Enclosed in a narrow valley of Monte Pisano, characterized by spring waters and caves, Agnano is a good starting point for some Self-guided excursions on foot or by bike on the mountain. Characterized by its Romanesque church and by the presence of two other large buildings (La Villa Tabarini and the Tabacchiera on the Lungomonte road), it is first surrounded by olive groves (in the stretch where the valley is wider) that gradually leave space for the holm oak and to the Mediterranean scrub at a higher level. The scrub is sometimes interrupted by areas of so-called “stony”

The origin of the toponym is given by a Roman veteran called Axianus at the end of the war against the Ligurians, control of the village of Asciano was assigned.

The oldest evidence of human presence in these places comes from a find of an Acheulean double-sided which attests the human presence in Asciano from 28 to 14 000 years ago. Other prehistoric frequentations can be found in the Riparo della Romita cave where various layered remains date that human activities have followed one another from 5000 BC. up to the Romans.

The Etruscan domination affected at least from the 11th century BC. the Pisan Mountains and the lower Serchio valley. The thesis that the Ligurians settled in these areas is now largely overcome, as there are numerous testimonies of the Middle Tyrrhenian culture in the Bronze Age and Villanovan culture in the Iron Age, expressions of the early Etruscan civilization, while they are the links with the area of ​​Canegrate and Golasecca are almost absent, present in the same periods starting from the area actually inhabited by the Ligurians (Versilia, middle Serchio Valley, Garfagnana and Lunigiana).

The Romans reached these places in 238 BC, when Pisa hosted the army of the Roman allies in war against the Ligurians. The conflict ended in 177 BC. with the construction of Luni. After the end of the war some veterans obtained territories at the foot of the Pisan Mountains calling them by their name: Axianus took the current territory of Asciano.
High Middle age

Since then there is no more news of Asciano until 975 AD, the year in which a parchment of the Primaziale Pisana mentions the presence of a castle to protect the Pisan Republic. This castle, known as Castelvecchio after the construction of the new one, was located on the slopes of Monte Costia, the current Casa Pian di Asciano. The castle was placed in surveillance of the via Piemonte, important because it was the main road to cross the mountains to reach Lucca. On 18 June 1168 the people of Lucca, with the help of Genoa, invaded many territories at the foot of the mountains, including Asciano, where they did not find much resistance. After the castle of Agnano also went into the hands of the Lucca people due to the betrayal of Captain Tancredi Visconti, the Republic of Pisa decided to take back both castles by planning an ingenious siege. In fact, they besieged both the castle of Agnano and that of Corvara, the latter very dear to the Lucchesi. The people of Lucca then returned the castle of Asciano and Agnano to the Pisans and the war ended. After these events, Asciano experienced a long period of prosperity until 1269 when the people of Lucca, strong in an alliance with Florence, tried again to attack Pisa by occupying Asciano, where they coined their coins out of contempt. On 2 September 1275 the people of Lucca made another raid, but with more advanced weapons such as the bombard and the falconetto, obtaining many Ghibelline prisoners. In those years the Pisan fleet was defeated by the Genoese in the battle of Meloria in 1284.

