Pisa

(150Km 1h 50min) Pisa is the city of Leaning Tower, the most famous symbol. Other important sights are Duomo in Piazza dei Miracoli (Square of Miracles), the Baptistry and the Monumental cemetery.

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Pisa (IPA: [pi ː sa]) is an Italian town of 85,968 inhabitants, capital of the province in Tuscany.
Sixth most populous commune in Tuscany, the city is part of a densely populated and urbanized (called "area of ​​Pisa"), which with the neighboring municipalities of Calci, Farmhouse, San Giuliano Terme and Vecchiano and Vicopisano, get to count some 200,000 inhabitants . It is also a vertex of the so-called "industrial triangle" formed by the towns of Livorno, Pisa and Collesalvetti, whose population amounts to over 260,000 inhabitants.
According to a legend Pisa was founded by some mythical Trojan refugees from the homonymous Greek city of Pisa, a time in the valley of the river Alpheus, in the Peloponnese.
Among the most important monuments of the city must be included the famous Piazza del Duomo, known as Piazza dei Miracoli, a UNESCO World Heritage, with the Cathedral built in white and colored marbles, between 1063 and 1118, Pisan Romanesque style, with the bronze door of St. Ranieri, the work of Bonanno Pisano and the pulpit by Giovanni Pisano. In the square stands the characteristic leaning tower, tower of the twelfth century, 56 m high, which acquired its characteristic tilt ten years after the start of its construction, now one of the most famous Italian monuments in the world.
In Pisa is worth noting the presence of at least three towers pitched: one, the best known, precisely in Piazza del Duomo, and the second is the bell tower of the church of St. Nicholas, located in Santa Maria, near the Lungarno Pacinotti, and the third , located about half way through the avenue of Piagge (riverside, in the east of the city), is the bell tower of the church of San Michele degli Scalzi (in this case the church has a significant slope).
Pisa hosts the most important airport in the region, "Galileo Galilei" which has domestic connections and direct intercontinental.
The city is home to three of the most important universities in Italy and Europe, the University of Pisa, the Scuola Normale Superiore and the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, as well as the National Research Council and several research institutes .

Physical Geography

The city lies a few kilometers from the mouth of the Arno River, in a flat area called the Lower Valdarno, closed to the north by the Monti Pisani.

History

The origins of the name Pisa are completely uncertain. Without any historical basis is the story of the founding of Pisa by Achaean warriors, as reported by some ancient historians: why the name was traced back to the homonymous Greek city of Elis, in the Peloponnesus, whose inhabitants, led by Pelops , said to have founded the Tuscan Pisa after the Trojan War. For this reason Pisa is nicknamed the City Alfea (from the river Alpheus in Elis).
The real story of the foundation of Pisa is still shrouded in mystery: there are those who think of an Etruscan origin (very dubious second Giovan Battista Pellegrini) and who is a source of Liguria. What is certain is that the city takes shape in Roman times with the Latin name (plūrālia-off) of Pisae through a locative form to Pisas. In 89 BC received Roman citizenship. [8] Regarding the name, were made two assumptions which have greater consideration, if no overwhelming evidence: the first refers to an item which means "estuary" in reference to the mouth of the Arno, and the other in a pre-Latin base (a hydronym ), perhaps distantly related to greek πῖσος with FSBO, "watered".

Symbols
The coat of arms of the city is represented by the red cross flag. The red flag, initially devoid of the cross (it was in fact the imperial Blutfahne), was granted to the Republic of Pisa by Frederick Barbarossa. The city was constantly loyal to the empire, and at least in 1242 was brought into the sea.
The white cross, which symbolizes the people of Pisa, was added later. The coat of arms of the cross, according to legend, was in fact granted in 1017 by Pope Benedict VIII to the Pisans who were heading to Sardinia to free it from the Saracens. The red flag with the white cross was recognized later by Pope Callistus II. The twelve balls around the cross representing the twelve apostles.
The oldest representation of the cross is found in the city walls of Pisa desired by the console Cocco Griffi and dates back to 1156, so the oldest of the Occitan Cross of Toulouse or of which we have information only from 1165. Other symbols are the Pisan Ghibelline eagle, the symbol of imperial power, the Madonna, which has always been devoted Pisa, couch grass, symbol of expansionism, the hare, as represented in some marble inlays in the Duomo of Siena.
Today, the flag symbolizes the Pisan City and the Municipality of Pisa, while the eagle symbolizes the Province of Pisa. In addition, the coat of arms is incorporated on signs along with three other Italian maritime republics marinate.

