Pisa

The historical Leaning Tower

It is best known for its famous leaning tower, which was already off its axis when it was completed in 1372; the 56 m high white marble cylinder is none other than the bell tower of the marble Romanesque cathedral next door in Piazza dei Miracoli. The same square is home to the monumental Camposanto (Cemetery) and Baptistery, where non-professional singers test their skills every day with its famous acoustics.

Once you have appreciated the Tower of Pisa from every angle, there are the other monuments in the square: the Cathedral and the Baptistery. Along the perimeter of the square you will also find the "Camposanto" and two beautiful museums, the "Museo dell'Opera del Duomo" and the "Museo delle Sinopie".

In "Via Zandonai", about 400 metres from "Pisa Centrale" railway station, there is the gigantic and colourful mural "Tuttomondo", created in 1989 by the American writer Keith Haring, on the back wall of the convent of the "Servi di Maria" friars, in the Church of "Sant'Antonio Abate".

"Borgo stretto", called by the Pisans simply "Borgo", is one of the oldest and most characteristic areas of the city, where on both sides of the street stand 14th and 15th century buildings and porticoes on columns with capitals. In the centre of the Borgo is "Piazza delle Vettovaglie", the square home to the food market and numerous taverns and trattorias.

"Piazza dei Cavalieri", the ancient fulcrum of republican life, takes its name from the headquarters of the Order of the Knights of St. Stephen wanted by Cosimo I De' Medici, to whom a statue in the centre of the square pays homage, the "Palazzo dei Cavalieri" or "della Carovana". The Palace is now the seat of the prestigious "Scuola Normale Superiore", founded in the Napoleonic period and considered one of the best universities in the world. "Piazza dei Cavalieri" is also home to the Church of the Knights of St. Stephen, located to the right of the "Scuola Normale", and the "Palazzo dell'Orologio", at the far end, with an original facade composed of two bodies joined in a grandiose archway, Vasari's adaptation of an older building.