In the following years the people of Lucca regained control of the castle several times, having some large mirrors hung on the main tower with the inscription: «mirror yourselves in here, you other Pisans». After this confrontation in 1313 Uguccione della Faggiola destroyed the Lucca countryside, arriving several times under the walls of Lucca. Then he proposed an armistice to Ripafratta asking for the return of the occupied castles, but the people of Lucca, by voice of Bonturo Dati, declared that they would return all the castles except that of Asciano, remembering the mirrors posted. To this statement Banduccio Bonconti replied that within 8 days the Pisan women would have dozens of mirrors. Then Uguccione gathered 400 knights and 10,000 infantrymen who made them enter the territory of Lucca from the San Giuliano Terme pass and from there they began to raid all the villages they encountered until they reached the Lucca walls on 18 December of the same year. Meanwhile, the people of Lucca revolted against Bonturo Dati who had to go into exile and the siege ended. The Pisans regained possession of all the castles then occupied by the people of Lucca, including that of Asciano. In 1314 Uguccione had the castles of Asciano, Pontasserchio, Avane, Castiglione and Molina di Quosa demolished, because every time they were conquered they were a strong concern for Pisa. However, the castle of Asciano was rebuilt shortly afterwards on the plain at the intersection of the current via delle Sorgenti and via dei Condotti. The new castle repelled an attack by Emperor Charles IV of Bohemia, taking over 40 prisoners. Unfortunately it was partially destroyed by the Florentines at the beginning of the sixteenth century when they used artillery for attacks, and once Pisa was conquered they no longer had any interest in keeping it efficient.

Meanwhile, the population of Asciano had expanded and included many residential areas following the Lungo road

It has a rectangular plant, with an external facing wholly composed of marble, laid in polychrome bands. The exterior appearance is marked by cusps, tympani and tabernacles, together with a complicated sculpture decoration with tarsiae, rose-windows and numerous statues from the main Pisane artists of the 14th century. These include Lupo di Francesco, Andrea Pisano with his sons Nino and Tommaso, and Giovanni di Balduccio.

If you’re looking for a break from the chaos of the city, The Eden Park Resort is the place for you. Surrounded by greenery and protected by the Monte Pisano, the Eden Park is an oasis of peace in a strategic position to visit Pisa and Lucca, but also the rest of the surrounding little towns (Calci, Vicopisano and Buti).
The Eden Park Resort is made up of 30 apartments, wich are close to the main building, where you find the Reception Office and the breakfast room. Enjoy a delicious breakfast with typical Tuscan foods or relax yourself by the pool or on the external private patio outside your apartment. The singular presence of a real Furnace of the last century, still intact, which stands alongside our Reception Office and visible from every apartment.

Eden Park is also a perfect base to visit Lucca and Pisa

We work together to create an attractive environment for residents and tourists.

The network facilitates and supports the activities of small businesses that are part of, It enhances the capacity of its members, It offers hospitality, services and products of an entire area.

Cathedral

The heart of the Piazza del Duomo is the Duomo, the medieval cathedral of the Archdiocese of Pisa, dedicated to Santa Maria Assunta (St. Mary of the Assumption). The cathedral has two aisles on either side of the nave. The transept consists of three aisles. The church is known also as the Primatial, the archbishop of Pisa being a Primate since 1092.

Its construction began in 1064 by the architect Buscheto. It set the model for the distinctive Pisan Romanesque style of architecture. The mosaics of the interior, as well as the pointed arches, show a strong Byzantine influence.

The façade, of grey marble and white stone set with discs of coloured marble, was built by a master named Rainaldo, as indicated by an inscription above the middle door: Rainaldus prudens operator.

The massive bronze main doors were made in the workshops of Giambologna, replacing the original doors destroyed in a fire in 1595. The original central door was of bronze, made around 1180 by Bonanno Pisano, while the other two were probably of wood. However, worshippers have never used the façade doors to enter, instead entering by way of the Porta di San Ranieri (St. Ranieri’s Door), in front of the Leaning Tower, built around 1180 by Bonanno Pisano.
Pisa Cathedral with the Leaning Tower of Pisa

Above the doors are four rows of open galleries with, on top, statues of Madonna with Child and, on the corners, the Four evangelists.

Also in the façade is found the tomb of Buscheto (on the left side) and an inscription about the foundation of the Cathedral and the victorious battle against the Saracens.

At the east end of the exterior, high on a column rising from the gable, is a modern replica of the Pisa Griffin, the largest Islamic metal sculpture known, the original of which was placed there probably in the 11th or 12th century, and is now in the Cathedral Museum.