Pisa flag, coat of arms of the City and the City

 

Coat of arms of the City alternative

 

Banner

 

Imperial Eagle, coat of arms of the Province

 

Maritime Republics, coat of arms of the Italian Navy

 

 UNESCO-protected
World Heritage
Piazza del Duomo, Pisa

 

Piazza del Duomo
The Piazza del Duomo, also known by the poetic expression of the square of miracles, is the most important artistic and tourist center of Pisa. Ranked among the World Heritage Site by UNESCO since 1987, you can admire some masterpieces of European Romanesque architecture, ie the monuments that form the center of religious life: the cathedral, the baptistery, the cemetery, and the bell tower.
The Duomo, the heart of the complex is the Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta, the medieval cathedral. It is a Primate, the Archbishop of Pisa being a Primate. It is a church with five naves with a transept with three naves. The building, like the bell tower, collapsed perceptibly in the soil, and some instability in the building are visible, such as the differences in level between the nave and the extension of Buscheto by Rainald of (the spans to the west and the facade) . The Pisan Romanesque style was created precisely from this church and then exported to the rest of Tuscany, but also in Corsica and Sardinia, formerly under the control of the Republic of Pisa.
All other religious buildings of the square revolve around the Primate, according to a theological journey: birth - Baptistery; life - Cathedral; death - Cemetery.
The bell tower of Santa Maria: Known as "The Leaning Tower" or "Tower of Pisa", and simply Pisa "The Tower" by definition, is, in fact, the bell tower of the Cathedral. Below it the land has yielded slightly, making it tilt a few degrees. The inclination has lasted for many years, coming to a halt after the restoration work ended in the early twenty-first century. Because of the difficulties of construction, and not only that, its construction lasted over two centuries (in three different stages of work) from the end of the twelfth century.
The Baptistery, dedicated to St. John the Baptist, stands opposite the west front of the Cathedral. The building was started in the middle of the twelfth century, the interior, surprisingly simple and devoid of decoration, also an exceptional acoustics. It is the largest baptistery in Italy: its circumference measures 107.25 m.
The Campo Santo: the Monumental Cemetery is located at the northern edge of the square. It is structured in the form of a cemetery cloister, with earthy graves. The land inside the courtyard is actually a relic, since the earth from Mount Golgotha ​​in the Holy Land, delivered with several ships from the Pisani after the Fourth Crusade from which its name "field" (plot-wise) "holy" . Since 1945 are still ongoing restoration work, which among other things led to the recovery of precious sinopie.

Scuola Normale Superiore, front seat Piazza dei Cavalieri
Piazza dei Cavalieri
Knight's Square where stands the Palace of the Caravan designed by Giorgio Vasari, including the complex decoration of the facade. It currently houses the Scuola Normale Superiore.
On the same square stands the church of Santo Stefano dei Cavalieri, also by Vasari. We originally had a nave, and the second was added in the seventeenth century. Inside are paintings by Giorgio Vasari, Jacopo Ligozzi, Agnolo Bronzino, Alessandro Fei, and Jacopo Chimenti Empoli said.
Statue of Cosimo I
Clock Palace
Church of San Rocco
Palazzo del Collegio Puteano
Palace of the Council of the Twelve
Rectory
Tower of Muda

Clock Palace in Piazza dei Cavalieri

View of the Lungarno Gambacorti

View of the Lungarno Pacinotti

 

