Pisa, Italy

(2009) In western Tuscany, Pisa is best known throughout the world for its famous Leaning Tower. This city began life as a seaside settlement around 3,000 years ago and was first laid out in the mid-eleventh century. Pisa is crammed full of historical monuments and buildings dating back many hundreds of years and much of Pisa has retained its medieval appearance. The Campo dei Miracoli, with its Romanesque buildings is one of the most gorgeous squares of Italy and the highlight of Pisa. Many take a day trip to Pisa to simply visit Campo dei Miracoli.

At Campo dei Miracoli, there is an immense green lawn on which four impressive buildings stand in gleaming white marble. These imposing structures are the enormous Duomo (cathedral), the cathedral's bell tower (Leaning Tower of Pisa), the circular Battistero (Baptistery), and the Camposanto (Holy Field).


The circular Battistero (Baptistery) in Pisa is the largest of its kind in Italy with a circumference of 348 feet. The baptistery was built in 1153 by Deotisalvi who was responsible for the famous lower Romanesque-style drum and left his name on a column by the door. More than 100 years later, the baptistery had further work done to it which included the Gothic style architecture for the upper part of the building and the large dome. The acoustically perfect interior is fairly plain with one of Niccola Pisano's great pulpits sculpted in 1260.






Across the lawn from the baptistery is the Duomo which is an imposing white building dating from 1063. The facade is a Pisan-Romanesque triumph constructed in the twelveth century with four tiers of open galleries housing statues and decorated marble inlay. Mannerist artist Giambologna cast the bronze doors to replace those destroyed in the 1595 fire. The Duomo pulpit was carved by Niccola Pisano's son, Giovanni, in 1302-11 with tumultuous New Testament scenes.





The bell tower for the Duomo or Leaning Tower of Pisa is also in Pisan-Romanesque style with the foundation laid in 1173 but wasn't finished until the late fourteenth century. The cylindrical tower stands 180 ft, has eight stories with six of them with open galleries, and leans a staggering 15 feet out of plumb. The heavy marble was stacked atop watery alluvial sand which caused the tower to lean even while it was being constructed. Work stopped until 1275 when it was decided to curve the tower back as it rose. In 1836, an attempt was made to dig out the foundations, but the lean worsened. A new concrete sleeve and draining the water table have helped. By 1990, with over a million tourist annually trampling up the spiral staircase of 294 steps to the top of the tower, there was a great potential for a serious collapse. The tower was closed with restraining bands strapped around it, lead weights stacked on one side and the base excavated to try to reverse the lean. It has reopened for a nominal entrance fee for visits up to the top of the tower for an aerial view of the Campo and the city of Pisa.

The Camposanto (Holy Field) was the monumental cemetary for noble citizens of Pisa north of the Duomo. It was created in 1278 to house shiploads of holy soil brought back from the mount where Christ was crucified. The cemetary was heavily bombed in World War II damaging and destroying the wooden roof, lead panels and many of the frescoes.

Surrounding the Camposanto on two sides is the the city wall and two major museums, The Museo dell'Opera on the eastern end of Piazza del Duomo containing the cathedral's treasure collection of sculptures, painting and artworks; and the Museo delle Sinopie in the southern end with the giant preparatory sketches on plaster for the lost Camposanto frescoes. Numerous souvenir stalls cling along the long south side of the square.

Laid out in 1560 by Giorgio Vasari, the Piazza Dei Cavalieri was the center of Pisa in its days as a republic and was remodeled in the sixteenth century as the symbol of Medici power in Pisa. The curving Palazzo dei Cavalieri is topped with large busts of the Medici and adjoins the church of Santo Stefano dei Cavalieri. On the other side of the square is the Palazzo dell'Orologio (clock building) and heading east is the Borgo Stretto, one of Pisa's smartest streets with a wide collection of shops.