The interior is faced with black and white marble and has a gilded ceiling and a frescoed dome. It was largely redecorated after a fire in 1595, which destroyed most of the Renaissance art works.

The impressive mosaic of Christ in Majesty, in the apse, flanked by the Blessed Virgin and St. John the Evangelist, survived the fire. It evokes the mosaics in the church of Monreale, Sicily. Although it is said that the mosaic was done by Cimabue, only the head of St. John was done by the artist in 1302, his last work, since he died in Pisa the same year. The cupola, at the intersection of the nave and transept, was decorated by Riminaldi showing the assumption of the Blessed Virgin.
Pisa Cathedral interior and Galileo’s Lamp

Galileo is believed to have formulated his theory about the movement of a pendulum by watching the swinging of the incense lamp (not the present one) hanging from the ceiling of the nave. That lamp, smaller and simpler than the present one, is now kept in the Camposanto, in the Aulla chapel.

The granite Corinthian columns between the nave and the aisle came originally from the mosque of Palermo, captured by the Pisans in 1063.

The coffer ceiling of the nave was replaced after the fire of 1595. The present gold-decorated ceiling carries the coat of arms of the Medici.

The elaborately carved pulpit (1302–1310), which also survived the fire, was made by Giovanni Pisano, a masterwork of medieval sculpture. Having been packed away during the redecoration, it was not rediscovered and restored until 1926. The pulpit is supported by plain columns (two of which are mounted on lion’s sculptures) on one side and by caryatids and a telamon on the other: the latter represent St. Michael, the Evangelists, the four cardinal virtues flanking the Church, and a bold, naturalistic depiction of a naked Hercules. A central plinth with the liberal arts supports the four theological virtues.
Pulpit

The present-day pulpit is a reconstruction of the original. It does not lie in its original position, which was nearer the main altar, and the columns and panels are not original. The original stairs (perhaps of marble) were lost.

The upper part has nine narrative panels showing scenes from the New Testament, carved in white marble with a chiaroscuro effect and separated by figures of prophets: the Annunciation, the Massacre of the Innocents, the Nativity, Adoration of the Magi, the Flight into Egypt, the Crucifixion, and two panels of the Last Judgement.

The church also contains the bones of St. Ranieri, Pisa’s patron saint, and the tomb of Holy Roman Emperor Henry VII, carved by Tino da Camaino in 1315. That tomb, originally in the apse just behind the main altar, was disassembled and moved many times over the centuries for political reasons. While the sarcophagus is still in the Cathedral, some of the statues were put in the Camposanto or in the top of the church’s façade. The original statues are now in the Museum of the Opera del Duomo.

Pope Gregory VIII was also buried in the cathedral. The fire of 1595 destroyed his tomb.

The Cathedral has a prominent role in determining the beginning of the Pisan New Year. Between the tenth century and 1749, when the Tuscan calendar was reformed, Pisa used its own calendar, in which the first day of the year was March 25, the feast day of the Annunciation of Mary. Years were counted such that the Pisan New Year begins 9 months before the ordinary one. The exact moment is determined by a ray of sun that, through a window on the left side, falls on an egg-shaped marble, just above the pulpit by Giovanni Pisano; this occurs at noon.

Some relics brought back during the Crusades can also be found in the Cathedral: alleged remains of three Saints (Abibo, Gamaliel, and Nicodemus), and a vase that is said to be one of the jars of Cana.

The building, as have several in Pisa, has tilted slightly since its construction, though not nearly to the extent of the nearby Tower.

Baptistery

The Baptistery, dedicated to St. John the Baptist, stands opposite the west end of the Duomo. The round Romanesque building was begun in the mid 12th century: 1153 Mense August fundata fuit haec (“In the month of August 1153 was set up here…”). It was built in Romanesque style by an architect known as Diotisalvi (“God Save You”), who worked also in the church of the Holy Sepulchre in the city. His name is mentioned on a pillar inside, as Diotosalvi magister. the construction was not, however, finished until the 14th century, when the loggia, the top storey and the dome were added in Gothic style by Nicola Pisano and Giovanni Pisano.

