The big grassy area around the leaning tower and other Pisan monuments is choked with tourists—even on a Monday in March, so it’s hard to conceive how crowded it must be on a summer weekend. Luckily, most of the tourists mill around the tower and the line of souvenir shops. They don’t bother going into the cathedral, so we spent much of our time there.
I had no idea the tower was so old: it was started in 1173 and began to lean just a few years later (thanks to being built on unstable sandy soil). I also didn’t know that it was the belltower for Pisa’s cathedral, which has a similar style of blindingly white marble, columns, and arches. No matter how many pictures you’ve seen of the tower, it’s still striking when you encounter it in person. It’s so beautiful and improbable.
The 12th century cathedral is a gem, too—a visible symbol of Pisa’s wealth and power when it was a major seafaring and trading city-state. Throughout Spain, we saw churches whose interiors were cleverly painted in trompe l’oeil fashion to look like colored marble and carved stone. In Pisa, we saw the real thing. Inlaid marble of every color, some of it arranged in geometric patterns similar to Moorish tile work. Another connection with Moorish Spain is the striped arches in the cathedral that are reminiscent of the Mezquita in Cordoba (with which Pisa traded).
The soaring cathedral also features a huge intricately carved pulpit (sculpted by local boy Giovanni Pisano) and a vast 1302 mosaic, Christ in Majesty. But don’t take our word for it; look at the photos, since this is one of the few Italian churches where we’ve been allowed to take pictures.
The rest of Pisa is noisy and crowded with students, but wandering reveals some interesting old buildings. The Arno River (the same one that flows through Florence) is lined with old merchant buildings and houses from Pisa’s heyday. There’s also an art museum along the river that is supposed to be fantastic, but it was closed the day we visited. Never fear: in Italy, there’s always more great art just around the corner.
