in the next century instead touched many other ancient buildings.
Five bridges cross the Arno and many artists have written about the charm of
the Lungarni, including Byron, Shelley, Montesquieu,
Leopardi, Carducci, D'Annunzio and Foscolo.
 The
Lungarni are particularly romantic at night, thanks to the lights of the
wrought iron lamps and the buildings that extend their shadows in the waters
of the river. Along the Arno River is also the Museo
Nazionale di San Matteo (National Museum of St. Matthew), which
collects works from churches and convents in the city and the area and is
housed in the former Benedictine convent of St. Matthew of the thirteenth
century. In the museum, which is really worth a visit, there are works by
important artists such as Giunta Pisano, Simone Martini,
Lippo Memmi, Francesco Traini, as well as paintings by
Masaccio, Beato Angelico, Benozzo di Lese and
Ghirlandaio and masterpieces by Nicola Pisano and Donatello.
The Museum also houses a precious collection of illuminated manuscripts,
medieval ceramics and wooden sculptures.
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"For Silvia",
Giacomo Leopardi in Pisa
Una delle poesie più romantiche di tutti i tempi,
"A Silvia" di Giacomo Leopardi fu scritta durante il soggiorno
a Pisa del grande poeta di Recanati. Magari la prossima volta che vi
capiterà di passeggiare sui Lungarni vi verranno in mente alcune delle sue
strofe.
Silvia, rimembri ancora
quel tempo della tua vita mortale,
quando beltà splendea
negli occhi tuoi ridenti e fuggitivi,
e tu, lieta e pensosa, il limitare
di gioventù salivi?...
One of the most romantic poems of all time, "A Silvia" by Giacomo
Leopardi was written during the stay in Pisa of the great poet of
Recanati. Perhaps the next time you happen to walk along the Lungarni
will come to mind some of his verses.
Silvia, you still remember
That time of your mortal life,
When beauty shone
In thy laughing and fugitive eyes,
and you, glad and thoughtful, the limit
of youth climbed?...
 In
the winter and spring of 1828, Leopardi was in Pisa. The longed-for
separation from his native town, Recanati, had cost him years of
negotiations with his parents. To extend his return home as much as possible,
he had agreed to compile a collection of his works, with the proceeds of
which he was able to maintain himself. In the Tuscan city he rented a small
apartment with a family, which usually housed students for little money. His
room looked out onto a vegetable garden and was illuminated by two high
windows, from which his gaze could go as far as the horizon.
The poet went out into the city every day, walking along the Arno River
crowded with carriages and people walking. On his return, the sister of the
landlady, with whom Teresa Lucignani had made friends, waited for him
on the balcony. In June 1828, Lo Zibaldone spoke of "a young woman
between the ages of sixteen and eighteen", who had in her face, in her
gestures, in her figure a "divine I don't know what". The beautiful Pisa
reminded Leopardi of another girl, who had loved in her thoughts, who bore
the same name, who died in Recanati at the height of her youth, Teresa
Fattorini. Recalling the memory about thirty years later, the brother of
the poet, Carlo had to speak of both as "distant affections and prisoners".
Although he liked Pisa, Leopardi soon had an acute sense of nostalgia for
his family and his world and this gave him a creative drive that he had not
had for so long. Driven to remember and reflect on the past, Leopardi
touched with lyrical enthusiasm the ideal stages of his life, the ardent
desires, the hopes that had supported him, and then the disappointment
before the collapse of illusions, the cruel revelation of the retreat and
the subsequent state of cold apathy, finally the desire, equally recurrent
for him, to die and end with the pain that tormented him. Animated by these
feelings, he wrote one of his masterpieces, 19 April 1828. The
composition was written in a flash, in just two days.
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The second Leaning Tower of Pisa
 In
Pisa, not everyone knows, there is another Leaning Tower, less famous and
important than that of Piazza dei Miracoli, but that will perhaps arouse
your curiosity. It is the bell tower of the Church of San Michele degli
Scalzi from the 13th century; it is a structure with a cross plan, a
gabled roof and a façade with three entrances. It is flanked to the south by
a bell tower built of brick on a stone base, characterized precisely by its
steep slope.
Some historical information about
Pisa
 The
city has Ligurian origins; in the 4th century B.C. it was an Etruscan centre,
then it became a Roman colony in 179 B.C. and then a Roman municipality. C.
was an Etruscan centre, so it became a Roman colony in 179 B.C. and then a
Roman municipality (89 B.C.). The Romans transformed Pisa into an important
port and naval center. The advantages of the presence of the port continued
in the Middle Ages, particularly with the first crusade. Later, like other
Mediterranean port cities, the city experienced a significant decline,
mainly because of the conflict with
Genoa, which ended
with the defeat of Pisa in the Battle of Meloria (1284). The city
then passed under the dominion of the Viscounts of Milan (at the beginning
of the fifteenth century) and then ended up under the power of Florence.
From here on its destinies intertwine with those of the Tuscan capital.
Despite the loss of political independence, Pisa has always maintained the
character of a remarkable cultural center, both in the past, and now, with
the University and the prestigious Scuola Normale Superiore. Pisa is the
birthplace of some famous names in the Italian scientific tradition,
including the great Galileo Galilei, the mathematician Leonardo
Fibonacci (the famous "Fibonacci Number") and the physicist Antonio
Pacinotti. Still today Pisa is a center of excellence in research thanks
to the National Research Center CNR.
