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THE LEANING TOWER OF PISA

Mon, 19 May 2025 01:18:54 GMT

The monumental heart of Pisa

On August 9, 1173, construction began on the foundation of what would become one of the most iconic monuments in the world: the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

This freestanding bell tower was designed not only as an architectural feat, but also as a symbolic tool to mark time—both human and divine—through its seven bells , one for each note of the musical scale. The tower was most likely built under the direction of architect Diotisalvi , who had earlier begun work on the nearby Baptistery .

However, the project faced an early challenge. Construction was halted at the third tier due to the subsidence of the ground beneath the base. The soil's softness—and the fact that the area once hosted a bend of the now-lost Auser River —caused instability, which led to the tower’s infamous lean .

A Long Pause and a Historic Tilt

These stability issues brought work to a standstill for several decades. It wasn’t until 1275 that construction resumed, this time under the direction of Giovanni di Simone and Giovanni Pisano . They added three additional tiers above the original structure. Interestingly, in an attempt to compensate for the tilt, these upper levels were built with a slight curve in the opposite direction .

The tower was finally completed in the mid-14th century with the addition of the bell chamber .

A Unique Architectural Marvel

The structure of the Leaning Tower is entirely unique. It consists of two concentric cylinders connected by an internal spiral staircase that leads all the way up to the bell chamber. The outer cylinder features six levels of arcaded loggias , where round arches rest on columns .

The base basin , or catino, is actually a 19th-century addition . Also noteworthy are the two bas-reliefs flanking the entrance door : one depicting the Port of Ostia , and the other, the Capitello dei Gemelli , symbolizing the Gemini constellation.

The Tower in Numbers

Height : 58.36 meters
External Diameter : 15 meters
Weight : 14,453 tons
Current Inclination : approximately 5.115°
Stone Blocks Used : 29,424
Stone Surface Area : 7,735 square meters
Capitals : 207
Stair Steps : 273

THE BAPTISTERY

Mon, 19 May 2025 01:15:56 GMT

A Silent Testament to Medieval Craftsmanship

The Baptistery of Pisa , the largest in the world, soars to approximately 55 metres in height with a circumference of 107.24 metres . Its circular plan—echoing the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem—was begun in 1153 by Diotisalvi , who even signed his name on one of the interior piers. The exterior’s first tier displays blind arches punctuated by monofore and four doors aligned with the cardinal points, notably those to the west and east. Above, Nicola Pisano directed the second phase, crafting an open arcade of archivolted columns, while he and Giovanni Pisano sculpted the monumental statues, Gothic ornamentation, and the dancing figures atop the pinnacles. The uppermost level, executed by Giovanni Pisano, features twelve graceful bifore. Crowning the dome stands Turino di Sano da Siena’s bronze Saint John (1395).

The important eastern door is flanked by finely carved biblical scenes and eleven reliefs depicting the months—each tied to a seasonal activity, with September and October united in the grape harvest. At the centre lies the octagonal baptismal font (1246) by Guido Bigarelli da Como , surmounted by Italo Griselli’s Saint John the Baptist (1938). Once, rainwater entered through the oculus above, now the perch of the external John statue. The 13th-century altar rests upon an intricate inlaid marble pavement of the same era.

Inside, Nicola Pisano’s pulpit (1260)—the quintessential masterpiece of 13th-century Italian art—rises on seven columns supported by lion stilophori. Its panels narrate Christ’s life from the Annunciation to the Last Judgment, with figures moving like ancient Roman statues and the Virgin reclining as a matron from a Roman sarcophagus, evoking the Campo Santo’s funerary art. On the column shafts, Virtues and Prophets engage in silent dialogue, ascending to a heavenly Parnassus.

PIAZZA DEI CAVALIERI

Mon, 19 May 2025 01:13:00 GMT

Where Civic Legacy Meets Scholarly Pursuit

Once the heart of Pisa’s medieval republic—then known as the Piazza delle Sette Vie for the roads radiating from its centre—this square served as the seat of civil power, its Palazzo degli Anziani standing in contrast to the episcopal precinct nearby. Legend suggests the ancient Roman forum lay beneath its stones, and indeed, by Lombard times it already hosted the gastaldo , the royal official who governed the city.

Around 1140, the “Square of Seven Ways” became the political nucleus of the burgeoning commune. Here magistrates gathered in adjacent halls and churches, and, after 1254, the newly empowered Popolo Pisano fused older buildings into the Palazzo del Popolo e degli Anziani —today’s Palazzo della Carovana —ready by 1261. Across the way, the Captain of the People took up residence in the Palazzo dell’Orologio , which by 1357 included the grim tower where Count Ugolino della Gherardesca met his tragic end in 1289.

