Pisa Travel Guide

Globally famous for its iconic tower, there is far more to this cultural capital than the endlessly photographed Leaning Tower of Pisa. The city was once a maritime power to rival Genoa and Venice, a legacy that has endowed Pisa with a rich mosaic of cultural and hedonistic attractions. Education has fuelled the economy since the 1400s – students from across Italy compete for places in Pisa’s elite university. Meanwhile, visitors marvel at the vibrant cafe and gastronomic scene, balancing an enviable portfolio of Gothic churches, Renaissance piazzas, and Romanesque buildings with the sheer pleasure of sipping wine in one of Pisa’s many picturesque squares. While Pisa may not boast the fame of Florence, it stands as a source of regional pride in Tuscany.

Pisa’s history is a dramatic opera that opens with the wine-loving Etruscans around the 9th century BC. They formed the most powerful nation in pre-Roman Italy, building a great civilization across central Italy. Unfortunately, their neighbors increasingly cast an envious eye over the prosperity of Etruria – the Romans completed their conquest of Etruria in 265 BC. The Etruscans didn’t take kindly to Roman authority – they secretly allied with the Carthaginian ruler Hannibal to bring about the Romans’ defeat, which was ultimately unsuccessful.

But after the Roman conquest of central Italy, they took a more hands-off approach with the proud Etruscans, granting them citizenship in 88 BC to manage their affairs in the newly created province of Tuscia (Tuscany). Pisa subsequently became an important naval base – historians aren’t sure exactly when the settlement was founded – and a commercial port under Rome remained an important port for centuries. It was an essential base for Roman naval expeditions against rival powers in Italy and the Mediterranean.

Following the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century, Tuscany experienced many centuries of turbulent upheaval. First came German emperor Theodoric, who was supplanted by the Byzantine emperor Justinian. The Lombards from northern Italy also controlled Pisa, but Charlemagne defeated them in 744. Politically, it became part of the duchy of Lucca in northwest Italy, although Vikings captured the settlement in the 9th century. Nevertheless, Pisa was granted the status of county center of Tuscia in 930.

Pisa’s golden age began late in the 10th century after recovering from the previous centuries’ political machinations. Pisa became an independent maritime republic and a formidable rival to the cities of Genoa and Venice. A century on, the Pisan fleet was sailing beyond the Mediterranean, helping to repel the Saracen invaders and trading with the Orient. At the peak of Pisa’s power (the 12th and 13th centuries), the rapidly expanding city controlled Corsica, Sardinia, and the Tuscan coast.

During this period, Pisa enjoyed a flourishing of new buildings endowed with a distinctive Pisan-Romanesque architectural style that emphasized the use of colored marble and subtle references to Andalucian architecture. Many of the most excellent examples were by the legendary father-and-son sculptural team of Nicola and Giovanni Pisano.

Unfortunately, Pisa’s fortunes started to decline towards the end of the 13th century. Genoa’s fleet devastatingly defeated Pisa at the battle of Meloria in 1284. The 14th century would be marked by economic collapse, plague, war, and tyranny throughout Tuscany. In the bubonic plague outbreak of 1348, approximately two-thirds of the population was lost in cities across Tuscany. The plague wiped out the entire hospital and monastery populations. Dark times, indeed.

However, in 1406, Pisa fell to Florence after much fighting between the rival powers. This was ultimately to the city’s benefit, as the Medicis – a powerful family of the Renaissance – encouraged great artistic, literary, and scientific endeavors and re-established Pisa’s university, where the city’s most famous son, Galileo Galilei, taught in the late 16th century. His story is a fascinating one. Galileo’s meticulous observations of the physical universe attracted the Church’s attention, which by the 16th century had a problematic relationship with the stars. Galileo’s findings that the earth revolved around the sun and not the other way around ruffled many religious feathers, including Paul III. Under the threat of torture, Galileo wrote that he might have overstated the case for the Copernican view of the universe. He was allowed to carry out his prison sentence under house arrest. But despite his troubled final years, Galileo’s groundbreaking work had massive repercussions for the scientific community and Western civilization.

The 17th and 18th centuries saw more political turmoil for the citizens of Pisa. Austrian Holy Roman Empress Maria Theresa established her husband, Francis, as the Grand Duke of Tuscany. Subsequently, after the rise of Napoleon Bonaparte in France, he took over large swaths of Tuscany in 1799 during his violent campaigns across Europe. However, following Napoleon’s fall from grace in 1814, the Habsburg king Ferdinando III took over the title of the Grand Duke of Tuscany.

The 19th and 20th centuries were no less tumultuous. In 1861, Italy was united under one flag, although the early split between radicals and conservatives would define Tuscany’s future political landscape. Italy got more war than it bargained for in 1914 when WWI broke out. A young, prominent socialist firebrand named Benito Mussolini led Italy’s call to intervene in support of the Allies, leading to his expulsion from the socialist party. As a result, he formed the National Fascist Party, which took control of Italy before WWII. In 1922, the Fascists marched on Rome and staged a coup d’etat, installing Mussolini as prime minister.

The horrors of the Second World War brought much suffering to the citizens of Tuscany. In Pisa, only the Leaning Tower and Cathedral were spared from the Allied bombing campaigns. A still-unknown number of Italians were sent to death camps in Germany. A stone in front of Florence’s synagogue memorializes the 128 Jews from the city who died in these camps. Jews shared similar fates in Pisa, Siena, and other Tuscan towns.

Nevertheless, Pisa recovered from the horrors of WWII, emerging as the proud regional capital of northern Tuscany. Romanticized worldwide, Tuscany has impassioned more writers, artists, and tourists than any other European region. Yet what makes the birthplace of Gucci, Cavatelli, and the Vespa scooter so inspiring, so dolce (sweet)? In Pisa, you will find answers, but perhaps not where you expect. Of course, the Leaning Tower is a must-visit attraction, but Pisa’s authentic charm lies in its adherence to the fabled Dolce Vita. There is no better time of day or week than late Sunday afternoon to witness this in action – the entire city hums with families and couples taking a “passeggiata” (early-evening stroll). Take a gelato, sip wine, relax in one of the many beautiful piazzas, mooch, contemplate, and admire the sunset. This is Pisa’s La Dolce Vita – relishing the close of the day at an exceedingly relaxed pace.