Walks

13 stops · 4.4 km in a straight line between stops · 6 places to refill along the way

Pisa is still a walled city, and nearly all its gates are still standing. None charges admission, none closes: this is the walk you can do at any hour, including the Mondays when the museums are shut. It starts from the gate nearest the station.

1. Porta San Martino
2. Porta di Santa Martawater 14 m
3. Porta Calcesana
4. Porta Paciswater 148 m
5. Porta San Zeno in Pisawater 110 mwater 129 m
6. Porta del Parlascio
7. Porta a Luccawater 137 m
8. Porta Santo Stefano
9. Porta San Ranierino
10. Porta del Leonetoilet · paid 173 m
11. Porta Nuovawater 28 m
12. Porta Buoza
13. Porta Degathia

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10 stops · 2.0 km in a straight line between stops · 8 places to refill along the way

The straight line almost everyone walks, with the things people walk past without looking at them. The distance is above, worked out from the stops: we don't type it in, because a typed number stops being true without warning. The water points along the way are worked out on this route, not copied from a list.

1. Station square (Pisa)water 22 mtoilet · paid 102 m
2. Piazza XX SettembreOn the square, Palazzo Gambacorti, the 14th-century 'palaxio novo', now the town hall.toilet · paid 12 m
3. Logge di BanchiA 1603 loggia: the grand duke moved the grain market here, to the left bank.water 129 m
4. Ponte di MezzoThe bridge splits the city: Tramontana north, Mezzogiorno south. Still today.water 142 m
5. Borgo StrettoThe merchants' arcades are 14th-century. Near no. 21, Casa Vanni: Santa Bona's arms.water 74 m
6. Piazza dei CavalieriThe Palazzo della Carovana sgraffito is to Vasari's design, executed 1564-1566.water 11 m
7. Palazzo della Carovanawater 65 m
8. Piazza del Duomowater 42 mwater 139 m
9. Pisa Cathedraltoilet · paid 71 m
10. Leaning Tower of PisaA bend of the river Auser ran under the tower. Work stopped at the third ring.

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12 stops · 3.8 km in a straight line between stops · 12 places to refill along the way

In the Middle Ages Pisa had dozens of them: fortified houses, one per family. These are what is left, swallowed into later buildings, often with no sign at all. The last stop is the one everybody knows: it comes after the other eleven, not before. Climbing it costs, and the price is set by whoever runs it.

1. Giardino ScottoA Florentine fortress until 1785, then a private garden; public since the 1930s.water 83 mwater 96 mwater 122 mwater 138 m
2. Mura di PisaWalls begun in 1154. The walkway runs about eleven metres above the ground.water 95 m
3. Torre del CampanoIts bell once summoned university students to their lectures.water 124 m
4. Torre De Cantonewater 107 m
5. Torre Sant'Agnesewater 54 m
6. Torre Guelfa
7. Old Citadel
8. Torre Ghibellina
9. Torre del Catallowater 110 m
10. Torre del Leone
11. Torre di Santa Mariawater 138 m
12. Leaning Tower of PisaA bend of the river Auser ran under the tower. Work stopped at the third ring.water 66 mwater 148 mtoilet · paid 114 m

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10 stops · 9.7 km in a straight line between stops · 6 places to refill along the way

Everyone walks into Piazza dei Miracoli and leaves again. Pisa has fifty more churches, and nearly all of them can be seen from outside with no ticket and no queue. This walk crosses the city west to east along the Arno. They are places of worship and keep their own hours — the façade, though, is always there.

1. San Michele in BorgoOn the façade, painted writing about the election of the university Rector.water 66 mwater 131 m
2. Pisa Cathedralwater 109 mtoilet · paid 71 m
3. Chiesa dei Santi Cosimo e Damianowater 120 m
4. Santi Jacopo e Filippo
5. S. Vito
6. Chiesa del Sacro Cuore di Gesù
7. Santo Sepolcrotoilet · paid 185 m
8. Madonna dei Galletti
9. San Francescowater 106 m
10. San Fredianowater 38 m

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8 stops · 6.6 km in a straight line between stops · 3 places to refill along the way

You do not need to go inside anywhere. Murals, sculptures, signs and Keith Haring’s Tuttomondo: things on walls and in squares, visible at any hour and free by construction. It is the walk for a summer evening, when the museums have already closed.

1. Tuttomondo by Keith HaringA 1989 mural, planned from the outset as a permanent work and given a title.
2. Ferdinando I de' Medici
3. Galileo Galileiwater 106 m
4. Madonna dei Navicellaiwater 135 m
5. Madonna di Pompei
6. Vittorio Emanuele IIwater 59 m
7. Murale "Cavalieri & Saraceni" Aec Interesni Kazki
8. Stollo di San Zeno

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8 stops · 3.7 km in a straight line between stops · 6 places to refill along the way

In summer Pisa is crossed on foot and the centre offers little cover. These are the places where you sit in the shade without buying anything: gardens, parks and lawns, west to east. A park is an area, not a point — the coordinate is its centre, and which way you go in is up to you.

1. Piazza antiche Repubbliche MarinareThe coordinates are the centre of the area, not an entrance.
2. Piazzetta Ferdinando ValleriniThe coordinates are the centre of the area, not an entrance.water 80 mwater 134 m
3. Parco Santi Cosimo e DamianoThe coordinates are the centre of the area, not an entrance.water 70 m
4. Piazza Alessandro d'AnconaThe coordinates are the centre of the area, not an entrance.
5. Piazza Martiri della LibertàThe coordinates are the centre of the area, not an entrance.
6. Prato di eXploitThe coordinates are the centre of the area, not an entrance.water 149 m
7. Giardino ScottoThe coordinates are the centre of the area, not an entrance.water 103 m
8. Piazza San SilvestroThe coordinates are the centre of the area, not an entrance.water 6 m

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8 stops · 8.6 km in a straight line between stops · 7 places to refill along the way

Plaques, memorials and stones: Pisa’s twentieth century written on the walls, where it happened. The 1943 bombing, the Liberation, those who died at work. They are short lines, read standing up — but they say things about this city that no monument says.

1. Monumental Cemeterytoilet · paid 80 m
2. Casa natale di Galileo Galileiwater 98 m
3. Chinzicawater 36 mwater 42 mwater 123 m
4. Francesco Carrarawater 104 m
5. Giacomo Leopardi - A Silvia
6. Lapide ai dipendenti caduti della Richard-Ginoriwater 89 m
7. Lapide dei caduti della guerra di Liberazione
8. Plaque in memory of Lieutenant Enzo Zerbogliowater 112 m

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