Pisa is much more than one leaning tower. In the Middle Ages it was one of Italy's great maritime republics, rich enough to build the white marble cathedral square that still stops visitors in their tracks, and it has been a university city since 1343. Here are the facts and stories that make the city special.
10 fun facts about Pisa
- A tower that leaned from the start: work on the bell tower began in 1173, and it started to tilt once the third storey was reached, because the soft ground beneath gave way. Building stopped for almost a century, and the bell chamber was only finished in the 14th century.
- Straightened, a little: the tower was closed from 1990 to 2001 while engineers carefully removed soil from under its higher side. The lean was reduced by about 40 centimetres, and the tower still tilts by roughly four degrees.
- Not the only one: the bell towers of San Nicola and San Michele degli Scalzi in Pisa lean too, for the same reason: soft, waterlogged ground.
- Italy's largest baptistery: the round Baptistery on the Piazza dei Miracoli is the biggest in Italy, and its acoustics are so good that staff often sing a few notes to let visitors hear the echo.
- Earth from Golgotha: legend says the Camposanto, the monumental cemetery, was built around soil brought back from Golgotha by Pisan ships during the Crusades. Its frescoes were badly damaged by a fire caused by Allied shelling in July 1944 and have been restored over decades.
- A World Heritage square: the Piazza del Duomo, better known as the Piazza dei Miracoli, the Square of Miracles, was added to UNESCO's World Heritage List in 1987.
- Galileo's home town: Galileo Galilei was born in Pisa in 1564 and later taught at its university. The story that he dropped balls from the Leaning Tower comes from his pupil Vincenzo Viviani, and many historians doubt it ever happened.
- A rival to Genoa and Venice: Pisa was one of Italy's maritime republics, with trading posts around the Mediterranean, until its fleet was crushed by Genoa at the Battle of Meloria in 1284.
- Keith Haring's Tuttomondo: in June 1989 the American artist painted a mural of 180 square metres, with 30 figures celebrating peace and harmony, on the wall of the church of Sant'Antonio Abate. It took him about a week and was one of his last public works.
- A church built for a thorn: the small Gothic church of Santa Maria della Spina on the Arno is named after a thorn said to come from Christ's crown. In 1871 it was taken apart and rebuilt higher up, because river water was seeping in.
Galileo and the swinging lamp
A favourite Pisa story says that young Galileo, at Mass in the cathedral, watched a lamp swinging on its long chain and timed it against his own pulse. He noticed that every swing took the same time, whether it was wide or narrow, an idea that later led to the pendulum clock. Guides still point to the bronze lamp in the nave as Galileo's lamp, but it was cast a few years after the date usually given for his observation, so if the story is true he was watching an earlier one. What is certain is that Galileo studied and taught in Pisa, and that his work on motion and falling bodies began here.
Piazza dei Cavalieri, explained
This square was the political heart of medieval Pisa. In the 16th century Cosimo I de' Medici made it the seat of the Knights of St Stephen, an order founded in 1561 to fight pirates in the Mediterranean, and Giorgio Vasari redesigned its palaces. The Palazzo della Carovana, with its decorated façade, now houses the Scuola Normale Superiore, a university college founded by Napoleonic decree in 1810. The square also holds a darker memory: Count Ugolino della Gherardesca was locked in a tower here in 1288 with his sons and grandsons and left to starve, a story Dante told in the Inferno.
What to eat in Pisa
- Cecina: a thin, crisp flatbread made from chickpea flour and baked in a wood-fired oven. Eat it hot, with plenty of black pepper.
- Torta coi bischeri: a chocolate and rice tart from the countryside around Pisa, with pointed pastry tips around the edge.
- San Miniato white truffles: the hill town in the province of Pisa is famous for its white truffles, celebrated at a fair every November.
- Pecorino Toscano: the region's sheep's cheese, often served with honey or fresh pears.
- Vin Santo and cantucci: a sweet amber wine for dipping hard almond biscuits at the end of a meal.
Good to know before you go
- Tickets to climb the Leaning Tower are sold for timed slots and often sell out in high season, so book ahead. Children under eight are not allowed to climb.
- Most visitors never leave the Piazza dei Miracoli. Walk on along Borgo Stretto, under its medieval arcades, and down to the Arno to see the rest of the city.
- The riverside streets are at their best at sunset. On the evening of 16 June, for the Luminara, the buildings along the Arno are lit with tens of thousands of candles.
- Lucca and Florence are both easy day trips by train.
Explore Pisa with World City Trail
Our Pisa scavenger hunt turns these sights into a game you play on your phone. The route links 10 stops and takes around two hours, with about 34 minutes of walking, past sights such as Keith Haring's Tuttomondo mural and Santa Maria della Spina on the Arno.
At each stop you solve a puzzle and hear a short story, at your own pace. You can start whenever you like.
Play the Pisa scavenger hunt →
Facts checked in October 2026.