Pisa

Pisa's international airport sits just two kilometres from the city centre — closer than most European capitals manage with their outlying terminals. That geographical quirk tells you something about the place: compact, practical, and far more layered than its famous tilting tower lets on. The Piazza dei Miracoli, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1987, anchors everything, but the medieval streets radiating outwards hold their own quiet appeal. Give Pisa more than an afternoon and it will reward you properly.

What to see in Pisa

Palazzo della Carovana

The grandest building on Piazza dei Cavalieri, this palazzo was redesigned by Giorgio Vasari for the Order of the Knights of Saint Stephen. Its façade is covered in sgraffito decoration featuring Medici coats of arms. Today it houses the Scuola Normale Superiore, one of Italy's most prestigious universities, and the architectural detail alone makes a stop here worthwhile.

Palace of the Clock

Also on Piazza dei Cavalieri, this Vasari building connects two medieval towers and carries a weighty reputation — it's linked to the legend of Count Ugolino, referenced by Dante in the Divine Comedy. One tower still bears the name Torre dei Giustiziati. The palazzo now serves as the library of the Scuola Normale Superiore.

Cosimo I Medici Statue

This bronze equestrian statue of Grand Duke Cosimo I de' Medici, completed in 1596 by sculptor Pietro Francavilla, dominates the centre of Piazza dei Cavalieri. Cosimo founded the Order of the Knights of Saint Stephen, and the sculpture remains one of the most recognisable Renaissance monuments in Pisa, a fine example of Francavilla's craft.

Medici Arsenals

The Arsenali Medicei line the Lungarno and now house the Museum of Ancient Ships — one of Tuscany's more genuinely compelling museum experiences. Seven Roman vessels and over 8,000 archaeological finds recovered from the ancient port area are on display here. It speaks directly to Pisa's significance as a Roman naval and commercial hub, well before the tower became the postcard image.

Church of San Paolo a Ripa d'Arno

Founded around 925 and known locally as the Duomo Vecchio, this Pisan Romanesque church on the banks of the Arno predates the famous cathedral in the Piazza dei Miracoli. The façade is attributed to Giovanni Pisano and features a notable octagonal dome. It's often overlooked by visitors rushing between the main sights, which makes it all the more worth seeking out.

Opera Museum of Pisa Cathedral

Housed in a former canonical convent on the south side of the Leaning Tower, this museum holds medieval sculptures, bronze doors, reliquaries and treasures from the cathedral complex. The 11th-century bronze Palermo griffin is a standout piece. It reframes the entire Piazza dei Miracoli: once you've seen the objects up close, the architecture outside reads differently.

Basilica of San Pietro a Grado

A Romanesque church dating from the 10th to 12th centuries, located just outside the city. Tradition holds that this marks the spot where Saint Peter himself landed. The basilica contains frescoes by Deodato Orlandi and has striking Islamic ceramic roundels set into its façade — an unusual combination that reflects the breadth of Pisa's medieval trading connections.

Agostini Palace

This 14th- and 15th-century civil Gothic palace on the Lungarno Mediceo is hard to miss, its terracotta-decorated façade standing out along the riverfront. Inside, the historic Caffè dell'Ussero — one of Italy's oldest cafés — was a regular haunt for intellectuals during the Risorgimento. Worth stopping for a coffee as much as for the architecture.

Audio guide of Pisa with Guipock

The Piazza dei Miracoli gets busy. Queues form, tour groups cluster around guides waving flags, and it can feel more like a bottleneck than a cultural experience. A Pisa audio guide through the Guipock app lets you move at your own pace, on your own terms — no waiting, no fixed schedule.

The app uses a GPS-guided map that tracks your position as you walk through the city. When you approach a point of interest, Guipock alerts you so you can open the relevant audio commentary. You decide when to listen, when to linger, and when to move on. The high-quality generated audio is available across multiple languages and regional accents — English in British, American and Australian variants, alongside Spanish, French, German, Italian and others — so every member of your group can follow along in their preferred version.

Planning a family visit? The family code feature means a single purchase covers the whole group: each person uses their own phone, in their own language, without anyone having to share a screen or take turns. And for younger visitors, the children's mode presents the same route with adapted language, shorter commentary and anecdotes pitched at a younger audience — genuinely useful rather than a token gesture.

The offline download option is particularly practical in a city like Pisa, where you may be walking along the Arno or heading out to the Basilica of San Pietro a Grado without reliable mobile data. Download everything over Wi-Fi before you set off and the app works without a signal throughout. For a city this walkable, the app audio guide Pisa format suits the pace perfectly — you cover the ground on foot and the commentary follows you there.

How to make the most of your visit to Pisa

Most visitors arrive by air at Galileo Galilei Airport, which is genuinely just two kilometres from the centre. The PisaMover connects the airport to Pisa Centrale station in around five minutes. If you're coming from Florence by train, expect the journey to take between fifty minutes and an hour and twenty, depending on the service. Pisa is small and almost entirely walkable once you're in the centre.

For the few journeys where you'd rather not walk, the LAM bus network covers the key points, including the Piazza dei Miracoli. That said, the distance between most sights is genuinely manageable on foot, and the city rewards wandering.

One full day is enough to cover the Piazza dei Miracoli and the main landmarks, but two days allows you to explore properly — including Piazza dei Cavalieri, a stroll along the Arno past the Blue Palace and the Medici Arsenals, and a detour to the Basilica of San Pietro a Grado outside the city walls. The Jewish Cemetery near the Piazza dei Miracoli and the Pisa Synagogue on Via Palestro add a less-visited but historically significant dimension to any itinerary.

The medieval heart of the city runs along Borgo Stretto, Pisa's main pedestrianised street, and opens out at the Piazza delle Vettovaglie, where locals gather at cafés and bars that have been there for generations. The covered market here, set under a 16th-century portico, is the right place to pick up local produce.

On the food side, look for cecina — a crisp, savoury chickpea flatbread that functions as the local street food — and bordatino, a bean and black cabbage soup with seafaring origins. For something sweet, torta co' bischeri is filled with chocolate, rice and pine nuts from the nearby Parco di San Rossore. None of this requires a restaurant booking or a long detour: most of it is available in and around the Vettovaglie market.

Spring and early autumn are the most comfortable times to visit — warm enough to enjoy the riverside walk and the outdoor squares, without the peak-summer crowds that descend on the Piazza dei Miracoli in July and August.