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The
construction of the city walls began from the north-western corner of the town
where the new cathedral, founded in 1064, stood on that same site which had
always been chosen for religious buildings since Etruscan times. In the first
stretch delimited by the towers of Saint Mary and of the Lion was the big Lion
Gate, thus called because of the statue that still nowadays overtops it, which
was then closed after the opening of the medicean New Gate that still is the
main entrance to the square today.
Following
Via Santa Maria, the street that once connected the religious centre to the Arno
river by the Pontenovo (destroyed during the XIV century), you can see several
interesting buildings with façades dating back to the XVI-XVIII centuries and
hiding medieval architectures, as well as many tower-houses and the
thirteen-century Da Scorno Palace with its little arcades and its carved capital
of the XII century. Almost at the end of the street is the Augustinian church of
Saint Nicholas, built around the mid XII century and later enlarged and
transformed. Inside there are important works of art of the fourteenth century,
such as the painting of the “Madonna and Child” by the Pisan Francesco
Traini, the polychrome wooden crucifix attributed to Giovanni Pisano, an
Annunciation by Nino Pisano and a painting of St Nicholas from Tolentino with
one of the first sights of Pisa. The unusual octagonal bell tower is very
interesting, it was built according to the complicated discoveries in
mathematics made by the Pisan Leonardo Fibonacci, who lived in the XIII century.
The church is connected by a covered passageway to the Palazzo Reale, built upon
request of Grand-Duke Francesco I de’ Medici (1583-1588) incorporating various
medieval towers, including the high tower of the Cantone. A second covered
passageway links the palace, seat of the National Museum of Palazzo Reale of the
Pisan costume and collections, to the Palazzo delle Vedove, a medieval building
which was restored in the seventeenth century to give hospitality to the
Grandukes widows. At the end of the winding Via Santa Maria one can enjoy the
beautiful view on the Lungarni (streets running along the river), centre of the
town for centuries, as the rich and austere palaces once property of the most
important families of the town testify. Due to the changes occurred in the
nineteenth century, the area is now completely different from the way it was
during the Middle Ages, when the river banks were full of docking places and
docks which were part of the Pisan port facilities.
Beyond
the Palazzo Reale, you cross the big Francesco Carrara Square, in the Middle
Ages called Piazza Delle Merci D’Oltremare, and following via del Collegio
Ricci you reach the airy Piazza Dante. If you turn left into via San Frediano
you see the church of St. Frediano, built between the XI and the XIII century in
Pisan-Romanesque style. Inside the church there is a precious crucifix on wood
of the second half of the XII century. Almost in front of the church parvis
there is the picturesque via Cavalca, where there is the thirteen-century Dei
Caciaioli tower, better known as the tower of the Campano because of the bell
installed in the XVIII century that rang to give start to the University classes.
The renowned University of Pisa already existed in the XII century, but it is
only in 1543 that Cosimo I ordered the destruction of the medieval Piazza del
Grano and the building of the beautiful Palazzo della Sapienza. Walking through
the charming Sant’Omobono Square, you will see ancient tower-houses, which
characterized the medieval town with their vertical development. According to
the Rabbi Benjamin of Jona from Tuleda in 1159 there were nearly ten thousand
towers in this town. Walking through the fruit, vegetable and typical Pisan food
product market, you reach the Vettovaglie Square, once called Piazza dei Porci,
surrounded by a nice and elegant arcade of the XVI century, and through the
narrow and crowded via Delle Colonne you reach Borgo Stretto, one of the most
charming streets of the town, thanks to its peculiar arcades and its beautiful
and glamorous shops. On the right the arcades break up to give space to the
parvis of the Church of San Michele In Borgo, built between the X and the XI
centuries and enlarged at the beginning of the fourteenth. On the façade it has
three orders of loggias with little arches and three portals. The main portal is
overtopped by a tabernacle housing a group of statues representing the Madonna
and Child with the devotees, carved by the Pisan Lupo di Francesco’s workshop
in the first half of the XIV century. The strange inscriptions refer to the
election of the Rector of the University and they date back to the end of the
XVI century. Inside the church there is a beautiful crucifix by Nino Pisano
