Page 395 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Europe

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Florentine art from the 12th
to the 17th centuries. Major
15th-century works include
Masaccio’s St. Paul, Gentile da
Fabriano’s radiant Madonna of
Humility, and Donatello’s
reliquary bust of San Rossore.
E Museo Nazionale
di San Matteo
Piazza San Matteo 1. Tel 050-54 18 65.
Open Tue–Sun. Closed Sun pm. &
The skyline of San Gimignano, bristling with medieval towers
8 Lucca
5 San Gimignano architecture, its four-tiered facade
an intricate medley of creamy * 85,000. £ @ n Piazzale Verdi
Siena. * 7,000. @ n Piazza del colonnades and blind arcades. (0583-58 31 50). ( Wed, Sat, 3rd Sun
Duomo 1 (0577-94 00 08). ( Thu. Inside, highlights include a of month (antiques). ∑ luccaitinera.it
_ San Gimignano (Jan 31). pulpit (1302–11) by Giovanni
∑ sangimignano.com
Pisano and a mosaic of Christ in The city of Lucca is still enclosed
Majesty by Cimabue (1302). within its 17th-century walls,
The thirteen towers that Begun in 1173 on sandy silt and visitors can stroll along the
dominate San Gimignano’s subsoil, the famous Leaning ramparts, which were converted
skyline were built by rival noble Tower (Torre Pendente) was into a public park in the early
families in the 12th and 13th completed in 1350. The tower 19th century. Within the walls,
centuries, when the town’s has attracted many visitors over narrow lanes wind among dark
position on the main pilgrim the centuries, including Galileo, medieval buildings, opening
route to Rome brought it great who came here to conduct suddenly to reveal stunning
prosperity. The plague of 1348, experiments on falling objects. churches and piazzas, including
and later the diversion of the Recent engineering work has the vast Piazza del Anfiteatro,
pilgrim route, led to its reduced the tower’s tilt to which traces the outline of the
economic decline and its approximately 4.12 m (13.5 ft). old Roman amphitheater. The
miraculous preservation. The graceful Baptistry was finest of the churches are all
Full of good restaurants and begun in 1152 and finished a Romanesque: San Martino,
shops, the town is also home century later by Nicola and the 11th-century cathedral,
to many fine works of art. The Giovanni Pisano. San Michele in Foro, built on
Museo Civico holds works by The Museo Nazionale di the sight of the old Roman
Pinturicchio, Benozzo Gozzoli, San Matteo holds Pisan and forum, and San Frediano.
and Filippino Lippi, while the
church of Sant’Agostino has a
Baroque interior by Vanvitelli
(c.1740) and a fresco cycle by
Benozzo Gozzoli (1465).

6 Florence
See pp394–407.

7 Pisa
* 90,000. k Galileo Galilei, 5 km
(3 miles) S. £ @ n Piazza Vittorio
Emanuele 16 (050-42 291). ( Wed &
Sat. ∑ pisaunicaterra.it
In the Middle Ages, Pisa’s navy
dominated the western
Mediterranean. Trade with Spain
and North Africa brought vast
wealth, reflected in the city’s
splendid buildings. The Duomo,
begun in 1064, is a magnificent
example of Pisan-Romanesque The Baptistry in front of Pisa’s Duomo, with the Leaning Tower behind

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