The Lungarno
They are the real city center, meeting place of the Pisan and university students. Every night the historic stretch of the Arno river is colored with a thousand lights café or pub facing it. During the summer they are closed to vehicular traffic, except for vehicles that residents and attracts thousands of people every night, often sit on the 'shoulders', the banks of the Arno, to test new ice cream flavors of ice cream more and more present drink or drinks of any kind or color. During the day represent the main crossing point both pedestrian and vehicular. The Lungarno Pisa are historically four divided by the river and the Ponte di Mezzo and are divided into Lungarno Gambacorti Galilai and south, and the Medici Lungarno Pacinotti north. The decks of the Fortress and Citadel are the eastern and western boundary of the walled city. Inside, however, there are two other Arno river, Simonelli Sonnino to the north and south. Beyond the walls Lungarno Cosimo I northwest, and southwest by the Ways and Marsh St. John Gatano to begin the long Viale D'Annunzio, which connects the city to the seaside village of Marina di Pisa northeast take the Arno river the name of Buozzi, which follows in the avenue of Piagge, large urban park and north west Lungarno Fibonacci, which runs along the New Fortress and Lungarno Guadalongo. The riversides are also home to the museum circuit 'The Museums of Lungarno' which counts 6 museums of national interest.
Lungarno Medici. There is the Palazzo Medici and the Romanesque church of St. Matthew, in which former monastery houses the National Museum of San Matteo. Among the important works are a group of paintings from the twelfth to the eighteenth century and a rich collection of sculptures from the Pisano School.
Gambacorti embankment. Seat of the Municipality of Pisa, in the historic Palazzo Gambacorti, offers elegant Renaissance palaces and Romanesque gems, like the Church of Santa Cristina, the church of Santa Maria della Spina and Renaissance palace, like the Blue Palace, a renowned international museum and exhibition center.
Lungarno Pacinotti. Dominated by the imposing Renaissance palaces, this Lungarno born on the ruins of the ancient city walls Middle Ages. Near the Church of Santa Maria dei Galletti stood the Golden Gate, crossed by the bravest leaders Pisa. The Palace of the Day, seat of the Rector, the Palazzo Agostini Fantini Venerosi the Silk Road, or Red Palace, home to the Coffee dell'Ussero and the luxurious Royal Victoria Hotel, according to some the oldest hotel in Italy, are an example of elegance the city developed over centuries. At the center of Lungarno the Royal Palace, seat of the National Museum, which houses paintings by Raphael, Rosso Fiorentino and Guido Reni.
Lungarno Galilei. And 'the broader and is home to the Museum of Graphic Art, in the historic Palazzo Lanfranchi, which contains works of great value, from Renoir to Viviani, from Factors to Picasso. At the center of Lungarno the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the octagonal shape and the Palace of the Knights of Malta. The airport of Renaioli is home to the city's events, above all during the summer.
Lungarno Sonnino. Dominated by the neo-Gothic building of the former Benedictine Monastery, ends with one of the most important churches of Pisa, the church of San Paolo a Ripa d'Arno, Pisa as known by the Old Cathedral.
Lungarno Simonelli. The tower of the Citadel is perhaps the symbol of this Lungarno, onto which the Church of San Vito Ranieri, the patron saint of Pisa, and the Arsenals Medici, future home of the Museum of Navigation, still under construction, which will house the finds found during excavations in 1998 at the Station St. Flushing, the so-called Ancient Ships of Pisa.

The medieval town
The maritime past of the city is reflected in its narrow streets and narrow that characterize mainly the outline of the river. Tramontana, the agglomeration of the districts north of the river, is characterized by a dense network of narrow woven together. A special feature of all the seaside town that used its urban structure as a defense. The narrow alley allowed greater control, especially from the top of casetorri, while the alleys and covered hubs facilitated the disorientation of the invaders. In the South, the southern part of the river, the streets are narrow and parallel to one another, to enable the rapid escape from the river to the inner squares, this due to the commercial purpose of the settlement.
The Borgo Stretto is an area where you can walk to the covered medieval arcades. Along the way, who along with Italian Corso is the "living room" of the city, stands the Romanesque-Gothic church of San Michele in Borgo, built from a core attested as early as 990.

The Walls
The Walls: the city is still surrounded by the old city walls, still intact except for some stretches to the south and west. Of particular interest along the way, which is proposed to fit in green, are the numerous doors, the square of the Gondolas (end point of the Medici aqueduct and the Fosso del Mulino, coming respectively from Asciano and Ripafratta), and so-called " Nero's baths ", to which afferiva once the ancient Roman aqueduct of Caldaccoli from San Giuliano Terme, known in antiquity as Aquae Pisanae and then as Bagni di Pisa. An inscription found on a fistula in the village of Corliano (CIL XI 1433) [12] points out that the aqueduct was built in 92 AD by L.Venuleius Montanus [13], the patron saint of Pisa and Cologne console Attidium (Roman city near Fabriano).