It is the largest baptistery in Italy, with a circumference measuring 107.25 m. Taking into account the statue of St. John the Baptist (attributed to Turino di Sano) atop the dome, it is even a few centimetres taller than the Leaning Tower.

The portal, facing the façade of the cathedral, is flanked by two classical columns, while the inner jambs are executed in the Byzantine style. The lintel is divided into two tiers, the lower one depicting several episodes in the life of St. John the Baptist, and the upper one showing Christ between the Madonna and St. John the Baptist, flanked by angels and the evangelists.

The immensity of the interior is overwhelming, but it is surprisingly plain and lacking in decoration. It has notable acoustics also.

The octagonal baptismal font at the centre dates from 1246 and was made by Guido Bigarelli da Como. The bronze sculpture of St. John the Baptist at the centre of the font is a remarkable work by Italo Griselli.

The pulpit was sculpted between 1255-1260 by Nicola Pisano, father of Giovanni Pisano, the artist who produced the pulpit in the Duomo. The scenes on the pulpit, and especially the classical form of the naked Hercules, show at best Nicola Pisano’s abilities as the most important precursor of Italian renaissance sculpture by reinstating antique representations. Therefore, surveys of the Italian Renaissance usually begin with the year 1260, the year that Nicola Pisano dated this pulpit

Campanile-
Leaning Tower of Pisa

The campanile (bell tower), commonly known as the Leaning Tower of Pisa, is located behind the cathedral. The last of the three major buildings on the piazza to be built, construction of the bell tower began in 1173 and took place in three stages over the course of 177 years, with the bell-chamber only added in 1372. Five years after construction began, when the building had reached the third floor level, the weak subsoil and poor foundation led to the building sinking on its south side. The building was left for a century, which allowed the subsoil to stabilise itself and prevented the building from collapsing. In 1272, to adjust the lean of the building, when construction resumed, the upper floors were built with one side taller than the other. The seventh and final floor was added in 1319. By the time the building was completed, the lean was approximately 1 degree, or 80 cm (2.5 feet) from vertical. At its greatest, measured prior to 1990, the lean measured approximately 5.5 degrees. As at 2010, the lean was reduced to approximately 4 degrees.

The tower stands approximately 60 m high, and was built to accommodate a total of seven main bells, cast to the musical scale:

L’Assunta, cast in 1654 by Giovanni Pietro Orlandi, weight 3,620 kg (7,981 lb)
Il Crocifisso, cast in 1572 by Vincenzo Possenti, weight 2,462 kg (5,428 lb)
San Ranieri, cast in 1719–21 by Giovanni Andrea Moreni, weight 1,448 kg (3,192 lb)
La Terza, the first small bell, cast in 1473, weight 300 kg (661 lb)
La Pasquereccia or La Giustizia, cast in 1262 by Lotteringo, weight 1,014 kg (2,235 lb)
Il Vespruccio, the second small bell, cast in the 14th century and again in 1501 by Nicola di Jacopo, weight 1,000 kg (2,205 lb)
Dal Pozzo, cast in 1606 and again in 2004, weight 652 kg (1,437 lb)

There are 296 steps leading to the top of the tower.

Camposanto Monumentale

The Camposanto Monumentale (Monumental Cemetery), also known as Campo Santo or Camposanto Vecchio (Old Cemetery), is located at the northern edge of the square. This walled cemetery is said to have been built around a shipload of sacred soil from Calvary, brought back to Pisa from the Fourth Crusade by Ubaldo de’ Lanfranchi, the archbishop of Pisa in the 12th century. This is where the name Campo Santo (Holy Field) originates.