With Florence’s final conquest in 1509, the square’s grand façades remained, but its offices changed hands: Florentine priors replaced the Elders, and a chief custodian supplanted the Captain. Then, in 1558, Grand Duke Cosimo I de’ Medici commissioned Giorgio Vasari to remake the piazza as the headquarters of the newly recognized Order of Santo Stefano . Between 1562 and 1564, the Palazzo della Carovana —reborn from the old Palazzo degli Anziani—was adorned with graffito decoration and niches housing the busts of six Tuscan grand dukes:

Cosimo I
Francesco I
Ferdinando I
Cosimo II
Ferdinando II
Cosimo III

Today, Piazza dei Cavalieri remains a locus of cultural life, dominated by the Scuola Normale Superiore and echoing centuries of civic ceremony and intellectual endeavour.

THE CHURCH OF THE SPINE

Mon, 19 May 2025 01:10:53 GMT

A Delicate Relic of Faith and Medieval Craftsmanship

Built in 1230 by the Gualandi family, this chapel was originally called Santa Maria di Pontenovo after the bridge linking Via Sant’Antonio to Via Santa Maria, which collapsed in the 15th century. Its name “Spina” (“thorn”) derives from a relic it once housed—a thorn said to be from the crown placed on Christ at his crucifixion, brought here in 1333 , but since the 19th century kept in the Church of Santa Chiara.

Originally, the church consisted of a single open loggia facing south under a simple gabled roof. In 1322 , the city council approved an enlargement, begun in 1323 and completed before 1376 , likely under the direction of Lupo di Francesco and his workshop, later succeeded in the mid-14th century by Andrea and Nino Pisano.

The façade is framed by three triangular pediments decorated with rosettes and tarsia. Within small niches sit the statues of the Annunciation (to either side) and the Redeemer—works of the school of Andrea Pisano—while the central niche holds Giovanni Pisano’s Madonna and Child with Angels. Along the side elevation runs a gallery of statues of Christ and the Apostles by Giovanni Pisano, mirrored by additional figures on the eastern face. Atop the steep pyramidal pinnacles perches Nino Pisano’s Madonna with Child and Angels.

Inside, the single nave is adorned with bichrome bands. On the main altar stands Andrea Pisano’s Madonna della Rosa (1343–1348), flanked by Saints Peter and John the Baptist, sculpted by Nino and Tommaso Pisano. On the counter-façade is a replica of Andrea Pisano’s Madonna del Latte (1343–1348), a city icon whose original is now in the Museo Nazionale di San Matteo.

In 1871 , architect Vincenzo Micheli, with approval from Pisa’s Accademia delle Belle Arti, dismantled and re-erected the church in its current location—a process that sparked fierce criticism. Stones were removed roughly, many sculptures were damaged, original statues and pinnacles were repositioned without accurate mapping, and the sacristy (formerly facing the Arno) was demolished and never rebuilt. The work, completed in 1884 , also raised the church walls by one metre, placed it on three new steps, and replaced original carvings with casts. During his first visit to Pisa in autumn 1840 , English writer and critic John Ruskin openly condemned this dismantling and reconstruction.

PIAZZA DEI MIRACOLI THE CATHEDRAL

Mon, 19 May 2025 01:03:27 GMT

A Testament in Marble to Divine Majesty

The Square of Miracles stands upon the ancient sacred precinct of the Romans. The very first edifice erected here is the Cathedral , officially the Primatial Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta. Construction began in 1063 AD under the direction of the master Busketo, appointed by the Council of Elders of the Republic and most likely hailing from the Holy Land. His influence is evident in the cathedral’s many allusions to Palestine’s three great sanctuaries: the Church of the Nativity, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and the Al-Aqsa Mosque (the “Rock Mosque”).

It was dedicated to the Assumption in honor of the victorious Battle of Palermo, fought from 13 to 18 August 1063 . Measuring approximately 100 metres in length and 70 metres in width, it ranks as the third-largest church in 11th-century Europe, surpassed only by St. Peter’s and St. Paul’s Outside the Walls in Rome.

Its style—known as Pisan Romanesque —is unparalleled, with counterparts found throughout Tuscany, Sardinia, Corsica, and even in Campania and Puglia. The façade is Rainaldo’s masterpiece (though many of its friezes and capitals are attributed to Guglielmo and Biduino), composed of blind arches adorned with lozenges and intarsia, surmounted by four tiers of accessible loggias. Among its treasures are the bronze portals—designed by Raffaello Pagni to replace those lost in the 1595 fire—and Andrea Pisano’s Madonna and Child (circa 1343), perched atop the façade’s highest cusp.

Inside, the jewel of the nave is the Pulpit by Giovanni Pisano. Begun in 1301 and completed in 1310 , it was carefully dismantled during the 1595 fire to save it, its fragments dispersed until reassembled—albeit with some alterations—in 1926 . The lower tier features grand lion stilophori, caryatid and telamon columns, while prophets, sibyls, and apostles in dynamic poses frame the life of Christ, from the Annunciation to the Last Judgment. This pulpit is celebrated as the ultimate example of medieval expressionism.

