Pisa - Tuscany

Tucked along Italy's Tyrrhenian coast, a breath from the Ligurian Sea, Pisa stands west of Florence near the mouth of the river Arno. An unmistakably popular stop on any tour of Tuscany, Pisa's largest claim to fame is its (once) 10m high "leaning tower", whose edification first commenced in the year 1173.

History
In the Middle Ages, when the Arno flowed undisturbed into the Mediterranean, the city earned its living as a port with a trade empire extending to Corsica, Sardinia, and the Balearics. Nowadays, since the river has long filled with silt, Pisa's fortune flows mostly from the influx of the millions of tourists and students who come to enjoy the city's famed leaning tower, bakeries and salumerie, museums, cathedral, and sprawling university district. Thanks to the existence of the city's university, inexpensive, less touristy restaurants are plentiful-just head down toward the river to locate the more authentic trattorie.

Sights
The city's center is based in large part around the Piazzo del Duomo, nicknamed Campo dei Miracoli (Field of Miracles), whose grassy green lawn seems indeed miraculously to have given rise to the imposing constructions of the leaning tower (campanile), duomo, baptistery, and cloistered courtyard cemetery, known as the Camposanto.

The famous "leaning tower of Pisa" is not the only building on a tilt in the Campo-in fact, all of the Piazza's buildings are leaning at various angles, thanks to the shifting soil that lies underneath them. The campanile of the duomo, however, has the challenge and privilege of being the most precariously and dramatically tipped. When the tilt intensified after WWII, a multi-year stabilization effort went into action, and the last of the safety cables and iron girdles were only recently allowed to be removed in June of 2001. The tower has now since been reopened, although in a strictly regulated manner. Only guided tours of 40 visitors at a time are permitted to ascend the 300 steps every 40 minutes, and reservations must be made in advance at either the ticket offices located in the Museo del Duomo or next to the tourist information office. (Tours 8:30am-7:50pm; children under 8 not permitted, under 18 must be accompanied by an adult.)

Transportation
The Galileo Galilei Airport (charter, domestic, and international flights) creates the convenient opportunity for flying into Pisa. Trains and buses are also popular travel means, and useful when attempting to reach Pisa from many of Italy's other central destinations..