Tuttomondo
The mural Tuttomondo of Keith Haring, the last public work, New York artist, made in 1989 on the wall of the convent of St. Anthony.
Squares [edit]

The fountain of cherubs
Piazza Giovanni Battista Donati
Piazza Cairoli: this square built by Cosimo I changed its name five times, but it is commonly called by the Pisans "Square Saloon" because of column at the center of the square.
Piazza Carrara had the function to connect different offices and buildings at the Medici court before and after Lorraine
Square Vettovaglie: Rebuilt in the Medici period in the ancient heart of the city, is home to the fruit and vegetable market
Martyrs Square of Liberty: the wide, tree-lined square was obtained was located where the church and the convent of San Lorenzo in Revolt
Piazza delle Gondolas
Civil architectures

The Praetorian Palace and the clock tower

The walls surrounding the old town

Pisa: new arc of the farms
Casino of the Nobles
Palace Alliatas
Palace Agonigi by Scorn
Palazzo Agostini Fantini Venerosi Silk Road: known as the Red Palace or Palace dell'Ussero, home to the Coffee dell'Ussero from 1775 and the Lumière cinema since 1899.
Archbishop's Palace
Palace Carranza
Palace Cevoli
Palazzo del Torto
Palazzo Gambacorti: seat of the municipal administration.
Palazzo Lanfranchi: the Museum of Graphic Arts.
Palazzo Medici or Appiano: already in possession of the Appiano family, lords of Pisa in the period 1392-1398. In 1400 the Medici acquired it, and stayed there even Lorenzo de 'Medici.
Palace Moscow
Palazzo Giuli Rosselmini Gualandi, (about 1356), the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Pisa. It houses the art center Palazzo Blu
Ex-Palazzo del Podesta
Palace Poschi
Palace Quarantotti
Royal Palace houses the Superintendency; erected in 1583 by Bernardo Buontalenti for Francesco I de 'Medici.
Palazzo Roncioni: the ancient Pisan family was here distinguished guests such as Vittorio Alfieri and Ugo Foscolo.
Palace Ruschi
Palazzo Salviati
Palace of Wisdom: Firm headquarters Pisano.
Palace Tobler
Tobler palace on the river bank
Palazzo Toscanelli: hence Lord Byron left for Greece where he met his death.
Palace of Widows
Guelph Tower
Tower of Santa Maria
Tower of Campano
Torre De Canton
Tower Lanfreducci
Palace in the Day or Lanfreducci: seat of the Rector of the University of Pisa.
Tower of Lungarno Pacinotti
Tower of St. Agnes
Towers by Ride
Torre dei Visconti
House tower via Ulisse Dini
Casa Agostini della Seta
House Gualandi
House Miniati
House of Black
House Pierucci
House Rasponi by Heads
House Tizzoni
Casa Vanni
Villa Roncioni (location Pugnano)
Villa Medici Coltan (location Coltan)
Villa Agostini della Seta (location Corliano)
Villa del Gombo (St. Flushing)
Natural Areas [edit]

Detail of the garden Scotto
Garden Scotto
Botanical Garden
St. Flushing
Park Galilean
Avenue of Piagge

Bridges
For more, see Bridges of Pisa.
Ponte di Mezzo: The Bridge, ideally located in the center of the city, connects Piazza Garibaldi, in the Tramontana, Piazza XX Settembre, in the South, where the City Hall and the Lodges of benches.
Ponte della Vittoria: built three times, the last in the postwar period, connects Piazza Guerrazzi in the South, with the entrance to the Avenue of Piagge to Tramontana.
Ponte Solferino: rebuilt after the war much more spartan, joins via Crispi, in the South, to the point where, at Tramontana, meet the riversides Pacinotti and Simonelli.
Ponte della Fortezza initially called Spina, joins the meeting between the Lungarno Medici and Buozzi Tramontana to the input of the Giardino Scotto (or Sangallo Bastion) to the South.
Ponte della Cittadella: one of the last bridges, moving towards the mouth of the Arno: it combines the Citadel north of Piazza San Paolo a Ripa d'Arno in the South
Other urban bridges:
Bridge of the jets: the latest and greatest, the first bridge citizen coming from the east.
Railway Bridge: The bridge of the Genoa-Rome line is located just outside the city walls.
Deck of the Empire: it is that by which the Via Aurelia cross the river.
Bridge of CEP is the last urban bridge going towards the sea and named dall'attiguo neighborhood.
A12 motorway bridge: is the bridge by which the A12 crosses the Arno river near the mouth.

