Pisa

Posted by Anura Samara, 11 June 2014

We took a day out from our stay at Cinque Terre to drive to Pisa.

All I really knew about Pisa was the Leaning Tower, and I all I really wanted to do was see the tower as we were so close. It’s funny to realise that, for a landmark that looms so largely in our cultural knowledge, we know so little about it’s history and surroundings or even about the town of Pisa itself.

The drive to Pisa was along a standard Italian freeway. Then there was the turn-off for Pisa which was just a rural road – no sign that you’re about to enter an important city. Pisa may be classified as a city but it’s really just a large town in the countryside, so it was easy to navigate around to find a car park. The whole time we’re craning our necks trying to see the Leaning Tower – surely for such a distinctive landmark, it must stand out?

We parked the car and followed the signs on foot. Nope, still no tower. We walked along the wall surrounding the tower and the other buildings but still couldn’t see the tower itself. And then we arrived at the entrance gate and suddenly see the tower. It was simultaneously an anti-climax (it’s so small!) and exciting to see it for real.

What no-one ever tells you and the pictures never really show is that the Leaning Tower is just part of a larger complex of buildings, including:

• the Camposanto,
• the Baptistry, and
• the Piazza Dei Miracoli.

Taken as a whole, the Tower appears to be diminished but of course it’s the main attraction for all tourists.

We bought tickets for each of the buildings, but of course the excitement was around being able to climb the tower. There is a good audiovisual presentation in the ticket building about the extensive work over the centuries to stabilise the tower. It’s a conundrum that has stumped even modern-day engineering experts although a solution appears to have been found. Climbing the stairs in the tower is a strange experience as they alternate between feeling shallow on side and then steep with an outward lean on the other. Of course, at the top there is less a sense of the lean unless you look down. When you’re at the top, you realise that the apparent isolation of the tower complex within the town was really only because of the way we approached it – in this corner of the complex, the narrow city streets with restaurants and shops practically come right up to the tower.

The Camposanto is a weird place. It’s effectively an enclosed cemetery, but the enclosed walkway around the inside is filled with a variety of sarcophogi, grave stones and statues. There are several chapels which reportedly contain a whole range of relics. The repeated skull-and-crossbones motif is particularly offputting. All up, it’s a very Catholic place.

It’s just felt so incredible to be there that it was hard to leave – even as we walked away I kept taking more photographs. But then once you’re through the gateway in the wall, it’s gone – you find yourself in just another Italian town, with the hawkers selling their crap to tourists.

Categories: Italy

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