Pisa in 1 Day: all you need to know

Pisa is best known for the buildings located in Piazza dei Miracoli, most notably the Leaning Tower and the Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta, but it also has many other sites to offer, including the Marina area, which has some of the best beaches.

Some of the best things to see and do in Pisa in 1 day include touring the Leaning Tower, seeing the Cathedral, walking through the monumental Cemetery, having lunch in Piazza Garibaldi, cycling to the Marina, taking a walk through the medieval Borgo Stretto quarter and watching the sun set over the Ponte del Mezzo, before closing your visit in a restaurant in Piazza delle Vettovaglie.

The Leaning Tower is undoubtedly the city's main attraction and one of the most photographed buildings in the world, so I suggest you start your tour at the 58-metre bell tower, which is characterised by the inclination generated by the instability of the ground since it was built in 1173.

On your visit to the Leaning Tower you can do the tour on your own or choose, at an extra cost, an expert local guide to accompany you during your visit. The top of the bell tower can be reached via a staircase with more than 200 steps, which you will have to climb on foot, as the tower does not have lifts for the public.

If you opt for the guided tours, you will not only learn about the history of the construction, but also about the relationship that the bell tower had with some of the most prominent figures in the history of Pisa, such as Galileo Galilei and Leonardo Fibonacci, the popular mathematician who was born and lived during the construction of the tower.

Please note that the Leaning Tower of Pisa is usually very crowded and that the number of visitors is limited in order to favour the preservation of the building, so it is advisable to book your tickets in advance to ensure your place during the visit.

Interesting details

• Price: The entrance ticket to the Leaning Tower of Pisa has an initial cost of approximately 25 euros per person.
• Hours: daily from 9:00 am to 6:00 pm.
• Location: Piazza del Duomo, Pisa.

Were it not for the Leaning Tower, which absorbed the fame of the rest of Pisa's buildings, the Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta would be the most popular of the city's buildings, not only because it is located in the centre of the Piazza dei Miracoli, but also because of its architectural design that delicately combines Romanesque and Gothic styles.

The Duomo took almost 300 years to build, so the crossover of styles is very evident, something common in religious buildings of the time. However, the Cathedral underwent extensive modifications during the Renaissance period, which gave it a wealth of frescoes, sculptures and works of art inside, making it one of the most famous churches in Tuscany.

The Cathedral is located in front of the bell tower and you can enter for free if you buy the ticket for the Leaning Tower first, so you can't miss this building that marks one of Pisa's cultural landmarks. Note that if you are a fan of religious tourism you can also visit the picturesque Church of Santa Maria della Spina.

In addition, you can also visit the Baptistery, which is usually included in the itinerary of the best tours of Pisa and is recognised as the largest Catholic baptismal building in the world, with a famous perspective from the outside due to the circular construction of its base. Like the bell tower, but to a lesser degree, the Baptistery is also leaning due to the swaying of the ground.

Interesting details

• Price: entrance to the Cathedral and Baptistery costs approximately 25 euros per person initially, although you can enter for free if you first buy a ticket for the Leaning Tower.
• Hours: daily from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm.
• Location: Piazza del Duomo, Pisa.

The next stop will keep you in Piazza dei Miracoli, as you will get to know the Monumental Cemetery, which is the least known of the religious buildings in the tourist epicentre of Pisa. This cemetery, which has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site, houses more than 600 tombstones and sarcophagi of some of the most prominent Pisan personalities of the Greco-Roman era.

The price of the visit to the Monumental Cemetery also includes the visit of 3 chapels, a central courtyard and extensive gardens, which serve to understand the architecture of the period in which it was built and the importance of the people who were buried there during the more than 200 years that the cemetery was under construction.

Please note that you will have to visit the Monumental Cemetery independently, as it is not included in the entrance tickets for the Cathedral, the Baptistery and the Leaning Tower, nor is it listed on any of the tourist cards of the region.

If you plan to visit Pisa at Christmas time, you can follow the tradition that after Christmas Eve you should visit the cemetery to invoke good fortune and ward off death.

Interesting details

• Price: entrance to the Monumental Cemetery costs approximately 5 euros.
• Opening hours: daily from 9.00 am to 6.00 pm.
• Location: Piazza del Duomo, Pisa.

Once you have finished your tour in Piazza del Miracoli I suggest you take a break with a lunch stop in Piazza Garibaldi, which is one of the main centres of Pisa's gastronomic excursions. You can reach the square on foot for 8 streets or by bus on line 5.

In Piazza Garibaldi you can quickly find some of the city's best restaurants and bars, where you can try traditional local dishes such as Tuscan soup, race stew, pizzas, pastas and white beans with sausages, which is a very famous dish of the region because it is prepared with Pisan sausages.

