FIRST ITINERARY

Pisa's Cathedral Square, known as the Campo dei Miracoli (Square of Miracles) is a veritable miracle of architectural achievement. Four buildings, the Cathedral, Leaning Tower, Baptistry and Camposanto, beautifully shown off on their lawn setting, form one on of the outstanding architectural complexes in all of Italy. Their striking stylistic harmony is even more amazing if one considers that it took hundred years to build them, naturally under the supervision of different architects. Over the centuries few major changes have been wrought, and today we can enjoy the Campo dei Miracoli in all its original splendor.

Work on the Cathedral was begun in 1064 under the direction of Buschetto, originally believed to have been Greek, and now known to have been a native Pisan. His mortal remains rest in a simple urn placed behind the firts arch on the lefthand side of the façade marked by a commemorative stone. The unfinished building was consecrated in 1118 by Pope Gelasio II. In the 12th entury the façade , designed by Rainaldo, was erected, although construction went on for centuries more. The Cathedral, exerted enormous influence on countless other architectural designs, not only in Pisa, but all over Tuscany and Sardinia as well.
The Exterior - The cathedral is completely faced with precious colored marbles. The lower section of the five register façade is divided into seven zones by blind arcading. Alternate losenge and circle designs. inlaid with exsquisite

patterns, set off the arches. The columns framing the main portal, unlike those of the secondary portals, are completely carved with an intricate acanthus leaf pattern. The mosaics in the portal lunettes date from the 1400s but were radically altered in the 19th century. Their subjects are St. Reparata (left), the Assumpion of the Virgin, (center) and St. John the Baptist (right). The late 16th century bronze doors by followers of Giambologna were built

to replace Bonanno's originals of 1186 which perished in a fire. The scenes depicted on the main portal are episodes from the Life of the Virgin, while the other two recount the Life of Christ. The upper façade has four rows of Lombard-style arcading. On the corners of the second row are statues of Evengelists, while a statue of the Virgin and Child, by Andrea Pisano, and two angels, by followers of Giovanni Pisano, look down from the summit. the arcading and ornamental motifs of the façade are continued along the side of the building. Going to the back of the church at the point where the apse and transept meet on the Leaning Tower side is Porta di S. Ranieri which serves as the present-day entrance to the Cathedral. The bronze doors of 1180, masperpieces by Bonanno, are divided into twenty compartments in which the Life of Christ is depicted in an extraordinay vigorous style, influenced by the three-dimensional quality of the Romanesque master, Wiligelmo, though not devoid of Byzantine influxes either. The stylistic unity of the architecture is maintained in the apse, which has blind arcading surmounted by two rows of loggias. The unusual elliptical dome rising over the crossing was built in 1380 by Lupo di Gante and Puccio di Gadduccio. it rests upon an octagonal drum and is set off by a graceful Gothic gallery.