Pisa beyond the obvious and the cliches. The famous sights photographed from a not so usual perspective and other off the beaten tourist track points of interest.
Pisa Duomo as seen from the Baptistery. Photo by Bernd Thaller.
The Leaning Tower of Pisa. Photo by Izarbeltza The Tower measures 58.36m in height, which appears to be a random number, but which actually corresponds to exactly 100 “braccia pisane” (Pisan cubits). In Medieval times there was no unity in the metric system and each city-state, Florence, Pisa and Arezzo, had their own metric system with a different value for the “braccio” and other units.
The Scuola Normale Superiore of Pisa on Piazza dei Cavalieri in Pisa is one of the most famous and prestigious universities of Italy. It was founded in 1810 by Napoleonic decree as a branch of the École Normale Supérieure in Paris. It is housed in Palazzo della Carovana, built by Vasari in 1562. Carducci, the first Italian to win the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1907, graduated from the Scuola Normale Superiore in 1856. Piazza dei Cavalieri is the second most important square to visit in Pisa. During the Pisan Republic it was the center of the political power. Detail from a photo by chuci.
Palazzo Agostini, built in the 14th century, is one of the oldest palazzi in Pisa. It houses the Caffè dell’Ussero (founded in 1775) and used to house the oldest cinema in Italy, closed in 2011. It is one of the most important examples of civil gothic architecture in Tuscany. Photo by Lucarelli
Porta Nuova, Pisa. When walking through the gate there is a point where all four monuments of Piazza dei Miracoli are visible at a single glance. It is this view that made Gabriele d’Annunzio scream: “Questo è un miracolo!” (this is a miracle), hence the name. Photo by llee_wu
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