The building itself dates from a century later and was erected over the earlier burial ground. The building of this huge, oblong Gothic cloister began in 1278 by the architect Giovanni di Simone. He died in 1284 when Pisa suffered a defeat in a naval battle of Meloria against the Genoans. The cemetery was only completed in 1464. The outer wall is composed of 43 blind arches. There are two doorways. The one on the right is crowned by a gracious Gothic tabernacle and contains the Virgin Mary with Child surrounded by four saints. It is the work from the second half of the 14th century by a follower of Giovanni Pisano. Most of the tombs are under the arcades, although a few are on the central lawn. The inner court is surrounded by elaborate round arches with slender mullions and plurilobed tracery.

The Camposanto Monumentale once contained a large collection of Roman sculptures and sarcophagi, but now there are only 84 remaining. The walls were once covered in frescoes, the first were applied in 1360, the last about three centuries later. The Stories of the Old Testament by Benozzo Gozzoli (c. 15th century) were situated in the north gallery, while the south arcade was famous for the Stories of the Genesis by Piero di Puccio (c. late 15th century). The most remarkable fresco is The Triumph of Death, a realistic work by Buonamico Buffalmacco. On 27 July 1944, incendiary bombs dropped by Allied aircraft set the roof of the building on fire and covered them in molten lead, all but destroying them. Since 1945, restoration works have been going on and now the Campo Santo has been brought back to its original state.

Ospedale Nuovo di Santo Spirito

The Ospedale Nuovo di Santo Spirito (New Hospital of Holy Spirit) is located on the southeast corner of the square. Built in 1257 by Giovanni di Simone over a preexisting smaller hospital, the function of this hospital was to help pilgrims, poor, sick people, and abandoned children by providing a shelter. The name of the hospital was later changed to Ospedale della Misericordia (Hospital of Mercy) or di Santa Chiara (Sant Claire), which was the name of the small church included in the complex.

The hospital exterior was constructed with brick walls with two-light windows in gothic style; the hospital interior was painted in two colours, black and white, to imitate the marble colours of the other buildings. In 1562, during the time when the Medici dominated the city, the hospital was restructured according to Florentine renaissance canons; all the doors and windows were modified with new rectangular ones encased in grey sandstone.

Today, the building is no longer entirely a hospital. Since 1976, the middle part of the building contains the Sinopias Museum, where original drawings of the Campo Santo frescoes are kept.

Palazzo dell’Opera

The Opera Palace is a complex of houses in the north east[clarification needed] corner of the square. They have been built in different periods, with the main building dating back to at least the 14th century and the latest to the 19th century.

Originally these houses belonged to the workmen of the cathedral complex: the tailor, the gardener, the bell ringers, etc., until the 19th century when the administration offices of the Opera della Primaziale were moved in. In the same years the chapter house was also moved inside the complex. In the course of time the complex was rearranged several times but the façade of the main building still conserves its original aspect.

In the first years of the 21st century the administration offices and the chapter moved again to a nearby palace close to the archbishopric. Only a few rooms on the ground floor are still used as offices for the surveillance and technical staff. After the move, the upper rooms were transformed in a platform for temporary exhibitions (2014). This is the first time people can actually visit those rooms.

The most interesting rooms open to the public are the President room, the Deputation room, the chapel and the Chapter room. Among the closed ones are the “Loggetta” room (with frescoes by Agostino Ghirlanda), the “Scrittoio” room (with a fresco by Il Sodoma), the “Viola” room and the technical room

On the rocky spur above the town of Caprona stands the “Torre degli Upezzinghi”, a nineteenth-century copy of the tower of the ancient castle existing in the mid-eleventh century, mentioned by Dante (Inferno, XXI, 94-96) and dismantled by Florence in 1433. The tower commonly called “Torretta” is located on the top of a rocky spur, in a highly suggestive position overlooking the slopes of Mount Pisano. Today it is in a complete state of neglect and would need to be made safe.