PISA MUSEUMS

Mon, 19 May 2025 01:01:57 GMT

Your Passport to Pisa’s Artistic and Cultural Legacy

MUSEO DELL’OPERA DEL DUOMO
The Opera del Duomo Museum , inaugurated in 1986, houses the cathedral’s treasure and the original artworks removed from the piazza’s sacred monuments for restoration and preservation. Here you’ll find the statues by Busketo, Rainaldo, Guglielmo, Nicola, and Giovanni Pisano, as well as the tombs crafted by Nino and Andrea Pisano, Tino di Camaino, and Andrea Guardi. The galleries trace the entire history of the Square of Miracles—its stylistic influences, original furnishings, and the grand processional choir screens. Highlights include Giovanni Pisano’s Madonna del Colloquio and Madonna Eburnea, the monumental 13th-century Christ Borgognone, and the iconic 12th-century Griffin, brought from the Balearic Islands as war booty and once perched above the cathedral apse—higher even than the statue of Santa Maria Assunta. Don’t miss the faithful alabaster scale model of the Leaning Tower, built from 25,000 Volterra alabaster pieces.

MUSEO DI SAN MATTEO
Housed in the medieval San Matteo convent overlooking the Arno, the San Matteo Museum is essential for its Room of Crucifixes and the Painted Altarpieces Hall, exemplifying the Gothic-Pisan style. Its collection spans from the 12th to the 17th century, featuring masterpieces by the leading Pisan and Tuscan artists, plus archaeological and ceramic finds. Though perhaps underrecognized, San Matteo ranks among Europe’s premier museums of medieval art, thanks especially to its extraordinary 12th- and 13th-century Pisan painting school.

MUSEO DELLA GRAFICA
Since 2007, the stately palace on Piazza San Paolo a Ripa d’Arno has hosted the Graphic Arts Museum , alongside medieval fresco fragments that reveal the building traditions of the Lanfranchi family (1539–1802). Rotating exhibitions showcase donated works by artists such as Giuseppe Capogrossi, Mario Chiattone, Fabrizio Clerici, Emilio Greco, Ennio Morlotti, Bruno Munari, Achille Perilli, Arnaldo & Giò Pomodoro, Pablo Picasso, Aligi Sassu, Vittorio Tavernari, Ernesto Treccani, Emilio Vedova, and Alberto Ziveri.

MUSEO DELLE SINOPIE
Located in the former Santa Chiara Hospital—whose 13th-century design is credited to Giovanni di Simone—the Sinopie Museum preserves the underdrawings of the Camposanto’s frescoes. These “sinopie,” traced in red pigment on the first plaster layer, were revealed when World War II incendiary bombs ignited the roof on 27 July 1944 and the subsequent membrane removal uncovered these unique preparatory sketches.

PALAZZO REALE NATIONAL MUSEUM
Built in 1583 by Bernardo Buontalenti for Francesco I de’ Medici as the new princely residence—replacing the Medici palace at San Matteo—the Royal Palace National Museum retains its patrician character with 17th–19th-century furnishings. Its collections include portraits, furniture, tapestries of Flemish and Florentine manufacture, and the ceremonial armor used in Pisa’s famed Gioco del Ponte.

MUSEO DELLE NAVI ROMANE – MEDICEAN ARSENALS
The Museum of Ancient Ships , housed in the halls of Pisa’s Medicean Arsenals, unfolds over eight sections. In December 1998, excavations near Pisa San Rossore station uncovered layers of sunken Roman and late-antique vessels—victims of at least nine catastrophic floods between the 2nd century B.C. and the 7th century A.D. Today, over thirty impeccably preserved merchant and river boats illustrate Pisa’s ancient waterways.

PALAZZO BLU
One of the most striking palaces along the Lungarno, Palazzo Blu traces its origins to 1356 when Doge Giovanni dell’Agnello built upon earlier 12th–13th-century tower-houses. Now an international hub for art and culture, it hosts major temporary exhibitions in a context rich with medieval remains.

BOTANICAL GARDEN
Founded in 1543, the University of Pisa Botanical Garden is the world’s second-oldest academic garden (after Padua), originally located beside the San Vito convent near the Medicean Arsenal. Known then as the Garden of Simples, it pioneered the study of medicinal plants.

NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM – CERTOSA OF CALCI
Originating as the Gallery of the Garden of Simples in the late 16th century under Ferdinando I de’ Medici, today’s Natural History Museum at Calci Charterhouse boasts one of Europe’s largest cetacean skeleton collections, alongside zoological, archaeological, and mineralogical treasures amassed over centuries.

DOMUS MAZZINIANA
In the Domus Mazziniana , the former Nathan-Rosselli House where Giuseppe Mazzini died in exile on 10 March 1872, visitors explore documents and exhibits on Italian unification and the Risorgimento.

THE CITY WALLS OF PISA
Pisa’s City Walls represent the oldest nearly intact urban fortifications in Italy. Three circuits—Roman, early medieval, and the final Pisan Republic walls—were built in phases from 1154 to 1346. Still largely walkable, they encircle the historic center and offer several accessible pedestrian passages.