PISA2000

Unlike  the other major art conters of Tuscany, Pisa is practically  devoid of great Renaissance monuments for, in fact  she made her fortune and accumulated her art treasures  mainly during the Middle Ages. Actually, the peak of Pisa's economic and political  power was reached in the 12th-13th centuries when Pisan ships ruled the Tyrrhenian Sea. It was only during this time that the city, whose prosperity came from lucrative trade with the Orient could afford to commission the masterpieces of painting, sculpture, and architecture with which to embellish herself. Foremost among these, is, of course, the Campo dei Miracoli, which after almost a millennium has come down to us  practically intact except for its celebrated Campanile, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, which every year that passes, is just a bit more leaning. But you mustn't make the all too common mistake of thinking that once you've seen the Campo dei Miracoli, you've seen Pisa. In fact our guide is divided into three easy-to-follow and enjoyable itineraries with an appendix  for touring the environs so that you don't miss anything. Also, to help you get even more out of your sightseeing, a brief outline of Pisa's history and art history is provided at the beginning.

Who founded Pisa is a controversial matter. Some historians   believe that the city was colonized by a group of Greeks at the end of the 7th century B.C. Others are convinced that its founders came from nearby Liguria and that it was later settled by the Etruscans. We do know, however, that the city, first an ally of Rome, later became one of her colonies at which time it was re-named Julia Obsequens. Under the Emperor Octavian in the 1st century A.D. the porto pisanus was enlarged. Although only little of it is extant today, the city's history and prosperity have always been tied in with ports and the sea, for activities connected with the sea have been the mainstay of Pisa's economic life from the very beginning. Seafaring never ceased, not even when the rest of the Italian peninsula was in the throes of terrible crises such as the periods of Roman and barbarian rule and throughout the Longobard domination. From the outset, Pisa's aim was to build up her fleet and extend her trading and, in fact,

she soon became one of the great.  Mediterranean sea powers. In the 11th century, the Free Commune of Pisa was even able to

wrest from the Saracens a good-sized chunk of the Island of Sardinia which, as a result, came under Pisan influence in the economic, political, and artistic spheres. The 11th century was a period of fervent artistic activity, especially in architecture when the first examples of the Pisans-Lucchese architecture may best be defined as a local version of the romanesque, a mixture brewed from different styles and cultures.  t not only exerted great influence in the regions of Pisa and Lucca, but went on to affect the architecture of several

Mediterranean countries, among them Southern Italy, Corsica, Provence, and, especially, Sardinia. One of the earliest examples of the emerging style-new, despite its evident ties to previous Early Christian source-is the Basilica of San Piero a Grado, located a few miles from Pisa, which was built at the beginning of the 11th century. A bit later, in the second half the 12th century, the cathedral of Pisa, designed by Buschetto, was begun, although it was not finished until the beginning of the 13th century under the direction of Buschetto's successor Rainaldo. The result is a  masterpiece of Romanesque architecture in which Early Christian, Lombard, and Arabic influences are masterfully interwoven. This was the period of great prosperity for Pisa,  due mainly to intensive trade with the Orient which developed as an offshoot of her active partecipation in the

first Crusade and   the alliance she forged with the Normans at the end the 11th century. the city became at the time the seat of a bishopric whose jurisdiction extended to Sardinia and Corsica. In the 12th century  the Pisans joined forces with Emperor Frederick Redbeard, and this led to the annexation of vast territories of Tyrrhenian coast, Calabria, Sicily, and all of Sardinia, as feudal possessions. During these centuries the great names in Pisan art emerged: Bonanno in the 1100s century and Nicola and Giovanni Pisano in the 1200s. The Pisanos, father and son, made Pisan sculpture one of the foremost styles in Italy. In 1173, admist a hundred difficulties, the Campanile, the famous Leaning Tower, was begun. In the second half of the 13th century, Giovanni di Simone, an architect who was crearly under the influence of French Gothic architecture then starting to be felt in Italy, designed the Camposanto Monumentale (cemetery), as well as the churches of Santa caterina and San Francesco. His contemporaries in painting, the Pisan masters Francesco Traini and the Master of The Triumph of Death (from them name of the unknown painter's fresco cycle in the Camposanto), were greatly influenced by the Sienese, unlike their successors who would fall more under the sway of Florentine painting. Then, in 1284, the Pisans, whose fleet had in the meantime eclipsed that of another great sea republic, Amalfi, suffered a serious setback when they were soundly beaten by the Genoese at Meloria. This led to a long period of crisis, accentuated by constant bickering among the various factions of the citizenry. During the 14th century, Pisa's political and economic decline was even more pronounced. Deprived of a fleet of her own, she was forced to helplessy look on as Sardinia was conquered by the Aragonese while, at the same time, she was sucked more and more into the sphere of influence of nearby Florence. And, in fact, in 1406, debilitated by a long siege, the Pisans surrendered to the Florentine who thus permanently added Pisa to their dominions. Nevertheless, a slow but steady economic revival market the next decades. In 1472, the University of Pisa, still a renowned center of learning today, was officially opened and the city enjoyed a brief period of indipendence when Charles VIII of France entered Italy in 1494. As soon as the Medicis regained possession of Pisa, they embarked  on a number of ambitious building projects, especially in the port area, which went on throughout the 16h and 17th centuries and which proved of great benefit to the city.