The leaning tower of a maritime republic
Af ter a few hours in the birthplace of the Renaissance, the center of Medieval European trade and finance and one of the wealthiest ci ties of all times, we moved to our nex t Tuscan destination for the day — a maritime republic of Italy, Pisa.
The ci t y of Pisa in the capi tal of the province that bears the same name. It’s an hour drive from Florence along verdant hills and picturesque landscapes. The journey to the famous leaning tower was a series of sceneries that would be make per fect ar t works if caught on canvas. It must have been inspiring for the ar tists to live and work in this valley. With that thought, it’s no wonder why Tuscany was deemed as the place where ar t reached i ts finest forms.
Pisa holds a good number of interesting landmarks to check out like the Pia zza dei Cavalieri (Knight’s Square), the second main square of the ci t y was the poli tical center in medieval Pisa; the Borgo Stret to, a medieval neighborhood with avenues along the river Arno; several palaces like the Medici Palace, once owned by the ruler of Pisa before it was acquired by Medici, the Palazzo Reale (Royal Palace) where Galileo Galilei showed to the Grand Duke of Tuscany the planets he had discovered with his telescope, and the 14th-centur y Gothic building of Palazzo Ganbacor ti with i ts interior frescoes showcasing Pisa’s sea victories; and more than 20 historic churches including the Church of Santo Stefano dei Cavalieri, the small Church of St. Si x tus, one of the best preser ved early Romanesque buildings in Pisa, the Church of St. Francis, the ancient Churches of San Frediano and San Nicola, and many more.
The most famous landmark lies within the walled area of Pisa’s Unesco World Heritage Si te, a center of impor tance of European medieval ar t and an archi tectural complex regarded as one of the world’s finest — the Pia zza dei Miracoli (the Square of Miracles) also knows as Piazza del Duomo (Cathedral Square).
Owned by the Catholic Church, the Cathedral Square is dominated by four great religious edifices — the Pisa Cathedral, the Pisa Baptistr y, the Camposanto Monumentale (Monumental Cemeter y) and the famous Leaning Tower of Pisa.
The Pisa Cathedral is the hear t of Pia zza del Duomo. The medieval cathedral, entitled to Santa Maria Assunta (St. Mary of Assumption) was constructed in 1064 in the Romanesque st yle of architecture and was destroyed by a fire in 1595, which destroyed most of the Renaissance ar t works. Upon reconstruction, several par ts of the cathedral were replaced or redecorated such as massive bronze main doors, the interior black and white marbles, the frescoed walls and gilded dome.
It is believed that in this church that Galileo formulated his theor y about the pendulum’s movement by watching the swinging of the original incense lamp hanging from the nave’s ceiling.
The Pisa Baptistr y was constructed in 1152 to replace an older baptister y and upon completion in 1363, it became the second building to rise in the Pia zza dei Mircaoli. Here’s an interesting fact, since the building was constructed on the same unstable sand as the tower and cathedral, the Baptistr y leans 0.6 degrees toward the cathedral.
At the nor thern edge of the Cathedral Square is the historical building of Camposanto Monumentale, believed to be erected around sacred soil shipped from Golgotha, thus the name “campo santo” or holy field. Legend has it that bodies decompose within 24 hours af ter burial. To dif ferentiate i t from the later-established urban cemeter y in Pisa, the term “monumental” was used.
The most famous building in the complex would be the freestanding bell tower of the piazza we all know as the Leaning Tower of Pisa. It is the third oldest building buil t in the square that took 199 years to complete.
It is due to insuf ficient foundation on sof t ground that the 183-foot, 8-storey housing seven bells (one for each note of the musical scale) tower is til ting, which star ted as early as the construction of the 2nd level. Thanks to restoration ef for ts, the til ting was reduced from 5.5 degrees to 3.9 degrees, meaning the horizontal displacement from the tower’s top is now 3.9 meters from i ts correct ver tical posi tion.
Here’s a trivia: Did you know that there are at least t wo other leaning towers in Pisa? They can be found at the southern end of central Via Santa Maria, and the other half way through the Piagge riverside promenade.
Our first visi t to Pisa was shor t but sweet. I strongly feel that we will find ourselves back to explore more of the ci t y in the future. Pisa is such a lovely place, just like the rest of the ci ties in this Italian region.
As a par ting gif t, Tuscany treated us to a beautiful sunset with the River Arno and the valley’s green hills as its majestic foreground. It was bidding us, “Arrivederci.” For more travel & lifest yle stories, visi t
ht tp://jeepneyjinggoy.blogspot.com/ and ht tp://apples-and-lemons.blogspot.com/