City of the Leaning Tower. One often hears the opinion that Pisa has ‘nothing but the Tower’. This widespread stereotype seems to be related to the fact that in our minds every famous city is associated with some clear definition or catchphrase: “Florence is the cradle of the Renaissance”, “Rome is the eternal city”, etc. So is Pisa – “the city of the Leaning Tower”. Perhaps even without its “eighth wonder of the world” the city would have been no less, and perhaps even more famous.
It is a paradox of history that the first builder of the Tower chose to conceal his name from posterity, when it was discovered that as a result of a construction fault the foundations of the building had given rise to an uneven settlement. If he had known the subsequent worldwide fame of his work, he would hardly have acted so imprudently – after all, in our time, probably, there is no one who does not know about the existence of the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Thousands of tourists “besiege” the medieval bell tower from early morning until late at night because a selfie-photo against the background of the Leaning Tower is an obligatory photo-trophy for everyone who has visited Italy. And this is quite fair, because this monument is part of the unprecedented in magnificence and scope ensemble of the Cathedral Square, the care and pride of many generations of citizens of the medieval republic of Pisa – the strongest European maritime power during the X-XIII centuries.
A small city with a huge medieval centre. Modern Pisa can not be called a big city – according to the latest census 92 thousand residents are registered here, and lives another 50 thousand non-permanent population (mostly students of the three universities of Pisa). But Pisa can boast a huge medieval centre, which is considered one of the largest in Western Europe – in Pisa a large part of the city is still surrounded by a perimeter wall, built in the second half of the XII century.
Sea capital of the Etruscans. Pisa’s history is not only of the Middle Ages – it began in the era of Etruscan antiquity. Like most cities in Tuscany, Pisa has a history of almost three millennia. But Pisa is different from its Etruscan neighbours – the Etruscans usually built their cities on top of high hills in a place out of reach of potential enemies. Pisa, on the other hand, is situated in the middle of a once marshy, low-lying plain eight kilometres from the Tyrrhenian coast. It is clear that the Etruscans who founded Pisa deliberately built their maritime capital away from the sea in order to avoid the danger of a sudden naval attack. The city was built on the banks of the navigable River Arno: in the event of an enemy attack, the enemy fleet had to climb up the river, where it was easy to “lock up” and destroy it. Pisa, which remained the main point of maritime trade in all Etruria, from the IV-III century BC became one of the main bases of the ancient Roman war fleet on the Tyrrhenian Sea and played an important role during the Punic wars against Carthage and the wars of the Romans with the Ligures.
Maritime Republic. As fascinating as Pisa’s ancient past was during the Etruscan-Roman period, its glory pales in comparison with the Middle Ages, when Pisa was made capital of the Maritime Republic – the formidable maritime power that dominated the Mediterranean in the 11th – 13th centuries. Among all the cities in Tuscany, including Florence, Pisa stands apart because it was in this ancient city that “everything began from scratch” in the Middle Ages. After centuries of decline and feralization of the Dark Ages, when Italy and the whole of Western Europe after the collapse of the Roman Empire languished in historical oblivion, it was in Pisa that the arts and sciences were first revived; it was this city that turned back the Saracen offensive and stood at the vanguard of the Crusades. The countless treasures and the enormous scientific and cultural wealth of the Arab state, in contrast to the feral and barbaric Europe that had become the successor to the Roman antique tradition, formed the basis of the so-called Pisan medieval Proto-Renaissance. This great era defined all the subsequent development of Italian art and culture and was three centuries ahead of the the Florentine Renaissance proper. The main monument of the brilliant Maritime Republic remains the Cathedral Square (the “Square of Miracles”), where the famous Tower stands, stunning in its scope and splendour. It is certainly one of the most magnificent squares in Europe and one of the most beautiful places on the planet in general.
The Tower is not the most important thing. Despite the widespread stereotype that there is “nothing to see in Pisa except the Tower”, the most important monument of the “Square of Miracles” is naturally the “Duomo” – the Cathedral of Pisa – the first great cathedral built in Italy in the eleventh – twelfth centuries after the decline of the European Dark Ages. Of equal importance is the Baptistery of Pisa, the largest baptistery in the world, a witness to the Crusades, built as a replica of the original Jerusalem temple of the Holy Sepulchre, the “Anastasis” (now actually the interior part of the “great temple of the Holy Sepulchre”). The “New Jerusalem” – Baptistery was to complement the Cathedral, erected as a symbol of “Pisa – the New Rome“.
