Pisa

Have you ever seen the shadow of an airplane on a forest? This is ours, flying over NC, going north.The first day of our trip we drove from Torino to Pisa. We arrived there around 6 pm, because we met a lot of traffic, and we stopped in a town on the seaside for lunch. The first thing we wanted to see, after leaving our hotel room, was... Piazza dei Miracoli....

I believe this square is called Piazza dei Miracoli (Square of the Miracles) because it's so beautiful, that it seems to be a miracle. Also, the fact that the tower can lean so much and not fall seems like a miracle - thanks to old and new architects and engineers..
All the buildings in piazza dei Miracoli are gorgeous. In front of the cathedral, there is the battistero, where people used to be baptized. You can see it here from the inside of the other gorgeous and less visited builduing: the Camposanto, where people used to be buried.
Il Camposanto is a wonderful construction. Inside, tumbs are gorgeous:

These buildings were originally built when Pisa was very powerful as a Repubblica Marinara (ie, Marine Republic): in fact, even if you may find it hard to believe considering the position of Pisa now, Pisa was once on the seaside, and it was one of the four most important ports in Italy in the XI century. In the XIII century Pisa began to decline, because Genova defeated it, and it finally lost a lot of power when the sea stopped touching it. It reflourished with the dominion of the Medici family, from Firenze: in the XIV century the University came back to live, and the town began to prosper again.
We found out that still nowadays Pisa is very alive, maybe thanks to the very famous university that makes it more than a turistic town. The medieval downtown is very pretty to walk through both by day and by night. We also loved the riverside walk by night:

If you want to see more pictures about Pisa, go on my picture website. Also, in case you want to follow our trip, here is a map of Tuscany
(To see it better, click twice on it)