If you only have an afternoon to spend at Pisa in Tuscany, Italy (on your way elsewhere), what would you see?

There are actually more things to see in Pisa aside from its famous Leaning Tower. Pisa, a small town in Italy, was the afternoon stop in a tour from Florence on the way to a hotel in Genoa. Even with just the afternoon hours to spare, there is still a good lot to see.

Everything is inside the Piazza dei Miracoli (Square of Miracles), a walled 8.87 hectare area in Pisa, Tuscany, Italy, which is known to be a centre of European medieval art.

 

PISA BAPTISTERY
The first building you see entering the Piazza is the Pisa Baptistery of St. John, the largest baptistery in Italy. Built before the more famous leaning tower, this is a building people enter after being baptized and purified of their original sin. People can enter for 5 euros. It is said that Galileo was baptized here.

 

PISA CATHEDRAL
Pisa Cathedral is a medieval Roman Catholic cathedral dedicated to the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. Entry is free.

 

THE LEANING TOWER OF PISA
The leaning tower is the bell tower of the cathedral. Its unintentional tilt is due to the soft clay soil. It’s been said there were proposals to straighten it but that people decided to just prevent its further sinking and keep its tilt so it would remain interesting. It is arguably the most famous tower in the world. People can go inside for 18 euros.

 

Other Pisa structures to visit within the Square which I didn’t get to see are the Camposanto (a cemetery said to have soil taken from Calvary in Jerusalem) and Sinopie Museum (dedicated to fresco preparatory drawings) at 5 euros each. There’s also the Museo dell’Opera del Duomo (“Museum of Cathedral Works”) which displays Pisa art.

After Pisa, we were off to Monaco. See the full 10-day itinerary here.