Sights in Pisa
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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.
During WWII, Allied artillery destroyed many of the cloisters' precious frescoes. Among the few to survive was the Triumph of Death - a remarkable illustration of Hell - attributed to an anonymous 14th-century painter known as 'The Master of the Triumph of Death'. Fortunately, the mirrors…
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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.
It is the three pairs of firmly closed, 16th-century bronze doors of the main entrance (west), designed by the school of Giambologna to replace the wooden originals destroyed (along with most of the cathedral interior) by fire in 1596, which the crowds ogle over. Quite spellbinding, hours can be spen…
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Chiesa di Santa Maria della Spina
One of Pisa’s architectural gems is the Chiesa di Santa Maria della Spina. A fine example of Pisan-Gothic style, this now-deconsecrated church was built between 1223 and 1230 to house a reliquary of a spina (thorn) from Christ’s crown. Its ornately spired exterior is encrusted with tabernacles and statues but the interior is simple and perfectly suited to quiet reflection. Inside, the focal point is Andrea and Nino Pisano’s Madonna and Child (aka Madonna of the Rose, 1345–48), a masterpiece of Gothic sculpture that still bears traces of its original colours and gilding. At the other end of the church is a copy of the graceful Madonna del Latte (Our Lady of Milk, 1…
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Museo Nazionale di San Matteo
From Piazza Garibaldi, veer east along the Lungarno to visit the Museo Nazionale di San Matteo, a repository of medieval masterpieces housed in a 13th-century former Benedictine convent. This fine gallery has a notable collection of 14th- and 15th-century Pisan sculptures, including pieces by Nicola and Giovanni Pisano, Andrea and Nino Pisano, Francesco di Valdambrino, Donatello, Michelozzo and Andrea della Robbia, but its collection of paintings from the Tuscan school (c 12th to 14th centuries) is even better, with works by Berlinghiero, Lippo Memmi, Taddeo Gaddi, Gentile da Fabriano and Ghirlandaio on show. Don’t miss Masaccio’s St Paul, Fra’ Angelico’s Madonna …
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Leaning Tower
Yes, the really does lean.
In 1160 Pisa boasted 10,000-odd towers – but had no bell tower for its cathedral. Loyal Pisan Berta di Bernardo righted this in 1172 when she died, leaving a legacy for construction of a campanile (bell tower). Work began in 1173 but ground to a halt a decade later, when the structure’s first three tiers were observed to be tilting. In 1272 work started again, with artisans and masons attempting to bolster the foundations but failing miserably. Despite this, they keep going, compensating for the lean by gradually building straight up from the lower storeys and creating a subtle curve.
Over the centuries, the tower has tilted an extra 1mm eac…
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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).
Legendary booty includes various pieces of Islamic art including the griffin that once topped the cathedral and a 10th-century Moorish hippogriff.
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Piazza dei Miracoli
No Tuscan sight is more immortalised in kitsch souvenirs than the iconic tower teetering on the edge of this famous piazza, which is also known as the Campo dei Miracoli (Field of Miracles) or Piazza del Duomo (Cathedral Square). The piazza’s expansive green lawns provide an urban carpet on which Europe’s most extraordinary concentration of Romanesque buildings – in the form of Cathedral, Baptistry and Tower – are arranged. Two million visitors every year mean that crowds are the norm, many arriving by tour bus from Florence for a whirlwind visit.
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Museum of the Cathedral
Housed in the Cathedral’s former chapter house, the Museum of the Cathedral is a repository for works of art once displayed in the Cathedral and Baptistry. Highlights include Giovanni Pisano’s ivory carving of the Madonna and Child (1299), made for the Cathedral’s high altar, and his mid-13th-century Madonna del Colloquio (Madonna of the Colloquy), from a gate of the Duomo. Legendary booty includes various pieces of Islamic art, including the griffin that once topped the Cathedral and a 10th-century Moorish hippogriff.
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Palazzo Blu
West of Corso Italia, facing the river, is the Palazzo Blu, a magnificently restored 14th-century building that sports over-the-top 19th-century interior decoration. Home to the Foundation CariPisa art collection, which comprises predominantly Pisan works from the 14th to the 20th century, the palazzo also hosts temporary exhibitions. Access is via a 20-minute guided tour only (at 4pm, 4.30pm and 5pm daily unless pre-booked).
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Duomo
Construction of Pisa’s Cathedral began in 1063 and continued until the 13th century, when the main facade was added. The elliptical dome, the first of its kind in Europe, dates from 1380. The building’s striking cladding of alternating bands of green and cream marble became the blueprint for Romanesque churches throughout Tuscany.
The cathedral was the largest in Europe when it was constructed, its breathtaking proportions designed to demonstrate Pisa’s domination of the Mediterranean. The main facade has four exquisite tiers of columns diminishing skywards, while the vast interior is propped up by 68 hefty granite columns. The wooden ceiling decorated with 24-carat g…
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Battistero
The unusual, round Battisero has one dome piled on top of another, each roofed half in lead, half in tiles. Construction began in 1152, but it was notably remodelled and continued by Nicola and Giovanni Pisano more than a century later and was finally completed in the 14th century – hence its hybrid architectural style.
Inside, the beautiful hexagonal pulpit carved by Nicola Pisano between 1259–60 is the undisputed highlight. Inspired by the Roman sarcophagi in the Camposanto, Pisano used powerful classical models to enact scenes from biblical legend. His figure of Daniel, who supports one of the corners of the pulpit on his shoulders, was clearly modelled on an ancient…
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Camposanto
Soil shipped from Calvary during the Crusades is said to lie within the white walls of the hauntingly beautiful Camposanto, a cloistered quadrangle where prominent Pisans were once buried. Some of the sarcophagi here are of Graeco-Roman origin, recycled in the Middle Ages.
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Babette Food and Art Café
To view art from a different era, make your way to Babette Food and Art Café, a favourite haunt of the local bohemian set. Its exposed-brick walls play host to a changing programme of works by local artists and its casual vibe encourages coffee-fuelled conversation.
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Museo delle Sinopie
During WWII, Allied artillery destroyed many of the precious 14th- and 15th-century frescoes that covered the cloister walls. Among the few to survive was the Triumph of Death – a remarkable illustration of Hell attributed to 14th-century painter Buonamico Buffalmacco. A program of restoration of those frescoes damaged rather than totally destroyed by the bombs is currently underway and the sinópie (preliminary sketches) drawn by the artists in red earth pigment on the walls of the Camposanto before the frescoes were overpainted are now on display in the Sinópie Museum.
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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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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.
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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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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 Santo Stefano dei Cavalieri
Vasari designed the church, Chiesa di Santo Stefano dei Cavalieri.
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Museum of the Ancient Ships of Pisa
The Museum of the Ancient Ships of Pisa on Lungarno Simonelli opens in early 2010. The museum will display a remarkable collection of nine Roman cargo ships excavated from Pisa’s silted-up harbour in 1998 and restored over the past decade.
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