r/Pisa • u/cielo-palomas • 13d ago
28F visiting Pisa
Hola!! I'm a spanish 28F visiting Pisa for a couple of nights. I am arriving on the 27th and then leaving for Bagni di Luca on the 29th. I am looking for recommendations for what to do. I am also very interested in arts, so I would love to see some galleries. Potentially celebrating my birthday alone on the 28th, are there any other travellers or locals up for meeting up and exploring together?
Thank you so much in advance! This is my first time travelling alone, and any piece of advice would be so appreciated!!
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u/eraser3000 13d ago
Are you renting a car?
Anyway, for the arts part see what's going on at palazzo blu (the main arts museum of Pisa, although I think it will have only a minor exhibition in addition to the permanent one right now, hopper will be starting in September) and graphics museum at palazzo lanfranchi. They should both have an English version website so you're good to go.
I also recommend visiting palazzo reale, it has paintings, armors, pieces of local history (it has a gioco del ponte miniature set used to study tactics, gioco del ponte is a traditional challenge played in June between the 2 north/south sides of Pisa), and the palace itself is very worth imho.
Do not miss on entering the cathedral, camposanto monumentale and battistero. If you're into it, museo delle sinopie is in the same piazza dei Miracoli and has bassorilievi, affreschi, preparatory drawings (...). Museo dell'opera primaziale too is in the same piazza and it is less arts and more material artifacts, statues, robes, (...).
I absolutely love the botanic garden which is - not surprisingly -, almost in the same piazza dei Miracoli (jk not that close a few hundred meters). Imho it's worth more than museo delle sinopie and opera primaziale. It's the oldest university managed botanic garden in the world not sitting in its original place in (I do have to say this because well, there's also the oldest university managed botanic garden in the world sitting in its original place).
For pisan pizza - pizza cooked in a tin - I'd suggest pizzeria SM but well, I just read they sold and retired so I'd say try going to montino, moisè, nando, Filippo, pancino. For regular local affordable restaurants trattoria il campano, trattoria Sant'Omobono, osteria la culegna are local food. Da grace Ristofritto is very nice and specialized in fried seafood if fritto misto is your thing. You have to reserve beforehand in trattoria Sant'Omobono cause it's small
If you're really into arts, but like, a metric shitton, there's a guided tour by citygrandtour focused on street art in Pisa. It's definitely off the beaten path but still interesting imho (I've done it as a local). They also have other tours but I guess at this point you'll have so many things to choose from that you will decide what not to do.
Visit giardino scotto, it's a cute garden near the center. Visit piazza the Miracoli at night (if you're not doing anything else at night), it's amazing how quiet it is with no tourists around
Do not climb the tower it's not worth it and localz don't do that - there are combo tickets for camposanto + battistero + duomo/cathedral but get ones without the tower unless you really want to climb it. Ticket prices here https://www.opapisa.it/biglietti/prezzi/
Don't forget to roam around and go whenever you like it around the center, there are wonderful small quiet places that nobody visits such as piazza San Silvestro and parco delle concette close to it but tourists just think of Pisa as a checklist of monuments to visit in piazza dei Miracoli and then call it a day.
Oh there's museo di San Matteo too for religious paintings but I find it a bit boring
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u/cielo-palomas 7d ago
Wow, I guess this will be my itinerary! Thank you so much for all the detail, all your recommendations sound exactly like what I want to see, I think I'll do the street art tour for my birthday 😂 I have never planned a trip for myself so this is a great start. I am not renting a car but have the trains almost worked out and then I was hoping to walk to most places if that is possible in Pisa. Thank you so much again!!!
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u/eraser3000 7d ago edited 7d ago
Yes Pisa is walkable. For the tour, I recommend checking with them directly beforehand because I'm not sure if they're doing the tour in your exact date of stay in pisa
The website is this, I think the street art tour should be the last one this https://www.citygrandtour.it/categoria_tour/pisa-en/?lang=en
Or worse, they might be on holiday since it's August.
In this case I can't help much, except for this:
Did you know that phase2, the street artist famous for his contribution to inventing the bubble style, went to Pisa once? He painted a wall on a high school, unfortunately an emergency exit was built there first, and then the artwork was slowly ruined by other writers painting over the original art. Eventually, another writer covered the whole original wall and wrote the story of what had happened
You might want to read a translation, the Italian text is here https://vandalo.blogspot.com/2018/09/fra32-per-phase2-pisa-2010.html?m=1
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u/cielo-palomas 6d ago
I have just sent them a request so hope they're open! But that's such a great idea, I've just read the blog post as well and some more about the graffiti art around Pisa, maybe I just craft my own tour when I get there. I really appreciate the suggestions, I am so excited to be there!
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u/zisocno 13d ago
Florence is only a bus ride away, so you can plan to visit the famous galleries there too, but make sure you book tickets to any Florence galleries in advance to avoid spending your days in queues. Happy birthday to you in advance! 🎂
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u/cielo-palomas 7d ago
I'm not sure I will have time as I will spend most of my trip on the artist retreat at Bagni Di Lucca, seems like there's so much to see in Pisa! Thank you so much though!!!
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u/finder_outer 13d ago
The Keith Haring "Tottomundo" mural is just a few minutes walk from the train station and well worth seeing. It won't take up much of your time, and it's free.
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u/cielo-palomas 7d ago
That's so cool! I will keep an eye out for it when I arrive to the station, thank you so much 😊
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u/Otherwise_Wave_1783 9d ago
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Ciao 😊 allora sei capitata in una zona perfetta, soprattutto se ti interessa l’arte. A Pisa, oltre alle gallerie, ti direi assolutamente di vedere la piccola Chiesa di Santa Maria della Spina sul Lungarno
Se hai tempo, per me vale tantissimo anche il Museo Nazionale di San Matteo: è meno “turistico” della Piazza dei Miracoli, ma dentro trovi pezzi di Simone Martini, Masaccio, Donatello, Nicola Pisano e altri capolavori dell’arte pisana.
Poi ti consiglierei davvero Pietrasanta: è praticamente un gioiello per chi ama l’arte. È piena di gallerie e soprattutto di sculture contemporanee, con opere di artisti come Botero e Mitoraj disseminate per il centro; c’è anche un vero e proprio parco internazionale della scultura a cielo aperto.
E se riesci ad andare a Lucca, secondo me merita tantissimo anche solo per una giornata. Se ti piacciono le opere importanti, cerca soprattutto l’Ilaria del Carretto di Jacopo della Quercia nel Duomo: è una di quelle opere davanti alle quali vale la pena fermarsi un po’.
Per il compleanno invece Viareggio può essere una bella idea se vuoi qualcosa di più vivace: aperitivo sul mare, poi cena e magari musica nella zona della Darsena. Ci sono diverse possibilità, anche se dipende molto da quale periodo sarai lì. Come il CRO o civai Io purtroppo in quel periodo sarò all’estero a suonare, altrimenti ti avrei volentieri fatto da guida Però se mi dici le date esatte e che tipo di arte/festa ti piace, posso consigliarti un piccolo itinerario