Pisa: more than just a tower

In the center of town we found the city’s main plaza, a large one flanked by majestic Medici era architecture. But the city goes back much further, to the Etruscans circa 800 BCE. Excavations in the 1980’s and 90’s proved its Etruscan origins, around the 5th century BCE. The city is close to the coast and was once a maritime power. It is split by the Arno River, which nearly topped it’s tall banks here and in Firenze (Florence) just a few weeks ago from the mountain rains to the east. The historical center would have been disastrously flooded.

Pisa was at its height from the 11th century until the 17th as one of the major maritime republics of Italy. The city’s port still provides significant employment as does tourism and the major universities and schools. The University of Pisa dates to the 12th century. The Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa (high school teacher training), founded by Napoleon in 1810, is in the main plaza.

At night the old town streets are abuzz. It seems like most of the city’s 35,000 students are talking at the same time, clustered around bars drinking beer, wine and Aperol. It’s late March so the weather is more encouraging, with temps in the 10-20c (50-68f). The churches are still quite cold and damp.

It appears that Pisans seem to have a distinct preference for spaghetti, as opposed to say linguine or orecchiette in Puglia, as each of the restaurants we visited served only spaghetti (aside from lasagna) with the sauces on offer. I found a rice pie in one of the bakeries. I was hoping to try “cecina,” a flatbread made with garbanzo bean flour.

The statue to Cosomo Medici was commissioned by Grand Duke Ferdinando I in 1596. Pietro Francavilla sculpted the piece in the elegant Late Mannerist style. The building behind is the Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa, with only 600 students enrolled. It’s primary purpose is the training of high school teachers. The decor is painted onto what I believe is concrete or something similar.

Chiesa di Santa Maria della Spina is a lovely and small Gothic church on the southern bank of the Arno. The Gualandi family built it in the 1200s, naming it Santa Maria di Pontenovo. It was moved to its current location to better protect it from flood waters. “Della Spina” refers to a thorn from the crown of thorns, no longer in the church. It is in the Chiesa di Santa Chiara on Via Roma. Pontenuovo collapsed in the 15th c, never rebuilt. It was closed when we were there. Too bad. There is a famous Gothic sculpture Madonna of the Rose by the Pisano brothers.