Pisa – Art, Museums and Urban History

Pisa combines impressive architecture, museums, historic urban structures and green spaces into a diverse cultural destination in Tuscany. If you are travelling with different interests, you can structure your stay around famous monuments, art collections, urban history and botanical research.

Art and History in the City Centre

Piazza del Duomo forms a unique group of four masterpieces of medieval architecture: the cathedral, the baptistery, the bell tower or Leaning Tower, and the cemetery. The monuments are also a reference point for research into the Pisan Romanesque style. This means that a single square is home not only to a widely known landmark, but also to a clearly recognisable chapter in architectural history. The Museo delle Navi antiche offers a different perspective on the past. In eight sections, it tells more than 1,000 years of Pisa's history and its relationship with the water. The museum is housed in the Arsenali Medicei. It also offers guided tours focusing on ancient ships and archaeological finds from excavations in the Pisa San Rossore area. This allows visitors to focus their visit specifically on maritime history and archaeological finds. The art collections also have a clear connection to the city. The collection of Palazzo Blu was conceived according to the principle that the works should be connected with Pisa and its surrounding area through their creators, commissioners, origins or subject matter. The Museo nazionale di San Matteo houses an extensive collection of medieval Islamic ceramics, medieval coins and medieval seals.

Botanical Garden and Historic Urban Structures

The Orto Botanico di Pisa was founded in 1543 and is considered the oldest university botanical garden in the world. It is divided largely according to historical criteria into seven sections: Scuola Botanica, Orto del Cedro, Orto del Mirto, Serre, Piazzale Arcangeli, Orto Nuovo and Orto Del Gratta. Covering around two hectares and featuring approximately 3,000 cultivated plants, the garden provides a distinct focus alongside the buildings and museums. The medieval walls of Pisa also form part of the city's historical orientation. They had a circumference of around 7 km, towers spaced 300 m apart and approximately 20 gates. One individual building, by contrast, demonstrates the distinctive character of Pisan Gothic: the Chiesa di Santa Maria della Spina is an exceptional example of this style and was built on the banks of the Arno in 1230.

Finding Your Way Between Walking Tours and Modern Art

The area around Piazza del Duomo is closed to public and private vehicle traffic. For urban orientation, the city's official free tourism app, Walking in the City, offers eight city walks. The Tuttomondo mural, created by Keith Haring in Pisa in 1989, provides a modern contrast to the medieval architecture. If you would like to research other places besides Pisa, you can also include [Riglione-Oratoio](Riglione-Oratoio), [Tirrenia](Tirrenia), [Calambrone](Calambrone) and [Marina Di Pisa](Marina Di Pisa) in your selection.

To the higher-level travel overview: Pisa.

More about the destination

Relevant information for planning your trip:

Airports in Tuscany: Choose between Pisa and Florence, Pisa – UNESCO World Heritage Site in Tuscany (Italy).

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Casino di Terra, Coltano Radio.