After having written about my experience as a traveler star struck by a famous building, I wanted to give at least a token account of the home to that building; the little city of Pisa. Pisa, like Assisi, is a button of an Italian treasure which it is possible to see entirely in one day. It would take years of study, however, to understand the importance of Pisa to the history of the Italian people and its effect on the Mediterranean. I encourage you to research as you have interest.
Pisa has the feel of a small town like so much of Italy. Most cafes and restaurants do not take credit cards and the citizens I met had little understanding of languages other than their native Italian. It is a place where things change slowly and that is likely too fast for most of the inhabitants. If you were to drop 3,000 years of world history on my mother’s home town of Yakima, Washington; you would have Pisa.
There are extensive remains of an ancient city wall with numerous intact archways and sections of elevated aqueduct marking the old border of the town’s reach. The heart of Pisa is its center of heritage; the Piazza del Duomo. Named for the crucifix-shaped cathedral in the center of the grounds, the square also has baptistery and,of course, a bell tower. The Duomo is the most impressive of the three structures by far; the “Leaning Tower of Pisa” was an afterthought to the cathedral, and was never intended to be the center of attention.
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