Page 331 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Italy

PISA  329

VISITORS’ CHECKLIST
Practical Information
* 90,000, n Piazza Duomo
(050 56 04 64); Pza Vittorio
Emanuele 16 (050 422 91). (
Wed & Sat. _ 17 Jun: Regata di
San Ranieri; last Sun in Jun: Gioco
del Ponte. ∑ pisaunicaterra.it
Transport
k Galileo Galilei 5 km (3 miles) S.
V Pisa Centrale, Pza della
Stazione. @ Viale Gramsci.
Santa Maria della Spina alongside the River Arno in Pisa
R Santa Maria della Spina
E Museo dell’Opera The first rooms are devoted to Lungarno Gambacorti. Tel 055 12 19
del Duomo sculpture and early Tuscan 19. Open Tue–Sun.
Piazza del Duomo 6. Tel 050 83 10 11. paintings. The best exhibits The roofline of this tiny church,
Open Apr–Sep: 8am–8pm daily; Oct– include a 14th-century polyptych located just beyond the Ponte
Mar: 9am–6pm daily. & 7 by Francesco Traini of Scenes Solferino, bristles with spiky
Housed in the cathedral’s 13th- from the Life of St Dominic, Gothic pinnacles, spires and
century former Chapter House, Simone Martini’s fine polyptych niches sheltering statues of saints
this museum displays exhibits of The Madonna and Saints and apostles. The decoration
removed over the years from (1321), and a 14th- century reflects the history of the church,
the Duomo, Baptistry and statue of the Madonna del which was built between 1230
Camposanto. Among the Latte, attributed to and 1323 to house a thorn
highlights is an imposing Andrea Pisano, another (spina) from Christ’s Crown of
10th-century hippogriff member of Pisa’s Thorns, the gift of a Pisan
(half horse, half griffin). talented school of merchant. The church was once
Cast in bronze by medieval sculptors. even closer to the Arno, but was
Moorish craftsmen, this The half-length statue, rebuilt on the present site in
statue was looted by in gilded marble, 1871 to protect it from flooding.
Pisan adventurers shows Christ feeding
during the wars against at his mother’s breast. P Piazza dei Cavalieri
the Saracens. There are In room 6 are some of The huge building on the
also works by Nicola 10th-century the highlights of the north side of this square is the
and Giovani Pisano, bronze hippogriff museum, including Palazzo dei Cavalieri, home to
notably Giovanni’s ivory Masaccio’s St Paul one of Italy’s most prestigious
Virgin and Child (1300), carved (1426), Gentile da Fabriano’s universities: the Scuola Normale
for the Duomo’s high altar. Other radiant 15th-century Madonna Superiore. Designed by Vasari in
exhibits include paintings, of Humility, and Donatello’s 1562, the building, which is
Roman and Etruscan remains, reliquary bust of San Rossore covered in black and white
and ecclesiastical treasures. (1424–7). Additional rooms sgraffito decoration (designs
contain paintings by Guido scratched into wet plaster),
E Museo Nazionale Reni, Benozzo Gozzoli, Rosso served as the headquarters of
di San Matteo Fiorentino, and an important the Cavalieri di Santo Stefano,
Lungarno Mediceo, Piazza San Matteo 1. picture of Christ attributed to an order of knights created
Tel 050 54 18 65. Open 8:30am–7pm Fra Angelico (c.1395–1455). by Cosimo I in 1561.
Tue–Sun (only am Sun). & 8
This museum is located on the
banks of the Arno in San Matteo,
an elegantly fronted medieval
convent that in the 1800s also
served as a prison. Much of the
building has been closed for
years – several of the rooms have
no numbers and some of the
exhibits are poorly labelled.
Nevertheless, the museum
presents a unique opportunity to
examine the complete sweep of
Pisan and Florentine art from the
12th to the 17th centuries. The Madonna and Saints (1321) by Simone Martini in the Museo Nazionale

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