Pisa

Pisa is an ideal base for both visits throughout the province and quick access to the major cities of Tuscany, thanks to its convenient location, with good road and railway connections, and the “Galileo Galilei” International Airport: Florence can be reached in just an hour by car or train, Siena in two hours and Lucca and Livorno in less than half an hour.

The Leaning Tower of Pisa is famous throughout the world, as is the inimitable setting of the Piazza dei Miracoli monument complex: Cathedral, Baptistry, Camposanto, Museo dell'Opera del Duomo and Museo delle Sinopie. Most tourists arrive for a short visit and forget to visit the numerous appealing attractions the rest of the city has to offer: Piazza dei Cavalieri, with the Chiesa di Santo Stefano and the premises of the Scuola Normale Superiore, the Botanical Garden and the Lungarni museum system, which comprises the San Matteo National Museum, the Palazzo Reale National Museum, the Museo della Grafica (graphic art museum), at Palazzo Lanfranchi and the Palazzo Blu exhibition centre.

The historical centre is awash with Renaissance buildings, medieval tower-houses, Romanesque and Gothic churches, alleyways and squares recalling the Maritime Republic of Pisa that competed with Amalfi, Genoa and Venice in the Medieval Age for control of the trade traffic in the Mediterranean. The city dates back to the Roman era and Roman ships have been recovered not far from Piazza dei Miracoli and will be exhibited at the Arsenali Medicei (Medici shipyards) when restoration is completed.

In addition to being the birth place of Galileo Galilei, who taught at the city university before moving to Padova and then Florence, the mathematician Leonardo Fibonacci and the physicist Antonio Pacinotti, to name but a few, were also born here.

Thanks to the prestigious university (founded in 1343), the Scuola Normale Superiore, the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna and the National Research Council (CNR), Pisa has always been held as an illustrious university and research centre.

There is no shortage of fun or entertainment options: take a stroll down Corso Italia and under the arches of Borgo Stretto or pop over to Piazza delle Vettovaglie market just a few steps from the Ponte di Mezzo bridge for an enjoyable shopping spree.

Video: Welcome to Pisa