Pisa is most famous for its leaning campanile, yet its other
equally notable coups include its long maritime legacy dating to
1000 BC, its prized university and its status as the birthplace of
the world's greatest physicist and astronomer, Galileo Galilei. The
Pisans also created one of the most beautiful squares in the world
in the Campo dei Miracoli (Field of Miracles). Its key component is
the famous Leaning Tower, whose layers of heavy marble were
constructed on a shifting subsoil foundation that has been the bane
of Pisan engineers for more than 800 years. It seems that the
tremulous soil underneath the Field of Miracles has exacted its
price on the other buildings too, most notably San Michele dei
Scalzi. Other attractions of interest in Pisa include the Museo
delle Sinopie, a museum containing a display of sketches from the
frescoed cycle that decorated the walls of the Campo Santo cemetery
and the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo in which exhibits of arabesque
panels and Corinthian capitals reveal the influences of Rome and
Islam on Pisan architects. The Museo Nazionale di San Matteo
displays a range of Florentine art from the 12th through to the
17th centuries.