Complex history of the Leaning Tower construction. The new Bell Tower was also intended to be another evidence of the Pisa grandeur, but at the same time, at the whim of history, it became a symbol of the decline of the Maritime Republic. Its construction began in 1173, at the time of the greatest splendour and power of the medieval Pisa. The citizens of the Maritime Republic, of course, needed an unprecedented bell tower, and they achieved their goal. There is no irony in this statement – the Leaning Tower of Pisa is regarded as one of the main and paradigmatic monuments in the history of world architecture. And not because “the tower is leaning”, but first of all – due to its aesthetic merits: indeed, the Leaning Tower is a real architectural symphony, set in snow-white Carrara marble. The first architect who invented it, of course, is a real genius, but precisely as an architect. As an engineer, he rather “blundered”, because only 12 years after the start of construction, the foundations of a building due to very weak soils under it gave an uneven settlement.
The future tower leaned heavily to the south and its construction was halted for almost a century. It resumed only at the end of the 13th century, when it was proposed to build a bell tower, bending it against the fall “like a banana” to the north, in order to achieve a balance point in this way. This project was almost realised – during eleven years from 1273 to 1284 the Tower grew from the third to the seventh (penultimate) floor. Construction continued up to the infamous Battle of Meloria, a major disaster in the history of Pisa, when on August 6, 1284, the previously invincible fleet of Pisa was utterly defeated by the Genoese fleet. Pisa would never recover from that defeat – Genoa would become the hegemon on the Mediterranean, and Pisa’s importance would quickly fade away. Under such historical circumstances, the construction of the bell tower of the Pisa cathedral was never completed, and so it was never balanced. As a result, the tower had been “falling” more and more to the south for centuries, until it was finally “fixed” at the end of the 20th century.
Where to stay in Pisa
The five-star hotel Pisa Tower Plaza 5 * is located 15 minutes walk from the Leaning Tower outside the historic center of Pisa. It offers a swimming pool with hydromassage, a garden veranda, a fitness area – booking.com
The historic thermal five-star hotel Bagni di Pisa – The Leading Hotels of the World 5 * is located in the town of San Giuliano Terme, five minutes by train from the Pisa San Rossore station, the closest to the Leaning Tower of Pisa – booking.com
The four-star Relais Dell’Orologio 4 * boutique hotel is located in a renovated 14th century palace just 150 meters from the Leaning Tower. The hotel rooms have preserved their historical decoration and antique furniture – booking.com
An elegant four-star Hotel Bologna 4* is located in the heart of the historic centre of Pisa, a 10-minute walk from the Leaning Tower and the central railway station next to the Arno River – booking.com
The four-star Grand Hotel Duomo 4 * built in the 1960s is located a stone’s throw from the Leaning Tower of Pisa, a 20-minute walk from the central railway station and 4 km from Galileo Galilei airport. It offers an American Bar, a rooftop terrace with panoramic views of the city and the Leaning Tower, a restaurant serving classic Italian cuisine – booking.com
The four-star boutique hotel Villa Tower Inn 4 * is located in an Art Nouveau mansion, a 5-minute walk from the Leaning Tower of Pisa – booking.com
Set in a Baroque mansion near Montepisano Mountain and Calci Abbey, Villa Scorzi Country B&B is a 10-minute drive from the historic centre of Pisa. It features an outdoor pool – booking.com
How to get to Pisa. Airport, railways and motorways, cruise port Livorno
While in Europe “all roads lead to Rome”, in Tuscany they lead primarily to Pisa rather than to the capital city of Florence. Pisa has been an important transport hub on Italy’s west coast since antiquity, and remains so to this day.
Pisa Galileo Galilei Airport (PSA) is the largest international airport in the Tuscany region. It is located right in the city limits of Pisa, literally 20-30 minutes on foot from the city centre. The largest low-cost airline, Ryanair, as well as Easyjet, Alitalia, British Airways, KLM, Air France, Delta, Vueling and many others, fly to dozens of European cities from Pisa Airport. Pisa Airport has the largest car rental centre in the region with a huge selection of companies and cars.
Pisa Central Station (Pisa Centrale) is located in the southern part of the city centre. High speed and intercity trains, coming from the south, Rome/Naples to the north, to Genoa and then to Milan or Turin arrive here. Regional and intercity trains go from Pisa to the east, to Florence and Bologna, to Lucca-Montecatini-Florence, or via Viareggio heading to the north towards Liguria, to La Spezia, Cinque Terre, Genoa, etc.
Cruise port of Livorno. In recent years, year-round cruises in the Mediterranean have become increasingly popular. These cruises allow you to combine a comfortable sea vacation with a rich excursion program. Most of the cruises in the Western Mediterranean stop at Livorno, Tuscany’s main port. Their passengers travel to the nearby cities of Pisa and Lucca, many of them also visit the capital of the region, Florence.