Nov 24: Pisa 10-13

Sunday 10 November 

Pisa

Dropped off by Luisa (thank you 😘) for a surprisingly smooth check in and flight to Pisa.

Beautiful views over the Alps.

Straight on to the Pisa Mover metro link between the airport and main railway station.

Then a pretty walk to our accommodation.

View from our window.

A five minute walk to the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

It had to be be done.. 🤣🤣🤣

Lovely meal at a little outside restaurant and then an early night.

Monday 11 November 

Pisa

Morning view.

Early walk to Piazza dei Miracoli - Miracle Square. 

Sunrise over the square and the Fontana dei Putti - Fountain of the Angels. 

It was quite busy by mid morning - with lots of people trying to hold up the leaning tower.. 🤣

Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta.

One of the naves was being restored.

A candle for Carol and Siobhan - they are on holiday with us.. 😁

Battistero di San Giovanni - Baptistry - lots of work being done there too.

Apparently there is an impressive acoustic echo chamber but we didn't go upstairs to try it.

Monumental Cemetery - Camposanto.

Some fabulous frescoes.

More restoration work - with some painters actually in situ working with tiny brushes.

Walk along the walls - it turned out to be a loooong walk!!

The walls themselves were ok(ish) once I was on them but the metal steps leading up to them were a bit too open - but I did it. 

The descent at the end was better - solid wooden steps which I couldn't see through 😁

The Porta del Leone (Lion’s Gate) was the first to be opened during the construction of the walls of Pisa in 1154. Its size, crowned by a round arch, testifies to its importance: it was intended for triumphal entrances and for the passage of wagons and carts laden with goods. The marble lion, originally placed in the niche of one of the towers defending the gate, was oriented towards the outside, guarding the city, most likely on the top of the now demolished tower. Outside, from the cemetery, a shelf can still be seen, presumably a temporary location of the statue. When, in 1406, the Florentines conquered Pisa, they moved the lion towards the corner of the walls and turned it inwards facing the city, no more as an overseer of Pisa, but to watch over the city and control it. Along with the demolished towers it was a symbolic way to make the Pisans know that they were no longer in charge.

There are three universities in Pisa - think we passed them all on our walk round the walls.

Jewish cemetery just outside the walls.

Walk back past the little church which had been moved to its present spot at the side of the river as it kept flooding. 

Chiesa de Santa Maria della Spina. 

Garibaldi square.

We walked through the arcades on Borgo Stretto filled with shops and popped in to another little church.

Piazza dei Cavalieri - the Knights Square.

Palace of the Orologio where Count Ugolino, his two sons and two nephews (grandsons?) were imprisoned and left to starve to death. 

This story was immortalised in Dante's Inferno and inspired many sculptures. 

Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux’s sculpture entitled Ugolino and His Sons is a horror story to trump all other horror stories. 

 

The largest figure with the twisted, angry face is Count Ugolino della Gherardesca, a real life Italian nobleman who is immortalized in Dante's Inferno. Dante puts Ugolino in the second ring of the lowest level of hell, which is reserved for traitors. This is apt, as before his banishment into the depths of hell, Ugolino enjoyed the life of a corrupt politician in Pisa, Italy.

Exiled from the city for suspicion of treason, Ugolino plotted with neighboring opposing forces to attack Pisa and reestablish his power.  As king pin of Pisa, he became paranoid of other politicians, including his own nephew, destroying their palaces and ejecting them from the city (which seemed to be the go-to move around those parts in the Late Middle Ages). As Ugolino acted increasingly uncooperatively with the neighboring Genoa, a food shortage sparked riots amongst the townspeople and the opposition took their shot, violently overthrowing Ugolino. He was imprisoned for his dirty deeds along with his sons and grandsons, left in a tower to starve to death or resort to cannibalism after the keys were apparently thrown into the Arno river by his rival, the Archbishop.

The tower is now known as the Famine Tower

 

Scuola Normale de Pisa (founded by Napoleon) is part of the university - beautiful building but we're not allowed inside. 

We finished our tour of Pisa with a trip to the supermarket for snacks, wine and cheese - and a corkscrew - and we were back in our digs just before sunset at 5pm.

We walked over 7 miles today in 18⁰ sunshine - we were pooped. 

We managed a little wander later as far as the pasticceria on the corner for coffee and a cannoli and that was it!

Tuesday 12 November 

Pisa 

Another early morning for me.

Walked down to the square again and got a coffee en route. Once again the sky was rather lovely.

Hardly anyone around at first just me, about 6 other early morning tourists - and the cleaners and road sweepers. 

Coffee and pastries on the way back from the lovely little cafe.

Little glimpses of the Tower and Cathedral as we walked round the Botanical gardens.

Then off to the museums that we didn't visit yesterday.

Lunch overlooking the tower.

Think that's it now for tower pics.. 🤣

A short walk down to the river and back then we bought coffee and cakes to bring back.

About 5 miles walked - that was enough!

Wednesday 13 November 

Very last pic 😁

Walked down to the square as our normal coffee shop was closed!! Couldn't find anywhere open at all - not even any tourists at the tower. Seems like everyone takes Wednesday as their day off 🤷

This was the exhibition we missed at the Blue Palace - could have been interesting.

We packed up and made our way to the railway station for the train. We walked via the Old Cathedral (totally closed down) and then to the Keith Haring mural on the side of a church.

 We managed to get on an earlier train and set off for Florence.