Pisa Attractions

East of the Piazza del Duomo is the Cathedral Museum (Museo dell'Opera del Duomo), with art of the buildings situated in the Piazza and the valuable treasury including embroideries, tombs, silver church objects, sculpture and pictures.

Northwest of the university, on the south side of the Botanical Garden, is the Domus Galilaeana (house of Galileo), a memorial to the Pisa-born scientist and mathematician Galileo Galilei (library and study).

At the east end of the Campo dei Mirácoli, in the Piazza dell'Arcivescovado, stands the 15th century Palazzo Arcivescovile (Archbishop's Palace), which contains the Archiepiscopal Archives. The chapel on the first floor is decorated with Baroque frescoes.

To the south of the Campo dei Mirácoli, between Via Roma and Via Porta Buozzi, lies the Orto Botánico (Botanic Garden), originally laid out in 1543 by Cosimo de' Medici. It is now associated with the University; in the center of the gardens is the Botanical Institute. Here plants from many different climatic zones flourish, either in the open air or in the various greenhouses.

Facing the Palazzo Gambacorti, to the southeast, can be seen the Logge di Banchi, a grandiose loggia built in 1603-05 to house the cloth-market. The upper floor, which was added later, contains part of the State Archives. From the Ponte di Mezzo, which spans the Arno here, there are views of the lungarni, the streets running along the banks of the river.

Along each bank of the Arno extends a busy riverside street (Lungarno), under various names.

The 14th century Palazzo Gambacorti, now the Town Hall (Município), stands on the south (left) bank of the Arno in the center of the old town of Pisa. The façade, decorated with coats of arms, has double Gothic windows on the upper floors. Its one-time owner Pietro Gambacorti, then the ruler of Pisa, was murdered here by conspirators in 1393.

The origins of the Palazzo Médici, at the east end of the old town of Pisa, go back beyond the period of Médici rule. This imposing palazzo, now the Prefecture, was originally built in the 13th century and was altered in the 14th, when the Appiano family ruled Pisa. Later it became the residence of Lorenzo the Magnificent. The ground floor has pillared arcading; the windows on the facade are double-arched and triple-arched.

The Church of San Frediano, in the square to the east of the House of Galileo, is first mentioned in the records in 1061, but was probably not finished until the 12th century. The facade with its blind arcading in Romanesque; the interior in its present day form dates from the 16th and 17th centuries.

The little Church of San Michele, on the north (right) bank of the Arno, was built at some time before 990, perhaps on the site of a Roman Temple of Mars. Rebuilding in the 14th century gave it a facade (by Fra Agnelli) which shows the transition from Romanesque to Gothic. The church suffered heavy damage from air raids in 1944, and during rebuilding and restoration work a 13th century fresco of St Michael was brought to light over the left-hand doorway.

The Church of Santa Maria, originally built in the 12th century, was much altered in later centuries. The 13th century campanile, like the campanile of the cathedral, leans off the vertical, but less seriously so. The lower part is cylindrical, the upper part octagonal; there is a spiral staircase to the top.

The little Romanesque Church of San Zeno, at the northeastern corner of the old town, is one of Pisa's oldest churches, built by Benedictines between 1100 and 1180. It has a fine tufa facade decorated with arcading and preceded by a portico. Some of the columns separating the nave from the aisles have Roman capitals.

This church, to the northeast of the central area of the town, was built for the Dominicans between 1251 and 1300 on the site of an earlier building. The Pisan-style façade with its rose- window and dwarf gallery was added about 1330, the beautiful campanile (by Giovanni di Simone) still later. Damage caused by a fire in 1651 was rather clumsily made good. The church contains a marble "Annunciation" by Nino Pisano (c. 1330) with traces of its original coloring.

In Lungarno Pacinotti is the Gothic Palazzo Agostini (15th century), built in brick. A short distance northwest is the university (1493), with an Early Renaissance courtyard.

Close to Calci, 14km/9mi to the east, is the Certosa di Pisa, a Carthusian house founded in 1366. The present aspect of the extensive complex of buildings results from the remodeling in Baroque style which was carried out in the 17th and 18th century. Visitors can be shown round the monastery only on conducted tours. The main features of interest are the two cloisters (15th and 16th centuries) and the church, in pure Baroque style.

The village of Calci lies on the southwestern slopes of Monte Pisano in the Valgraziosa, a valley with extensive plantations of olives.

In the center of the village is the late 12th century Pieve (Parish Church), with a two-story facade decorated with arcading and an unfinished campanile. The nave of the church is separated from the aisles by antique columns. It has a fine 12th century font with relief decoration.