Calci

Calci is located a few kilometres from Pisa, at the foot of the Monti Pisani and the centre of Valgraziosa. The valley looks rather like an amphitheatre and Calci is composed of the collection of hamlets that lie on its slopes.

Today Calci is a farming centre gathered around the Church of SS. Giovanni ed Ermolao and, while the lower part is surrounded by terraced olive groves, the upper part is dominated by Monte Serra, covered in pines and chestnut trees. On a clear day these heights offer a wonderful view that spans from the city of Pisa to the Tuscan Archipelago.

Due to its strategic position and its proximity to the Verruca fortress, Calci always played a part in the bloody wars between Pisa and Florence. As of the 1500s, however, the town began to develop along the course of the river, where more than 100 hydro-powered mills had been working since the last century. The pleasant climate all year round encourages walks through interesting areas that hold great natural, environmental and historical-artistic interest.

Calci boasts two sites of particular interest to tourists: the Pisa Charterhouse and the Natural History Museum of Pisa University.

The Pisa Charterhouse was founded in the 15th century thanks to the legacy of an Armenian merchant. It is a monumental Baroque style complex consisting of a large internal courtyard, used for day to day activities and as a place of meeting with the outside world, and also a series of buildings surrounding the courtyard that contain the cells, orchards and the reserved areas, as is fitting to the Carthusian living regulations. Of note amongst these is the prior's apartment, the library, the historical archive and the pharmacy. The Charterhouse was the residence of the Carthusian monks until the 1970s and is today open to the public.

One wing of the complex houses the Natural History Museum of Pisa University, comprising paleontological, mineral and zoological collections, in addition to preserving one of the largest cetacean galleries in all of Europe and new rooms dedicated to dinosaurs.