Italy Travel And Hotel Guide

Away from the Campo dei Miracoli, Pisa takes on a very different character. Few tourists penetrate far into its squares and arcaded streets, with their Romanesque churches and - especially along the Arno’s banks - ranks of fine palazzi. With the large student population it can be a lively place, particularly during the summer festivals and the monthly market, when the main streets on either side of the river become one continuous bazaar. Piazza dei Cavalieri opens unexpectedly from the narrow backstreets, the central civic square of medieval Pisa. The curving Palazzo dei Cavalieri , covered in sgraffiti and topped with busts of the Medici, adjoins the church of Santo Stefano , which still houses banners captured from Turkish ships by the Knights of St Stephen - a grand title for a gang of state-sponsored pirates. On the other side of the square is the Renaissance-adapted Palazzo dell’Orologio , in whose tower the military leader Ugolino della Gherardesca was starved to death with his sons and grandsons in 1208, as punishment for his alleged duplicity with the Genoese enemy - as described in Dante’s Inferno and Shelley’s Tower of Famine . Via Dini heads easterly to the arcaded Borgo Stretto , Pisa’s smart street, its windows glittering with consumer desirables that seem out of kilter with the city’s unshowy style. More typically Pisan is the atmospheric market in and around Piazza Vettovaglie (Mon-Fri morning & all day Sat). The Borgo meets the river at the traffic-knotted Piazza Garibaldi , at the foot of the Ponte di Mezzo.

At the orient end of the riverfront road Lungarno Mediceo is the Museo Nazionale di San Matteo (Tues-Sat 9am-7pm, Sun 9am-2pm; L8000/¬4.13; joint ticket with Palazzo Reale L12,000/¬6.20; www.ambientepi.arti.beniculturali.it ). Most of the major works of art from Pisa’s churches are now gathered here, including a St Paul by a young Masaccio, an oddly festive Crucifixion by Gozzoli, and another Crucifixion by Turino Vanni that clearly shows the Leaning Tower. The sculpture collection is led by two outstanding works - Donatello’s gilded bronze bust of an introspective San Lussorio , and Andrea and Nino Pisano’s Madonna del Latte , a touchingly crafted work showing Mary breastfeeding the baby Jesus.

Tags: backstreets, campo dei miracoli, campo dei miracoli pisa, civic square, duplicity, fri, grandsons, kilter, lively place, main streets, military leader, orologio, palazzi, piazza dei cavalieri, romanesque churches, santo stefano, smart street, student population, summer festivals, turkish ships