Most visitors give Pisa two hours: the tower, a photo, the bus back. The Italy page covers the climb up the Leaning Tower; this page is for the rest of the Piazza dei Miracoli and the city around it, which deserves a full day.
The square holds four monuments run by the same cathedral works, the Opera della Primaziale: the cathedral, the Baptistery, the Camposanto cemetery and the tower, plus two museums. Since 2018 you can also walk along the top of the medieval walls that close the square on its north side. South of it, the university city of students, arcaded streets and the river runs down to the Lungarni, the palace-lined banks of the Arno, where the city is at its best in the evening.
Every half hour someone sings a few notes in the middle of Italy's largest baptistery and the echo builds a chord.
What it is
Pisa's Baptistery, begun in 1152 by Diotisalvi, is the largest in Italy: 107 metres round and almost 55 metres high. Its dome makes an echo that hangs in the air for seconds, and every half hour a member of staff stands in the middle and sings a few notes so you can hear the chord build.
How to do it
Time your entry for it, then climb the spiral stair to the upper gallery for a look down at the font and at Nicola Pisano's pulpit of 1260. The Baptistery is sold with the Camposanto, the museums and a free cathedral entry on the Opera della Primaziale's site, opapisa.it, where tickets go on sale 90 days ahead and are paid by Visa or Mastercard only.
Good to know
It opens 9:00 to 19:00 until 1 November, then 9:00 to 18:00.
Enter Pisa Cathedral free and find Giovanni Pisano's pulpit
Piazza dei Miracoli
About 45 minutesFree
A marble pulpit crowded with figures from the Nativity to the Last Judgement, in a cathedral that is free to enter.
What it is
Inside, the masterpiece is Giovanni Pisano's marble pulpit, carved between 1302 and 1310, crowded with figures from the Nativity to the Last Judgement. Look up at the apse mosaic too: its Saint John is by Cimabue.
How to do it
The cathedral, founded in 1064 and consecrated in 1118, is free, but you still need a pass at the door. If you buy any other Piazza dei Miracoli ticket, a cathedral entry without a time slot is included. If you only want the cathedral, collect a free timed coupon at the ticket offices on the square: it cannot be booked ahead and numbers are limited, so get it early. Children under 11 with an adult need nothing.
Good to know
Visiting hours run from 10:00 to 19:00 until 1 November, then to 18:00; morning Masses are at 8:00 and 8:45.
See the Triumph of Death back on the Camposanto wall
Piazza dei Miracoli
About 1 hourBook ahead
Three elegant young riders come upon three open coffins in a fresco rehung in 2018, decades after a 1944 fire.
What it is
The long marble cloister on the north side of the square is the Camposanto, the monumental cemetery founded in 1277, and its walls once carried one of the largest fresco cycles of the 14th century. On 27 July 1944 a shell fragment during an Allied raid set the roof on fire, the molten lead poured down and most of the paintings were damaged. Restorers detached what survived and, after decades of work, the Triumph of Death, by Buonamico Buffalmacco, went back up on its wall in 2018: three elegant young riders come upon three open coffins while Death sweeps over a garden party.
How to do it
The red underdrawings revealed when the frescoes were lifted are shown in the Museo delle Sinopie on the square.
Good to know
Opening hours match the Baptistery: 9:00 to 19:00 until 1 November, then to 18:00.
Walk the top of Pisa's walls from the Torre di Santa Maria
Torre di Santa Maria, Piazza del Duomo
1 to 2 hoursNo booking needed
About three kilometres of walkway on walls begun in 1155, with the whole cathedral square, tower included, seen from above and behind.
What it is
Pisa's walls were begun in 1155, and since 2018 about three kilometres of their walkway have been open to walk, from the corner of the Piazza dei Miracoli along the north side of the old city and down its east side towards the Arno.
How to do it
Climb up at the Torre di Santa Maria, at the west end of the cathedral square, and the first minutes give the best view of the whole square, tower included, from above and behind. Other stairs are at the Bastione del Parlascio, the Torre Piezometrica and Piazza delle Gondole, so you can walk one way and come down elsewhere. A ticket costs €5, free up to age 8.
Good to know
Hours run from 10:00 to 17:00 in winter and to 20:00 from April to August. The walls close in rain or strong wind, and pre-bought tickets are then refunded or moved.
Cross Piazza dei Cavalieri, Vasari's square for the knights
Piazza dei Cavalieri
30 minutes, more with Borgo StrettoFree
A sgraffito façade of allegories and zodiac signs, Ottoman flags and the tower where Count Ugolino starved, all free to see.
What it is
Halfway between the river and the tower, Piazza dei Cavalieri was rebuilt by Giorgio Vasari for Cosimo I de' Medici as the seat of his new crusading order, the Knights of Saint Stephen. The Palazzo della Carovana, of 1562 to 1564, wears a sgraffito façade of allegories and zodiac signs and now houses the Scuola Normale Superiore, the university Napoleon founded in 1810 and one of Italy's most selective. Beside it, Santo Stefano dei Cavalieri keeps flags taken from Ottoman ships, and opposite, the Palazzo dell'Orologio incorporates the tower where Count Ugolino starved to death in 1289, a story Dante tells in the Inferno.
How to do it
Walk on through the arcades of Borgo Stretto towards the river.
Good to know
Most buildings cannot be visited, so this is a free stop on the way.
