Showing 1-14 of 14 results
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Battistero
The unusual round battistero has one dome piled on top of another, each roofed half in lead, half in tiles, and is topped by a gilt bronze John the Baptist (1395). It was started in 1153 by Diotisalvi, notably remodelled and continued by Nicola Pisano and son Giovanni more than a century later and finally completed in the 14th century - hence its hybrid architectural style.
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Cemetery
Soil shipped from Calvary during the Crusades - and reputed to reduce cadavers to skeletons within days - is said to lie within the white walls of this hauntingly beautiful cemetery, a beautiful final resting place for many prominent Pisans, arranged around a garden in a cloistered quadrangle. Many of the more interesting sarcophagi are of Greco-Roman origin, recycled in the Middle Ages.
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Chiesa di Santa Caterina
Chiesa di Santa Caterina is a fine example of Pisan-Gothic architecture, and has works by Nino Pisano.
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Chiesa di Santa Maria della Spina
This gem of a church, Chiesa di Santa Maria della Spina, is a fine architectural example of Pisan-Gothic. It was built in the early 14th century to house a thorn from Christ's crown and is refreshingly intimate after the heavyweights of Piazza dei Miracoli. Its ornately spired exterior cluttered with tabernacles and statues exudes richness but the interior is simple. Highlight: Andrea and Nino Pisano Madonna of the Rose , a masterpiece of Gothic sculpture.
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Chiesa di Santo Stefano dei Cavalieri
Vasari designed the church, Chiesa di Santo Stefano dei Cavalieri.
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Duomo
Pisa's duomo was paid for with spoils brought home after Pisans attacked an Arab fleet entering Palermo in 1063. Begun a year later, the cathedral, with its striking cladding of alternating bands of green and cream marble, became the blueprint floor for Romanesque churches throughout Tuscany. The elliptical dome, the first of its kind in Europe at the time, was added in 1380.
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Leaning Tower
No matter how many postcards you've seen, nothing prepares you for the real thing. The Torre Pendente is gravity defying. Admission to the tower is limited to 40 people at a time and is by guided tour (in Italian or English). If you don't want to wait for hours, book in advance (online or by telephone); otherwise run to a ticket office on Piazza dei Miracoli when you arrive to book your slot for later that day.
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Museo dell'Opera del Duomo
No museum provides a better overview of Piazza dei Miracoli's trio of architectural masterpieces than the Museum of the Cathedral, the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo. Home to cathedral canons between the 12th and 17th centuries, it has a profusion of works of art once displayed in the tower, cathedral and baptistry. Highlights include Giovanni Pisano's ivory carving of the Madonna and Child (1300) carved for the cathedral's high altar and his Madonna del Colloquio (Madonna of the Colloquium).
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Museo Delle Sinopie
This museum houses vast reddish-brown sketches drawn onto walls as outlines for frescoes - revealed in the cemetery after the WWII artillery raids. Now restored to the best degree possible, these sinopie give a fascinating insight into the process of creating a fresco.
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Museo Nazionale di San Matteo
Along the waterfront boulevard, Lungarno Mediceo, is the Museo Nazionale di San Matteo, a fine gallery that journeys from the ceramics adorning the façades of medieval churches to 12th- and 13th-century Pisan painting (including on crosses) and early Renaissance sculpture.
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Palazzo dei Cavalieri
Palazzo dei Cavalieri was redesigned by Vasari and features remarkable graffiti decoration. Both palace and piazza are named after the Knights of St Stephen, a religious and military order founded by Cosimo I de' Medici.
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Palazzo dell'Orologio
Palazzo dell'Orologio occupies the site of a tower where, in 1288, Count Ugolino della Gherardesca, his sons and grandsons were starved to death on suspicion of helping the Genoese enemy at the Battle of Meloria, an incident recorded in Dante's Inferno .
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Piazza dei Miracoli
No Tuscan sight is more immortalised in kitsch souvenirs than the iconic tower piercing Piazza dei Miracoli, also called Campo dei Miracoli (Field of Miracles) and Piazza del Duomo. One of the world's loveliest and busiest squares, with its sprawling green lawns and crowds propping up the tower for the camera, this piazza showcases one of Europe's most extraordinary concentrations of Romanesque splendour - the cathedral, baptistry and tower.
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Torre Guelfa
Enchanting rooftop-views spill out from Torre Guelfa, part of the old citadel a few paces west of Chiesa di Santa Maria della Spina. Built in the 15th century, the tower was destroyed during WWII and rebuilt in 1956. Trawl up 200 steps to get to the top.
Showing 1-14 of 14 results
