Italy : Pisa At Night

We were on our way from lovely Florence to ancient Rome and one of our itineraries for the day was to take a quick peek at Pisa’s leaning tower. Florence is so beautiful that we were enchanted by it longer than we had planned and we were left with only a few hours to get to Pisa and go back to Florence before our fast train to Rome leaves. We had no choice but to do it. I was actually planning to take the blue sunset sky of Pisa but we were only able to leave Florence at sunset and reached Pisa’s main train station after one hour. And it was night.

Without its world famous tower, Pisa would just be another little Italian city. However, I did not expect Pisa to exceed my expectations of a city only known for its Piazza del Uomo. We just walked from the main train station asking directions from everyone on how to reach the cathedral grounds and of course its tower.

We first passed by its bustling commercial strip which was filled with shoppers and strollers.

We then crossed a bridge over River Arno and I took a shot of the building blocks lining the river bank.

We then reached one of the city’s squares and onwards we walked westward.

We passed by some a number of ancient alleys.

Finally after a few more minutes walk, we reached Piazza dei Miracoli, previously known as Piazza del Duomo.

The Leaning Tower of Pisa is the campanile, or freestanding bell tower, of the cathedral of the Italian city of Pisa, known worldwide for its unintended tilt to one side. It is situated behind the Cathedral and is the third oldest structure in Pisa’s Cathedral Square (Piazza del Duomo) after the Cathedral and the Baptistry. As the story goes, the tower’s tilt began during construction, caused by an inadequate foundation on ground too soft on one side to properly support the structure’s weight. The tilt increased in the decades before the structure was completed, and gradually increased until the structure was stabilized (and the tilt partially corrected) by efforts in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.

It was a really short peek at the Tower of Pisa but at least we were able to visit it. As we need to go back to Florence immediately, we boarded one of the public buses plying the main road near the cathedral grounds. It was around 10-15 minutes trip to the main train station. As we did not know how to pay for the bus ride, we asked the bus driver but he nicely told us we do not need to pay as he knew we were tourists. And yes, we managed to board our train from Florence to Rome, arriving in Rome shortly before midnight.

Have you been to Pisa yet? How was your experience visiting the place?

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