It is the oldest and the main of the churches that were located in the immediate vicinity of Vico, and is the only one to have been built outside the walls, without the canonical orientation with the entrance facing west. In fact, the facade faces one of the castle’s entrance doors, Porta Maccioni, which later became the Rocca door. The church was named for the first time in 934, but it can be understood from this document that it existed for some time.

THE FACADE AND THE EXTERIOR
The current construction is of the XII century. and it is a well-preserved example of a Romanesque-Pisan church characterized by a basilica plan with a single apse. The masonry is made of verrucana stone and the facade is divided into two orders superimposed by a horizontal frame. In the upper part, decorated with hanging arches, a mullioned window opens. The lower part, where three portals open, is enriched by half-columns that support hanging arches: the latter are surmounted by oculi and enclose rhombuses carved with geometric and plant motifs. In evidence, at the top of the left pilaster, a stone bas-relief, datable to the VIII-X century, probably represents an evangelical episode.
The southern side, in which a single door opens, has four narrow single lancet windows at the top, one of which is decorated with a vine-vine motif with leaves. Both the side and the elevation of the central nave have hanging arches that enclose carved stones and rest on corbels decorated with human faces, animal figures and naturalistic motifs in relief. Note a series of medieval inscriptions engraved in the lower part of the masonry which denounce the presence in ancient times of a cemetery around the church. The northern side is instead devoid of decorations as the structures of the cloister and the house of the parish priest had to rest on this. The extensions of the side aisles and the bell tower date back to the 18th century.

THE INTERIOR
The interior is divided into three naves with twelve granite columns with capitals of various shapes: the medieval ones are in pietra serena; the first, third and last on the left are in marble carved with acanthus leaves, the last two resting on fluted marble columns, and come from Roman buildings. Two pillars define the vast presbytery area where the main altar is located, rebuilt at the beginning of the twentieth century reusing ancient reliefs with plant and zoomorphic motifs, probably belonging to the early medieval church.

THE DEPOSITION OF THE CROSS (13th cent.)
In the apse there is the majestic wooden group of the Deposition, dating back to the first two decades of the thirteenth century and with evident assonances with the other Deposition present in the Province of Pisa, that of Volterra. It constitutes one of the rare examples of this type of sacred representation, once very widespread, the only one of which almost all the original figures are preserved: only the heads of the angels are restored, some parts of the San Giovanni and the chalice. There are also traces of the ancient polychrome of the clothes. The characters depicted are (from left to right): the sorrowful Madonna, John of Arimathea who collects the body of Christ, the Nicodemus who takes the nails off his feet and St. John holding the Gospel in his hand. In addition to being one of the few remaining specimens, it is one of the most unique, since the figure of Christ is represented in an unusual, strongly arched and in the act of falling, proof that the artist who created this work had enough autonomy to detach from what were the models
usual, that is, the Christ still nailed to the Cross, approaching more “Gothic” models, with greater attention to the curved and sinuous line, which replaces the straight line and the typical rigidity of Romanesque art.

THE FRESCOES (13th cent.)
The massive warty walls retain fragments of thirteenth-century frescoes, recently restored. They represent scenes from the Gospel, and testify to the custom of illustrating the Sacred Stories, to make them better understood by the most crude and illiterate faithful (Biblia Pauperum) i. The cycle begins on the wall of the right nave, where the scenes of the Annunciation, the Visitation and the Nativity are recognized; probably follows the episode with Herod ordering the massacre of the innocent. Above the narrative scenes there are decorative motifs with scrolls and alternating checkered squares; below, fake drapery decorations. On the counter-façade, two overlapping scenes are represented on the left: the Baptism of Christ is recognizable at the top, below St. George, the dragon and the princess; on the right the traces recovered from the restoration are not legible. On the wall of the right aisle two scenes have been restored: one depicts perhaps the Capture of Christ, the other the Pentecost. The whole cycle ended with the wooden deposition that put an end to the affair