Monday (November 7th)
I decided to leave Catania Sicily earlier in the day (too humid/hot and too full of bugs), so I flew to Pisa at 9am. Flights in Italy are interesting. My e-ticket noted that the flight was to leave at 9:45, but when I got to the airport and waited in the very long line to check in, it turned out the flight was leaving at 9am. Good thing that I did not dawdle as soon after getting to the gate, the flight boarded. Below is a picture of the Catania Airport curbfront.
Note the CAEP sign on the side of the A320 - the decal sez "Environmentally Friendly - CAEP 6 Compliant Aircraft). for my non aviation friends this is the International Civil Aviation Organization Committee on Environmental Protection)... I flew AirOne who flies between Catania and Pisa for Alitalia. Apron at Pisa below.
Took a cab to the Grand Hotel Duomo, which is a very dated but comfortable hotel near the Duomo. The reviews of the hotel were the most favorable of those near the Duomo -- but many had commented that the decore was basically not updated since the 1960s - they were correct. It was raining when I got there so, I got settled and as the rain lightened, walked to the Duomo and in the area around. I bought my two day tickets to see four of the Square of Miracles (Piazza dei Miracoli) facilities.
Here is what I learned from the hotel - Pisa is on the right bank of the mouth of the Arno river. The city has over 88,000 residents and contains more than 20 historic churches. The Duomo and its leaning tower are the most famous.
The Piazza del Duomo ("Cathedral Square") is a wide, walled area at the heart of Pisa, that some recognize as a main center for medieval art in the world. Partly paved with stone and partly grassed, it is dominated by four great religious structures:1) the Duomo, 2) the Campanile ( the leaning bell tower) 3) the Baptistery, and 4) the Campostano (mausoleum). It is otherwise known as Piazza dei Miracoli ("Square of Miracles"). This name was created by the Italian writer and poet Gabriele d’Annunzio.
The Duomo, entitled to Santa Maria Assunta (St. Mary of the Assumption), is a five-naved cathedral with a three-naved transept. Construction was begun in 1064 by the architect Busketo. The façade is primary grey marble and white stone set with discs of color marble and was built by Rainaldo. The huge bronze main doors were made around 1600 to replace the original doors destroyed in a fire. The central door was in bronze and made around 1180 by Bonanno Pisano, while the other two were probably in wood. The interior is faced with black and white marble and has a gilded ceiling and a frescoed dome. It was largely redecorated after a fire in 1595, which destroyed most of the medieval art works. The impressive mosaic, in the apse, of Christ in Majesty, flanked by the Blessed Virgin and St. John the Evangelist, survived the fire. It evokes the mosaics in the church of Monreale, Sicily. The cupola, at the intersection of the nave and the transept, was decorated by Riminaldi showing the ascension of the Blessed Virgin.
Galileo is believed to have formulated his theory about the movement of a pendulum by watching the swinging of the incense lamp (not the present one) hanging from the ceiling of the nave. That lamp, smaller and simpler than the present one, it is now kept in the Camposanto, in the Aulla chapel.
The elaborately carved pulpit (1302–1310), which also survived the fire, was made by Giovanni Pisano and is one the masterworks of medieval sculpture. It was packed away during the redecoration and was not rediscovered and re-erected until 1926. The pulpit is supported by plain columns (two of which mounted on lions sculptures) on one side and by caryatids and a telamon on the other: the latter represent St. Michael, the Evangelists, the four cardinal virtues flanking the Church, and a bold, naturalistic depiction of a naked Hercules. A central plinth with the liberal arts supports the four theological virtues.
The upper part of the pulpit has nine panels dramatic showing scenes from the New Testament, carved in white marble with a chiaroscuro effect and separated by figures of prophets: Annunciation, Massacre of the Innocents, Nativity, Adoration of the Magi, Flight into Egypt, Crucifixion, and two panels of the Last Judgement.
The church also contains the bones of St Ranieri, Pisa's patron saint, and the tomb of the Roman Emperor Henry VII, carved by Tino da Camaino in 1315. That tomb, originally in the apse just behind the main altar, was disassembled and changed position many times during the years for political reasons. At last the sarcophagus is still in the Cathedral, but some of the statues were put in the Camposanto or in the top of the façade of the church.