Named after Giuseppe Garibaldi, the 20th century peacemaker and unifier of Italy, the square is also the starting point for many of the city's best gastronomic excursions and is one of the local epicentres of Pisa's nightlife.

Piazza Garibaldi is also where the vast majority of guided tours of Pisa start, so sooner or later, unless you opt to do a full tour on your own, you'll have to pass through this square to meet your guide or to start some of the city's best excursions.

Pisa, in the heart of Tuscany, is notable for its white marble and granite buildings, so the rest of the attractions are somewhat overlooked, but the Marina di Pisa is a place worth visiting, even if many of its beaches are overshadowed by the paradisiacal seaside resorts of the Cinque Terre.

The best way to visit the Marina di Pisa is to take a bike tour, either on your own or with the assistance of an expert local guide, which will take you along the Navicelli canal promenade, which was designed especially for cyclists. During this ride you will get to know some of the most beautiful landscapes of the city and the best beaches of Pisa.

These tours last about 4 hours and in addition to the main beach sections of the Marina of Pisa, you can also visit Bocca d'Arno, Tirrenia and Calambrone, which is one of the last Pisan sites before the beginning of Livorno, which is often included among the best destinations to visit from Pisa.

Note that if you plan to visit Pisa in summer, you can set aside some free time to take a swim, but if you plan to travel in winter, you can take a walk to get a different profile of the city, located on the Tyrrhenian Sea coast.

Outside the Leaning Tower and the buildings of Piazza dei Miracoli, the historic centre of Pisa is one of the most visited places in the city, especially along the stretch of the main artery called Borgo Stretto, which gives rise to the neighbourhood of the same name.

Borgo Stretto, which starts at the Ponte di Mezzo and ends at Via San Francesco, is one of the oldest medieval neighbourhoods in the city, but also a great option to visit some of the best bars and restaurants in town, so you'll love getting to know it, walking through its narrow streets and browsing the small cafes hidden among its houses.

In Borgo Stretto, you will also be able to visit the popular Church of San Michele, taste some of the best artisanal ice creams of the city such as Il Gelato di Toto and La Bottega del Gelato, and if you plan to visit Pisa during Christmas, you will be able to admire the Christmas decorations in the streets.

Note that you can get to Borgo Stretto by public transport on the LAM Rossa bus line or by car, although there is very little parking and as it is a historic district with very narrow streets, it will be difficult to move around freely in a car.

On one side of Borgo Stretto and a few streets away from the Mezzo Bridge, you can make a brief visit to the Church of Santa Maria della Spina, which does not have the tradition of the Cathedral, but it does keep one of the most important relics of Catholicism, which is one of the thorns of the crown of Jesus of Nazareth.

The Church of Santa Maria della Spina, which is located on the banks of the Arno, can be reached after a peaceful walk along the banks of the river. Inside the church you will find a Renaissance sculpture of the popular Madonna della Rosa.

The Church of Santa Maria della Spina is considered a small Gothic cathedral and admission is free. Please note that the church is at its busiest during Holy Week.

Interesting details

• Price: Admission to the church is free.
• Opening hours: daily from 9:00 am to 6:00 pm.
• Location: Lungarno Gambacorti, Pisa.

You cannot leave Pisa without watching the sunset from the Mezzo Bridge at the beginning of the Borgo Stretto district. This bridge, which historically marked the boundary between the north and south of the city and was the rallying point for the armies of the entire Republic before every battle, also serves as a witness to the golden age of the city's river trade along the Arno.

The Mezzo Bridge is located in a wide and open area and there are no tall buildings nearby, so you can enjoy a great panoramic view of the city's skyline, especially during the summer, when the sky is clear and the weather is more pleasant, favouring the spectacle of the Tuscan sunsets.

This bridge , over 90 metres long, is usually included in the best tours of the city, so you can visit it with the assistance of an expert local guide or on your own.

Whichever way you choose to visit, seeing the Mezzo Bridge at sunset is one of the best things to do in Pisa outside of the main tourist epicentre.

To close the day of your intensive tour of the city I suggest you to go back to the Borgo Stretto area and visit Piazza delle Vettovaglie, which is the main place that gathers the night parties of the city and where you should go if you want to find activities to do in Pisa during the night.

There you will find bars and nightclubs, but also restaurants where you can opt for a quieter plan if you don't want to party or prefer to have dinner and go to sleep, although during your last night in the city you won't want to miss the activities of the local market and food stalls.

In any case, you can choose to say goodbye to Pisa by enjoying its dishes and flavours and also the good service provided by the Pisans, even if you are too exhausted to party, because in Piazza delle Vettovaglie you will find options for everyone.