Pisa is an open-air museum.
Pisa, whose name seems to derive from the Etruscan word ‘outlet’, ‘mouth’, boasts a millenary history on whose tracks the visitor can walk losing oneself within the city’s fabric, characterized by majestic squares and rich in history, amazing monuments and buildings with different styles.
Pisa is the city in which Lungarni overlooks precious gothic and renaissance style buildings, whose alleys are guarded by medieval ‘tower houses’, and make hidden chapels without hidden gardens and majestic facades of Romanesque and Gothic churches, and in whose squares unique monuments shine with beauty and magnetism.
The ivory splendour of Piazza del Duomo (Cathedral Square) (or Piazza dei Miracoli – Square of Miracles)is a symbol of the wealth and pomp of the Maritime Republic of Pisa, with the four most evocative monuments of the city –the Baptistery (with unique acoustics), the Camposanto Monumentale (Monumental Cemetery), embellished with extraordinary frescoes, the Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta (The Assumption of the Virgin Mary Pisa Cathedral), an absolute masterpiece of Pisan-Romanesque architecture, and the famous Bell Tower, or Tower of Pisa, known all over the world.
The city, also famous for its university institutions, which have contributed to enriching it and which have their roots in distant eras, offers visitors a stimulating and rich cultural life; including events and manifestations taking place within the university headquarters and its many museums and theatres. Also, on the occasion of the so-called ‘Pisan June’, the entire centre is involved with races, parades and medieval games, becoming the scene of colourful historical re-enactments.
On the night of June 16th, in honour of San Ranieri, the Patron of Pisa, the Lungarni and the Tower of Pisa are embellished with the sparkling lights and candles: the illuminated contours of the doors and windows overlooking the lungarni (streets of the Arno river) are reflected in the leaden scroll of the river, while the city slips into a timeless dream…
