Historic Cities · Italy
Pisa through the ages
Pisa is a city and comune (municipality) in Tuscany, Central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for the Leaning Tower of Pisa, the city contains more than twenty other historic churches, and several medieval and Renaissance palaces, mostly facing each other on the avenues along th
Pisa in 1200
Pisa the Maritime Republic
Pisa in 1200 stands at the height of its maritime power, a river city whose ships and merchants link the Tyrrhenian to the Levant and the Byzantine world. This walk moves from the river mouth and port through the Arno's quays, markets and tower-houses to the white marble cathedral field, the round baptistery and the rising, already-leaning campanile, ending on the city walls' high viewpoints.
The skyline is a compact cluster of white marble and dark stone, low red-tiled roofs and a ring of crenellated walls; the cathedral complex punctuates a wide green beside the Arno, its round baptistery and a tall campanile visibly tilting as it climbs. Narrow, shaded streets run from the river to the Duomo, while the Arno's quays gather wooden ship-sheds, flat-hulled barges and returning galleys unloading spices, timber and bolts of eastern cloth.
The walk — 22 streets, squares and views
Portus Pisanus → Sea Towers, Porto Pisano → Foce dell'Arno → Porta a Mare → Arno Warehouses → Arsenale (Ship-sheds) → Quay of the Galleys → Ponte di Mezzo → Borgo Stretto → Piazza delle Vettovaglie → …
Step inside — 12 interiors
River Warehouse Great Hall · Ship-sheds of the Arsenal · Galley Foreman's Shed · Bankers' Counting Chamber · Covered Market Hall · Striped Nave of the Basilica · Southern Aisle Arcades · Echoing Dome of the Baptistery · Tower Stair and Platform · Merchant Tower Great Hall · Fondaco of the Merchants · Gualandi Tower Hall
Planned from the Wikipedia record: Republic of Pisa.
Pisa in 1600
Medici Pisa
Pisa in 1600 is a Medici-ruled university town where students thread narrow lanes between marble churches and civic palaces. This walk follows the Arno, the university precinct, Vasari's reworked Piazza dei Cavalieri and the great cathedral precinct, passing botanical beds, riverside quays and the towers that mark Pisa's long maritime past.
A compact riverside city of pale, weathering marble and warm brick, Pisa in 1600 reads as a layered patchwork: broad river quays and low bridges, narrow shaded lanes and open ceremonial squares. White-washed pietra and darker stone have been worn to dove-grey; roofs are shallow terracotta. Church domes, the cathedral massing and the campanile pierce a low skyline; students, clerics, knights and river crews fill the streets and quays with steady human movement.
The walk — 20 streets, squares and views
Road from San Piero a Grado → Porta a Lucca → Lungarno Gambacorti → Ponte di Mezzo → Santa Maria della Spina → Borgo Stretto → Piazza delle Vettovaglie → University of Pisa → Via Santa Maria → Piazza dei Cavalieri → …
Step inside — 12 interiors
Merchant Counting House · Covered Market Loggia · Dissection Hall · Natural Philosophy Hall · Grand Stair Hall · Audience Chamber · Knights' Church Nave · Botanical Study Pavilion · Cathedral Nave · Tower Spiral Staircase · Camposanto Cloister Gallery · Riverside Warehouse
Planned from the Wikipedia record: Pisa.
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