The iron footbridge of the Citadel in an old photograph
Bridges disappeared:
The first bridge, wood, was located to the west of Ponte di Mezzo and represented the southern access to the city for those who came from the Via Æmilia Scauri then Via Julia Augusta streets of Roman origin, along the route of the present Via Pietro Toselli and Curtatone and Monanara.
Another bridge, called the New Bridge for Old Bridge which was opposed to the existing bridge Ponte di Mezzo, connected via Santa Maria in Via Sant'Antonio. Its reconstruction is a pedestrian-only projects in the municipal administration.
Another bridge, immediately upstream of the Bridge of the Citadel, the Citadel connected (to the north) with the Porta a Mare (to the south). Even today, the existing ruins bear any traces of the arches of access to the bridge itself, in the planning instruments of the Municipality of Pisa is specifically mentioned the possibility of a reconstruction.
Religious Architecture [edit]
For more, see Churches of Pisa.
The church of St. Francis, designed by Giovanni di Simone, built after 1276. In 1343 new chapels were added and the church was elevated. It is a single nave and of considerable interest are the bell tower and the cloister. It houses works by Jacopo da Empoli, Taddeo Gaddi and Santi di Tito. In the Chapel of Gherardesca were buried Ugolino della Gherardesca and his children.
The church of San Frediano, first mentioned in 1061, is a basilica with three naves and houses a crucifix of the twelfth century. The frescoes are for the most part restored in the sixteenth century, with works by Domenico Passignano, Aurelio Lomi and Rutilio Manetti. It performs the function of the university church today.
The church of St. Nicholas, whose existence can be traced as early as 1097, was enlarged between 1297 and 1313 by the Augustinian friars (who received the church in 1297), perhaps designed by Giovanni Pisano. The octagonal bell tower dates from the second half of the thirteenth century. Noteworthy are the wood sculptures by Giovanni and Nino Pisano, and the Annunciation by Francesco di Valdambrino.
The small church of Santa Maria della Spina, (1230), attributed in current form Lupo di Francesco (1325), is unanimously considered one of the masterpieces of Italian Gothic. Rich and precious like a jewel, it is located along the river, a short walk from the south end of the Ponte Solferino. Because of its proximity to the river in the nineteenth century it underwent a singular intervention of disassembly: the stones were numbered and the church was reassembled at a higher level in order to save it from floods.
The church of San Paolo a Ripa d'Arno, built around 952, is located in a leafy square located on the river bank to the south-west of the city. It was enlarged in the mid-twelfth century in the style adopted by the Cathedral, the Romanesque architecture. The facade was completed in the fourteenth century by Giovanni Pisano. The interior has been decorated by Buonamico Buffalmacco and Turino Vanni. He annexed the Romanesque Chapel of St. Agatha, an octagonal brick building of the twelfth century that has an unusual pyramidal roof.

Inner courtyard of the Monumental Cemetery
Synagogue of Pisa
Jewish Cemetery
Church of San Giovanni de 'Fieri, Adventist Church
War memorial chapel of Kindu
Cemetery of San Michele to Scalzi
Cemetery of San Piero a Grado
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Mormon Church
Waldensian Evangelical Church
Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses
Islamic Cultural Center
Tibetan Buddhist monastery, Lama Tsong Khapa Institute, Pomaia.
Other [edit]

Giuli Palace, which houses the exhibition center Blue Building
Citadel
Colony Queen Elena
Cologne Rosa Maltoni Mussolini
A colony of the Italian Fasci Abroad
Cologne Vittorio Emanuele II
Cologne Principi di Piemonte
Holiday homes in Cisanello
Clinical Orthopaedics Putti
Complex Marchesi
Complex Marzotto
Complex of San Michele in Borgo
Royal Victoria Hotel
Palace INAIL
Post Office building
Palace of Justice
Middle School Gamerra
Royal School of Engineering
Theatres 

The Verdi Theatre
Teatro Verdi
Teatro Sant'Andrea
The Theatre Canvas
Little Theatre of the Attic
Cinema Teatro Lux
Stanzone de 'Banchi
Stazione Leopolda
Theatre Ernesto Rossi
Theatre Reins (closed after World War II and used as a workshop)
Politeama Theatre (rebuilt after the war as Palazzo dei Congressi)

Art 
The city has a center of modern art. Of contemporary art in all its forms but are dealt Shipyard Sanbernardo Cultural Center which has its headquarters in the beautiful church of San Bernardo street in Gori. The most famous works are the mural of Pisa Tuttomondo of Keith Haring, the Door of Wisdom by Pietro Cascella, the fountain in Piazza della Stazione di Arnaldo Pomodoro, the statue in the square of the Kinzica Guerazzi Angelo Pacifiers and the statue of Galileo, the work of Italian sculptor Stefania Guidi.