Appianline - Roma

The town has Etruscan origin. In 179 B.C. it became a Roman colony and in 89 B.C. a Roman municipium. Pisa was an important naval base for the Romans. In the Middle Ages in fact, it became an important Seafaring Republic rivaling Venice, Genoa and Amalfi. Each of these towns had both a merchant fleet and a navy, which controlled all the seas around Italy. Today Pisa is quite a small city, and its attractions are all in the city centre. The Piazza del Duomo, to the north of the centre, has one of the most attractive architectural groupings in Italy; the Church, Baptistery and the famous leaning tower, now stabilised and reopened to the public. The tower has made Pisa one of the most popular tourist destinations in Italy, but many of the tourists stay for the day and in the evening it reverts to being a pleasant Tuscan town. The excellent railway connection with Florence means it is a good base for exploring the area, including Lucca, which can be reached by bus, and Livorno - the port on the Ligurian coast.

Pisa to see:

In the square called "Campo dei miracoli", which is one of the most important examples of Italian Medieval architecture, there are the monuments which transform a common name of square into the "Miracle square”: the Cathedral, the Baptistery, the Cemetery and the famous Leaning Tower dating back to the XI - XIV century. The San Matteo Museum, housed in the ex-convent of the Sisters of Saint Matthew, is a construction dating back to the 12th and 13th century and it preserves as its main collection, a number of panel paintings with gold backgrounds and works of great painters and scuilptors, collected towards the end of the 18th century by the canon Sebastian Zucchetti.

Piazza dei Cavalieri (The Knights' Square) was designed by Giorgio Vasari, who gave it the characteristic shape of the late Renaissance architecture. It was the ancient center of the town.It contains some beautiful buildings such as Palazzo dell'orologio, built in the Renaissance period, Palazzo dei Cavalieri, built by Vasari on a pre-existing building in 1562 and erected to celebrate the order of St. Stephen's Knights. On the right side of the Palazzo dei Cavalieri stands the Church of St. Stephen of the Knights, designed by Vasari as well in 1569. The Church of St. Mary of the Thorn, built in 1323 on a pre-existing building, is a jewel of Gothic architecture. The Pisa Botanic Garden, near the Cathedral square, is the most ancient University Botanic Garden in Europe.

In the surroundings of Pisa it deserves to be mentioned:

· The Chartreuse of Calci founded in 1366,

· The Natural Park of Migliarino, San Rossore, Massaciuccoli which stretches along the Tirrenian coastline and covers approximately 23,000 hectares.