coming from the portal of the cemetery. Garibaldi Square opens up at the end of
Borgo Stretto and in front there is the Ponte di Mezzo, the most important
bridge in town, existing since 1109 and rebuilt several times. The bridge, every
year the last Sunday of June, is theatre of the ancient
Gioco
del Ponte. Walking along a short stretch of the Lungarno Mediceo you see
Fratelli Cairoli Square, better known as Piazza della Berlina (that is to say,
the square of derision), for it was the square where the convicts were exposed
to public scorn and derision. The same square was called Piazza delle Erbe in
the Middle Ages because of the vegetable market that was hold there. Its present
layout, with the arcades and the central statue of Abundance made by Pierino
from Vinci in 1550, is due to the urban changes wanted by the Medici. North of
the square there is the ancient church of Saint Peter in Vinculis, also known as
San Pierino, built between the XI and the XII century, with the bell tower made
out of a dwelling tower of the XI century. This is a remarkable example of
arcaded church, inside there are important works of the XIII century, such as a
painted crucifix on wood, remains of frescoes (some of them are now on display
in the National Museum of San Matteo) and part of the precious floor mosaic. On
the right side of the church there is the charming via delle Belle Torri with a
vast number of tower-houses. Following the left wing of Saint Peter you shortly
walk along via Palestro, at its end you find the church of Saint Andrew
decorated with a great number of majolica tiles, and through via Giuseppe Verdi
you reach San Paolo all’Orto Square where you find the church by the same name,
built in the XII century, with a façade decorated with sculptures by Biduino.
Once in via San Francesco you will notice the convent and the big church of
Saint Francis, whose existence is certified since 1238 and which was later
enlarged between 1265-70 by Giovanni di Simone and then modified during the XVI
century. Inside there are important XIV-century frescoes by Taddeo di Bartolo
(1397), Taddeo Gaddi and Niccolò di Pietro Gerini (1392), as well as the
splendid ornamental cover of the main altar made in polychrome and golden marble
by Tommaso Pisano. A few steps backward by passing through the narrow Vicolo dei
Ruschi you get to Via San Lorenzo and from there you reach the tree-lined
Martiri della Libertà Square, outcome of the restyling in the XIX century that
destroyed the old medieval layout. Beyond the square is Saint Catherine
dominican church, which was started in 1251 and later enlarged, and was the real
cultural heart of the town during the Middle Ages. Inside still preserved are
the painting of the Apotheosis of St. Thomas of Aquino by the Senese painter
Lippo Memmi and the Pisan Francesco di Traino, and the marble sarcophagus of the
Archbishop Saltarelli by Andrea Pisano and his son Nino. The latter was also the
author of the fine sculptures of the Annunciation and of the Archangel Gabriel
(1368). It is only a short walk back to the charming church of Saint Zeno, built
in successive stages between the X and the XII century, with the enclosed
Camaldolites abbey. Once you leave Santa Caterina Square, you walk along Via
Giosuè Carducci and Via G. Oberdan, here called Borgo Largo, where you see the
tower-houses and the XIV-century Palazzo Scorzi with beautiful arcades. Then you
turn in Via Ulisse Dini where you find the remains of the ancient church of the
Saints Felice and Regolo, today transformed into a bank; in the square by the
same name is the ancient Palazzo del Podestà, that later became a pawnshop and
today is seat of offices. The street leads to the scenographic Piazza dei
Cavalieri, which was the heart of the medicean town and the centre of political
power during the Middle Ages; here was the Palazzo degli Anziani (XIII-XIV
century), subsequently transformed into the Palazzo della Carovana, seat of the
Scuola Normale Superiore, by Giorgio Vasari and the church of Saint Sebastiano
dei Fabbri, then replaced by the XVI-century church of the Knights of Saint
Stephen. The characteristic Palazzo dell’Orologio is the result of the
junction of two pre-existing towers: the tower of the Sette Vie (one of the
local prisons) and the tower of Muda, also known as the tower of hunger for it
was there that Count Ugolino della Gherardesca (1288), a people commander
accused of treason, was imprisoned with his nephews and sons as Dante mentions
in his verses (Hell XXXIII, 1 - 90). It was exactly in this very square that Pier
Capponi, commander of the Florentine troops, took in 1406 the keys of the town,
last act towards the end of Pisa’s freedom.
Written by Lucia Casarosa
Translation by Maria Vanzini
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