Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
(Piazza dei Miracoli; adult/reduced €5/3; 8am-8pm summer, 10am-5pm winter)
Soil shipped from
Calvary during the Crusades is said to lie within the white walls of this hauntingly beauti-
ful, final resting place for many prominent Pisans, arranged around a garden in a
cloistered quadrangle. During WWII, Allied artillery destroyed many of the cloisters'
frescos, but a couple were salvaged and are now displayed in the
Sala Affreschi
(Frescoes
Room).
Most notable is the
Triumph of Death
(133-41), a remarkable illustration of Hell attrib-
uted to 14th-century painter Buonamico Buffalmacco. Fortunately, the mirrors apparently
once stuck next to the graphic, no-holds-barred images of the damned being roasted alive
on spits have since been removed - meaning a marginally less uncomfortable visit for vis-
itors who would have once seen their own faces peering out of the cruel wall painting.
Buffalmacco's Last
Judgement & Hell
(1336-41), in the same room, is equally brutal.
Museo dell'Opera del Duomo
(Piazza dei Miracoli; adult/reduced €5/3; 8am-8pm summer, 10am-5pm winter)
A repository for
works of art once displayed in the cathedral and baptistry, highlights include Giovanni
Pisano's ivory carving of the
Madonna and Child
(1299), made for the cathedral's high al-
tar, and his mid-13th-century
Madonna del colloquio,
originally from a gate of the
duomo
.
Don't miss the tranquil cloister garden with great views of the Leaning Tower.
MUSEUM
Museo delle Sinópie
(Piazza dei Miracoli; adult/reduced €5/3; 8am-8pm summer, 10am-5pm winter)
Home to some fas-
cinating frescoes, this museum safeguards several
sinópie
(preliminary sketches), drawn
by the artists in red earth pigment on the walls of the Camposanto in the 14th and 15th
centuries before the frescoes were overpainted. The museum is a compelling study in
fresco painting, with short films and scale models filling in the gaps.
MUSEUM
TOP OF CHAPTER
1
Along the Arno
Away from the crowded heavyweights of Piazza dei Miracoli, along the Arno river banks,
Pisa comes into its own. Splendid
palazzi
(palaces), painted a multitude of hues, line the
