Pisa

Pisa, worldfamous for its leaning tower, has more to offer as we discovered in May 2023, but the stunning Piazza dei Miracoli is one of a kind. I think Kurt Hielscher would have agreed, because he made several photos here. It is just a magnificent place ànd we enjoyed the rest of the center of Pisa as well despite the rain and the fact that we had to share it with few other tourists.

In August 2023 it was 850 years ago the construction of the tower started. When the third floor was reached five years later in 1178, the tower started to lean. Due to the war with Genoa and Florence, the works were halted for over 100 years, which gave the ground time to settle. Would the tower have been completed, for sure it would have collapsed. The tower was ready in 1372 but some archtictural tricks were needed to built the last few floors. In 1964, the Italian government asked for help to ensure that the tower, would not fall over. In January 1990 the tower was closed for safety reasons and after nearly 12 years of restoration works to reduce the angle of inclination, the tower was reopened to the public in 2001. The tower is a little less crooked now and that is the main difference in between Kurt Hielscher's photo and mine. 

Dom, Piazza dei Miracoli, 1st of May 2023. Photo: Casper Molenaar.

Battistero di San Giovanni

Monument Galileo, which is surprisingly new here. I don't know since when but Google Streetview is from March 2019.

Into the city center crossing the Ponte di Mezzo.

Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II

Piazza dei Cavalieri

"Tuttomondo" by Keith Haring

My lovely family

Below: Leaving the city centre of Pisa crossing the Ponte di Mezzo again. Photo: Casper Molenaar.