Cathedral
Also known as the Piazza dei miracoli, this is one of the most beautiful squares in the whole of Italy, housing as it does the Cathedral, the Leaning Tower, the Baptistery and the Cemetery.
The Cathedral has been identified as the best example of Pisan Romanesque style. Work was begun in 1064 by the architect Buscheto di Giovanni Giudice and completed in the 12th century with the facade by Rainaldo with the five rows of columns and three bronze doors (depicting stories from the lives of Our Lady and Our Lord). The sides and the transept are embellished with a decorative strip with roses and lozenges. Inside are paintings from between the 16th and 19th centuries, and – at the far end of the nave – the famous octagonal pulpit by Giovanni Pisano, one of the most important and complex works of art during the Gothic period in Italy. Almost in front of this is the bronze lamp of Possenti da Pietrasanta, beneath which under which Galileo studied the isochronism of the pendulum. Also inside the Cathedral is the tomb of Emperor Henry VII and, above the high altar, the Crucifix designed by Giambologna. The apse contains a 13th-century mosaic with Our Lord between Our Lady and St. John the Evangelist.
Cathedral and Tower
Work on the Campanile or Leaning Tower was begun in 1173, and suspended due to subsidence (which made it lean), then taken up again by Giovanni di Simone. The structure is a cylindrical tower, with closed arches in the lower part, then six floors with loggias and a smaller bell compartment. Inside, a spiral staircase unwinds, with 294 steps, towards the top.
Baptistery: a circular building in Romanesque style, with an eight-faced pyramidal dome. Work was begun in 1152 by Diotisalvi, continued in the 13th century by Nicola and Giovanni Pisano, and finished in the 14th century by Cellino di Nese. It has four entrances, the most notable of which is the one in front of the Cathedral, with its sculptures from the Pisan school as its epitome. Inside are the pergamo by Nicola Pisano, the first work of art from the Italian Gothic, decorated with reliefs representing the Nativity, Epiphany, the Presentation at the Temple, the Crucifixion, and the Day of Judgement, in addition to figures representing the Prophets and the Virtues.
Cemetery: the outline is marked off by a rectangular marble wall begun in 1277; it was destroyed by American bombing in 1944, after which delicate restoration work began. The portico walls were covered in frescoes, some of which have been lost forever, and others detached to preserve them all the better.
History, art and culture
Pisa was an important Roman port; in 193 BC Pisa and Rome were allies in the war against the Ligurii and later Pisa became a Roman colony and carried out important functions in regulating maritime traffic. The wars between Rome and the Ligurii saw the destruction of the city many times, but it was always rebuilt. At the time of the barbarian invasions, Pisa was plundered by the Goths, who introduced decadence. In the 7th century, Pope St. Gregory the Great commissioned numerous ships from Pisa for the war against the Byzantines. With the coronation of Charlemagne in the 9th century as Holy Roman Emperor, Pisa began to enjoy a certain amount of independence and economic development. In the year 1000, Pisa was at war with Lucca, which later lost. At the same time, the seafaring Republic of Pisa liberated Reggio Calabria, the Æolian islands, and later Corsica and Sardinia, which were happy to enter under Pisan dominion.
In 1088, the Pisan fleet conquered Tunis. Pisa’s enormous prestige and unheard-of riches meant that she was always at war with Lucca and the seafaring Republics of Amalfi and Genoa. Between 1164 and 1175, they all sided up with Frederick Barbarossa. The Pisan fleet took part in the crusade urged by Popes Gregory VIII and, later, Clement III. During the feuding between Guelphs (pro-Pope) and Ghibellines (pro-emperor), the Ghibelline Pisa sided with Frederick II.
In 1284, the navies of Genoa and Pisa met and this point marks the start of Pisa’s decline.
With the arrival in Italy of Charles VIII, Pisa rebelled against their Florentine overlords, but in 1509 they were forced to surrender once again. Under the Medici Dynasty, Pisa enjoyed a rebirth. Cosimo I rebuilt the university, regulated the flow of rivers and founded the Sacred Military Order of the Knights of St. Stephen, with its headquarters in Pisa. Ferdinand I ordered the building of aqueducts and opened a great canal connecting Pisa to the sea.
Before being annexed by the Kingdom of Italy, Pisa was ruled by the Lorraine family, a cadet branch of the Hapsburgs.
Pisa look out over a recess in the Arno river, and has kept her urban layout intact, with all the churches, squares, and mediaeval houses. Many are the places of interest, viz: Campo dei Miracoli, with the Cathedral, the Baptistery, the leaning tower and cemetery, the 16th-century centre of Medici civilisation – the Piazza dei Cavalieri – and the nearby university.
Industry is closely connected to several large glass- and steel-making factories, textile works, drugs companies, and the tiling and packaging industry. Other industries on the rise are business and tourism.
Also important are the natural beauties of the Arno valley, the largest alluvial plain in the whole of Tuscany or along the Tyrrhenian coast. To the north is Monte Pisano, which separates Pisa from Lucca.
UNESCO INSCRIPTION
Cathedral
Cathedral Square, Pisa
Id N° 395 1987 C (i) (ii) (iv) (vi)
Criterion (i): a masterpiece of human creative genius.
Criterion (ii): shows an important exchange of human values, in one period all cultural area of the world, in developing architecture and technology, monumental or town art, or landscaping.
Criterion (iv): is an extraordinary example of a type of building or architectural, technological, or landscaping ensemble which bears witness to important stages in the history of mankind.
Criterion (vi): is directly or materially connected to modern events or traditions, by way of ideas, via creeds or artistic or literary works having exceptional universal values (the committee believes that this criterion justifies the inclusion in lists only in exceptional circumstances, when taken together with other cultural or natural criteria).