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Natural beauties of Pisa
 Green
places in the center of Pisa are the Botanical Garden of the
University, dating from 1544 and then the oldest university botanical
garden in the world and the Scotto Garden, where nature and history
intertwine. The garden was created at the beginning of the nineteenth
century by Giovanni Caluri for the family Scotto who had purchased in 1798
the fortress once belonged to Peter Leopold of Lorraine. Pisa and its
surroundings offer many and varied natural beauty, from Monti Pisani,
up to the vineyards and olive groves of Volteranno, the Pisan Hills
and the coast with beaches, systems of incredible dunes, large pine forests.
A very green territory, where you can go trekking for hundreds of miles,
riding and mountain biking by the sea or on the hills. This is a small
natural paradise with valuable vegetation and fauna that can be admired at
the fantastic and still wild Natural Park of Migliarino San Rossore
Massaciuccoli is a mosaic of natural environments extraordinarily intact.
The park is open all year round with the possibility of guided tours by
bike, on foot, in a carriage and on horseback. Pisa also has the sea,
with beaches, pine forests and Mediterranean scrub. The proximity to the sea
makes the climate even milder than the already excellent climate of Tuscany,
and allows Pisa to remain a clean city, as the sea wind sweeps away the
pollution of the city, especially in the winter months. The Pisan coast is
presented with Marina di Pisa, Tirrenia, Calambrone and
Marina di Vecchiano. Marina di Pisa offers beaches surrounded by
cliffs, Art Nouveau buildings on the seafront and squares that open to the
blue sea. From Tirrenia to Calambrone the beaches become larger, are
accompanied by dunes and increase the size of the Mediterranean pine forests
that surround them (planted from the eighteenth century). Marina di
Vecchiano offers a long sandy coastline with a beautiful natural system
of low dunes and lots of Mediterranean vegetation. In Tirrenia there are
also two nine-hole 18-hole golf courses. All around Pisa there are villages
and towns that wind along the Wine Road of the Pisan hills, where you can
taste wine cellar, olive oil and you can sleep in the many farmhouses.
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The economy
The economy of Pisa is based on trade in agricultural products, industrial
activity (mechanical, textile, pharmaceutical) and tourist flows, attracted
especially by the significant presence of monuments and works of art, the
focus of which is the Piazza dei Miracoli. The Romanesque Leaning
Tower of the fourteenth century, 56 meters high, with its 294 steps and
its slope of about 4 meters from the vertical, is obviously the main
attraction of the city, one of the most visited and most photographed
monuments in the world. Going up there you really have the impression that
you can turn from one moment to another. After more than ten years of
closure, it was reopened to the public in the summer of 2002.
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I fantastici
dintorni di Pisa
 Nei
dintorni di Pisa sono presenti anche le terme di San Giuliano, nel palazzo del '700 dei
Granduchi di Lorena in località San Giuliano Terme appunto, a pochi
kilometri dal centro storico di Pisa, e ancora per gli amanti delle terme le
acque di Casciana Terme, centro di cura e benessere da quasi 1000
anni. Inoltre la splendida Certosa di Calci, con il Museo di storia
naturale e il borgo medievale fortificato di Vicopisano, ai piedi dei
monti che separano Pisa da Lucca. Da visitare la città di Volterra
(nella foto a lato), dove etruschi e romani hanno lasciato tracce
significative, ancora visibili nel Museo etrusco e nel Teatro romano.
Bellissime sono la pinacoteca di Volterra e il Museo dell'alabastro, dove
sono esposti pezzi unici, tuttora d'ispirazione per i laboratori artigiani
che da secoli continuano la tradizione della lavorazione artistica
dell'alabastro. Rinomato il borgo medievale di San Miniato, dove a
novembre si festeggia, con una tradizionale mostra mercato e con tanti stand
gastronomici, il pregiato prodotto locale, il tartufo bianco. Interessante
anche il Museo della fondazione Piaggio, Pontedera, intitolato a
Giovanni Alberto Agnelli, che espone i numerosi modelli dell'azienda Piaggio
ed è dotato di un vasto archivio storico. Ribadiamo infine che Pisa può essere
un'ottima base per visitare altri luoghi o città in Toscana
vicini come
Firenze o
Lucca a meno di 20 km
o
Pistoia a 40 km.
The fantastic surroundings of
Pisa
In
the surroundings of Pisa there are also the thermal baths of San Giuliano,
in the 18th century palace of the Grand Dukes of Lorraine in San Giuliano
Terme, a few kilometers from the historic center of Pisa, and for lovers of
spas the waters of Casciana Terme, a spa and wellness center for
almost 1000 years. Also the beautiful Certosa di Calci, with the
Museum of Natural History and the medieval fortified village of
Vicopisano, at the foot of the mountains that separate Pisa from Lucca.
To visit the city of Volterra (in the photo on the side), where
Etruscans and Romans have left significant traces, still visible in the
Etruscan Museum and the Roman Theatre. Beautiful are the art gallery of
Volterra and the Museum of alabaster, where unique pieces are exhibited,
still inspired by the artisan workshops that for centuries continue the
tradition of artistic work of alabaster. The medieval village of San Miniato
is famous and in November it is celebrated with a traditional market
exhibition and with many food stands, the precious local product, the white
truffle. Also interesting is the Museum of the Piaggio Foundation, Pontedera,
dedicated to Giovanni Alberto Agnelli, which exhibits the many models of the
Piaggio company and has a vast historical archive. Finally, we reiterate
that Pisa can be an excellent base for visiting other places or cities in
Tuscany near as
Florence or
Lucca less than 20 km,
Pistoia
40 km, or
Livorno
27 km.
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