Some cities are easy to define. Bilbao is the Guggenheim Museum, Jerez is sherry and Pisa is the leaning tower. Ask Mr or Mrs Average to name another reason for visiting any one of them and they’d struggle.
That doesn’t mean they don’t have other attractions but while Pisa throbs with tourists, most of them flock to its famous tower and then move on like locusts to consume the Tuscan wonders of Florence, Siena and San Gimignano. We spent several days in Pisa, mainly because we had a wedding to attend, and by the end of our stay we were both looking forward to escaping. Because it turned out to be more of a one-trick-pony destination than I’d imagined. There just wasn’t enough to keep us occupied.
Noticeably poorer than other Tuscan tourist hot-spots, the streets don’t exactly heave with holidaymakers during the day because they’re all clogging every spare metre of ground around the tower. We visited it for the first time early in the evening, shortly after dumping our bags at our hotel and as the sun was setting. The cathedral square in which the tower sits – the Piazza del Duomo UNESCO World Heritage Site – was surprisingly quiet and there were few visitors about, no doubt because most were tucking into their pasta or heading off to the next city on their itinerary.
The city’s trademark building was intended as the free-standing bell tower or campanile of the cathedral and it was already tilting during construction, which began in the 12th century and continued on and off until the 14th. The architects and engineers hadn’t done their homework, for the ground was found to be hopelessly unstable. Efforts to stabilise it and stop it toppling over have been going on for years and it was closed for more than a decade from 1990 while the experts set about saving it. The work resulted in the tower being returned to its 1838 position. However, the top is still displaced horizontally by 3.9 metres from the centre. Looking at it, it’s remarkable that it stays upright!
That evening we walked to the top, via a very wonky door and 250 or so steps. I was surprised to find that it’s hollow on the inside, looking more like a torpedo tube than a bell tower, and that’s something of a disappointment after the elegant columns and arches that mark each floor externally. The views from the top were, as expected, wonderful. In the distance stood snow-capped mountains and up close the grand, marble-fronted buildings of the Piazza del Duomo.
The following morning the square was hellish, full of tour groups, cruise parties and all the detritus and associated hangers-on associated with big tourist attractions. Huge numbers of unimaginative twats took pictures of their friends and relatives pretending to hold the tower in place. Selfie sticks threatened to decapitate the unwary. Souvenir stalls sold tat. It was, simply, awful.
We’d already visited the tower so we could at least avoid the worst of the crowds by diverting to the square’s other monuments, which shimmered white in the sunshine thanks to all the marble. The cathedral is a beacon of Romanesque architecture, the baptistery a mix of Romanesque and Gothic topped by a giant dome and the Camposanto Monumentale a cemetery building with a peaceful inner courtyard and cloisters. Together with the tower, the buildings speak to the power and unimaginable wealth of the Catholic church then and now.
We left the crowds at the tower and meandered along the River Arno, which has some elegant waterfront buildings that look particularly attractive lit up at night. On the left bank stands the small but extravagantly designed Church of Santa Maria della Spina.
The Piazza dei Cavalieri is one of the city’s best squares and the Palazzo dei Cavalieri is the star, with an ornate frontage that includes coats of arms and busts of the Grand Dukes of Tuscany, but we weren’t allowed inside. Nearby is the Palazzo dell’Orológio, built in the 17th century for the Order of St Stephen.
It was rather more peaceful at the botanical gardens, which form part of the university. They’re OK, offer shade on a hot day but as gardens are just meh, which pretty much sums up Pisa as a tourist destination…