The Cathedral has a prominent role in determining the beginning of the Pisan New Year. Between the tenth century and 1749, when the Tuscan calendar was reformed, Pisa used its own calendar, in which the first day of the year on March 25, which is the day of the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary. The Pisan New Year begins 9 months before the ordinary one. The exact moment is determined by a ray of sun that, through a window on the left side, hit a shelf egg-shaped on the right side, just above the pulpit by Giovanni Pisano. This occurs at noon. In the Cathedral also can be found some relics brought during the Crusades: the remains of three Saints and a vase that it is said to be one of the jars of Cana.
The Baptistery, dedicated to St. John the Baptist, stands opposite the west end of the Duomo. The round Romaneque building was started in the mid 12th century. It was built in a Romanesque style by an architect known as Diotisalvi, who worked also in the church of the Holy Sepulchre in the city. His name is mentioned on a pillar inside, as Diotsalvi magister. The construction was not, however, finished until the 14th century, when the loggia, the top storey, and the dome were added in Gothic style by Nicola Pisano and Giovanni Pisano.
It is the largest baptistery in Italy. Its circumference measures nearly 354 feet. Taking into account the statue of St. John the Baptist on top of the dome, it is even a few centimetres higher than the Leaning Tower.
The immensity of the interior is overwhelming, but some note that it is surprisingly plain and lacks decoration. The bronze sculpture of St. John the Baptist at the centre of the font, was done by Italo Griselli.
The pulpit was sculpted between 1255-1260 by Nicola Pisano, father of Giovanni Pisano, the artist who produced the pulpit in the Duomo. The scenes on the pulpit, and especially the classical form of the naked Hercules, show at best Nicola Pisano's qualities as the most important precursor of Italian renaissance sculpture by reinstating antique representations. Therefore, surveys of the Italian Renaissance usually begin with the year 1260, the year that Nicola Pisano dated this pulpit.
The campanile is located behind the cathedral. The last of the three major buildings on the piazza to be built, construction of the bell tower began in 1173 and took place in three stages over the course of 177 years, with the bell-chamber only added in 1372. Five years after construction began, when the building had reached the third floor level, the weak subsoil and poor foundation led to the building sinking on its south side. The building was left for a century, which allowed the subsoil to stabilize itself and prevented the building from collapsing. In 1272, to adjust the lean of the building, when construction resumed, the upper floors were built with one side taller than the other. The seventh and final floor was added in 1319. By the time the building was completed, the lean was approximately 1 degree, or 2.5 feet from vertical. At its greatest, measured prior to 1990, the lean measured approximately 5.5 degrees. As of 2010, this has been reduced to approximately 4 degrees.
The tower stands approximately 196ft high, and was built to accommodate a total of seven main bells, cast to the musical scale. You can climb it, but my fear of heights did not allow it.
The Campo Santo, also known as camposanto monumentale ("monumental cemetery") or camposanto vecchio ("old cemetery"), lies at the northern edge of the Square. It is a walled cemetery, which many claim is the most beautiful cemetery in the world. It is said to have been built around a shipload of sacred soil from Golgotha, brought back to Pisa from the Fourth Crusade by Ubaldo de' Lanfranchi, archbishop of Pisa in the 12th century, hence the name "Campo Santo" (Holy Field).
The building itself dates from a century later and was erected over the earlier burial ground. The building of this huge, oblong Gothic cloister began in 1278 by the architect Giovanni di Simone. He died in 1284 when Pisa suffered a defeat in a naval battle of Meloria against the Genoans. The cemetery was only completed in 1464. The outer wall is composed of 43 blind arches. There are two doorways. The one on the right is crowned by a gracious Gothic tabernacle. It contains the Virgin Mary with Child, surrounded by four saints. It is the work from the second half of the 14th century by a follower of Giovanni Pisano. Most of the tombs are under the arcades, although a few are on the central lawn. The inner court is surrounded by elaborate round arches with slender mullions and plurilobed tracery.
It contained a huge collection of Roman sculptures and sarcophagi, but now there are only 84 left. The walls were once covered in frescoes, the first were applied in 1360, the last about three centuries later. The Stories of the Old Testament by Benozzo Gozzoli (15th century) were situated in the north gallery, while the south arcade was famous for the Stories of the Genesis by Piero di Puccio (end 15th century). The most remarkable fresco is the realistic The Triumph of Death, the work of Buonamico Buffalmacco. But on 27 July 1944 incendiary bombs dropped by Allied aircraft set the roof on fire and covered them in molten lead, all but destroying them. Since 1945 restoration works have been going on and now the Campo Santo has been brought back to its original state.
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