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 curiosidades sobre Pisa
- Una torre inclinada desde el principio: las obras del campanario empezaron en 1173, y empezó a inclinarse al llegar al tercer piso, porque el terreno blando cedía. La construcción se detuvo casi un siglo, y la sala de campanas no se terminó hasta el siglo XIV.
- Enderezada, un poco: la torre estuvo cerrada de 1990 a 2001 mientras los ingenieros retiraban con cuidado tierra bajo su lado más alto. La inclinación se redujo unos 40 centímetros, y la torre sigue inclinada unos cuatro grados.
- No es la única: los campanarios de San Nicola y San Michele degli Scalzi, en Pisa, también se inclinan, por el mismo motivo: un suelo blando y empapado.
- 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.
- Tierra del Gólgota: la leyenda dice que el Camposanto, el cementerio monumental, se construyó en torno a tierra traída del Gólgota por barcos pisanos durante las cruzadas. Sus frescos sufrieron graves daños en un incendio causado por bombardeos aliados en julio de 1944 y se han restaurado durante décadas.
- 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 y la lámpara que oscila
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.
La Piazza dei Cavalieri, explicada
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.
Qué comer en Pisa
- Cecina: una torta fina y crujiente de harina de garbanzo, cocida en horno de leña. Cómela caliente y con mucha pimienta negra.
- Torta coi bischeri: una tarta de chocolate y arroz del campo pisano, con picos de masa alrededor del borde.
- Trufas blancas de San Miniato: este pueblo de colina de la provincia de Pisa es famoso por sus trufas blancas, que se celebran con una feria cada noviembre.
- Pecorino Toscano: the region's sheep's cheese, often served with honey or fresh pears.
- Vin Santo y cantucci: un vino dulce ambarino para mojar las galletas duras de almendra al final de la comida.
Antes de ir
- Las entradas para subir a la torre inclinada se venden por franjas horarias y en temporada alta suelen agotarse, así que reserva con antelación. Los menores de ocho años no pueden subir.
- La mayoría de los visitantes nunca sale de la Piazza dei Miracoli. Sigue por el Borgo Stretto, bajo sus soportales medievales, hasta el Arno para ver el resto de la ciudad.
- Los paseos junto al río están en su mejor momento al atardecer. La noche del 16 de junio, por la Luminara, los edificios a lo largo del Arno se iluminan con decenas de miles de velas.
- Lucca y Florencia son excursiones fáciles de un día en tren.
Descubre Pisa con 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.
En cada parada resuelves un acertijo y escuchas una historia breve, a tu ritmo. Puedes empezar cuando quieras.
Juega a la búsqueda del tesoro de Pisa →
Datos comprobados en octubre de 2026.