Find Keith Haring's Tuttomondo mural by the station
Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II, near Pisa Centrale
15 minutesFree
About 180 square metres and 30 interlocking figures in flat colours, painted eight months before the artist died.
What it is
Two minutes' walk from Pisa Centrale, on the outer wall of the rectory of Sant'Antonio Abate, is one of Keith Haring's largest murals. He painted Tuttomondo in June 1989, eight months before he died, after a Pisan student he met in New York invited him: about 180 square metres and 30 interlocking figures in his flat colours, on the theme of peace and harmony in the world. It is often called his last public work, which it is not, but it is among his last. The wall was restored in 2012.
How to do it
It faces a small square off Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II, the roundabout in front of the station.
Good to know
It costs nothing and takes a few minutes, so look for it on your way to or from the train.
See Roman ships dug up under Pisa in the Medici arsenals
Arsenali Medicei, Lungarno Ranieri Simonelli 16
1 and a half hoursNo booking needed
Seven of some 30 ancient boats found during rail works, shown in the Medici dockyards with a full-size Roman boat rebuilt.
What it is
In 1998, rail works near Pisa San Rossore station hit an ancient harbour: about 30 boats sunk over some nine centuries, with their cargoes and fittings. Seven of them are now shown in the Arsenali Medicei, the Medici dockyards on the Lungarno west of the centre, together with a full-size reconstruction of the Alkedo, a Roman boat. The museum opened in 2019.
How to do it
Tickets cost €8, free under 18. Weekend guided tours at 16:00 and 18:00 cost €8 more and are booked by WhatsApp. It is a ten-minute walk south of the Piazza dei Miracoli.
Good to know
Watch the odd hours: Tuesday to Friday it opens only in the morning, 8:30 to 14:00, and at weekends and on holidays only in the afternoon, 14:00 to 19:30. It is closed on Mondays.
A thin chickpea flatbread baked in a copper pan until the top crisps, eaten standing up while it is hot.
What it is
Cecina is a thin flatbread of chickpea flour, water, olive oil and salt, baked in a wide copper pan in a very hot oven until the top crisps and the inside stays soft, then cut into slices and finished with black pepper. The name changes along the coast: in Pisa it is cecina, in Livorno it is torta, where it is stuffed into a roll and called a cinque e cinque, after the old price in cents of the torta and the bread.
How to do it
In Pisa people eat it on its own, or in an unsalted roll or a round schiacciata. Look for it in the pizzerias and bakeries with a wood oven in the centre, ask whether it has just come out, and eat it standing up while it is hot.
30 minutes in the tower, 2 hours for the squareTimed entry
Climb the 251 steps of the Leaning Tower on a booked time slot, and the Cathedral comes free with the ticket.
What it is
The climb is 251 steps, not the 294 often quoted, and the visit lasts about 30 minutes on a ticket with a fixed time. Any paid ticket also includes a free pass to the Cathedral; on their own, timed Cathedral passes are handed out only at the ticket offices on the square.
How to do it
Tickets go on sale on the Opera della Primaziale Pisana site 15 days before the date, which is the window that matters in summer. Every bag, even a small one, goes into the free cloakroom first and there is a metal detector at the door, so come 15 minutes early. From Pisa Centrale station, bus Line 1+ runs every 10 minutes to the Torre 1 stop.
Good to know
Arrive late and you lose your slot, with no refund. Children who will not have turned 8 by the end of the year cannot climb.
Pisa's Galileo Galilei airport is one of the main gateways to Tuscany, and the PisaMover shuttle train links it to Pisa Centrale station in about five minutes. Regional trains run from Florence in about an hour and from Lucca in under half an hour. Pisa San Rossore, a small station on the Lucca line, is the closest to the Piazza dei Miracoli.
Getting around
Walk: from Pisa Centrale to the Piazza dei Miracoli is about 25 minutes on foot through the centre, across the Arno and up Borgo Stretto. The LAM Rossa bus runs from the station and the airport to a stop near the square. The centre is a limited traffic zone, so leave a car in a car park outside it.
How many days
In must30's view, one full day and one evening: the Piazza dei Miracoli in the morning, the walls and the centre in the afternoon, and the Lungarni at sunset. Pisa and Lucca make a good two-day pair on the same railway line.
When to go
Spring and autumn are comfortable; summer days on the open lawns of the Piazza dei Miracoli are hot. On the evening of 16 June the Luminara of San Ranieri lines the Arno with thousands of candles, the city's most beautiful night. From November the cathedral sites close an hour earlier, at 18:00.
Questions travellers ask
Is Pisa worth more than a few hours?
Yes. The tower takes half an hour, but the Baptistery, the Camposanto, the cathedral, the walk on the walls, the ancient ships museum and the Lungarni at dusk easily fill a day.
Is Pisa Cathedral free?
Yes. Any other Piazza dei Miracoli ticket includes a free cathedral entry without a time slot. If you only want the cathedral, collect a free timed coupon at the on-site ticket offices; it cannot be booked ahead and numbers are limited.
How do I get from Pisa airport to the city?
Take the PisaMover shuttle train to Pisa Centrale, about five minutes, then walk or take the LAM Rossa bus to the Piazza dei Miracoli. Trains from Pisa Centrale continue to Florence and Lucca.
What can you combine with Pisa?
Lucca, under half an hour away by train, with its walls you can walk or cycle all the way round. Florence is about an hour away, and the Cinque Terre are reachable by train via La Spezia.
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