Search Hotels in Pisa

The Camposanto Monumentale (“monumental cemetery”) is a historical edifice at the northern edge of the Cathedral Square in Pisa, Italy. “Campo Santo” can be literally translated as “holy field”, because it is said to have been built around a shipload of sacred soil from Golgotha, brought back to Pisa from the Fourth Crusade by the archbishop of Pisa in the 12th century. A legend claims that bodies buried in that ground will rot in just 24 hours. The burial ground lies over the ruins of the old baptistery of the church of Santa Reparata, the church that once stood where the cathedral now stands. The building was the fourth and last one to be raised in the Cathedral Square. It dates from a century after the bringing of the soil from Golgotha, and was erected over the earlier burial ground.

Under the expertise of the architect Giovanni di Simone, the construction of this huge, oblong Gothic cloister began in 1278. The cemetery was only completed in 1464.

The outer wall is composed of 43 blind arches. There are two doorways. The one on the right is crowned by a gracious Gothic tabernacle. It contains the Virgin Mary with Child, surrounded by four saints. Most of the tombs are under the arcades, although a few are on the central lawn. The inner court is surrounded by elaborate round arches with slender mullions and plurilobed tracery.

The cemetery has three chapels. The oldest ones are the chapel Ammannati and the chapel Aulla. The last chapel was Dal Pozzo where sometimes a Mass is celebrated.

The Campo Santo contained a huge collection of Roman sarcophagi, but there are only 84 left together with a collection of Roman and Etruscan sculptures and urns, now in the Museum of the vestry board.

The walls were once covered in frescoes; the first were applied in 1360, the last about three centuries later. The cycle of frescoes continues with the Stories of the Old Testament by Benozzo Gozzoli (15th century) that were situated in the north gallery, while in the south arcade were the Stories of Pisan Saints, by Andrea Bonaiuti, Antonio Veneziano and Spinello Aretino (between 1377 and 1391), and the Stories of Job, by Taddeo Gaddi (end of 14th century).

The Baptistry of St. John in Pisa, Italy happens to be the second building, in the chronological order, in the Piazza dei Miracoli, near the Cathedral and the famous Leaning Tower. It started construction under the designs of the architect Diotisalvi in 1152, in replacement of an older baptistry, and completed in 1363.

This 54.86 m high building with a circumference of 107.24 m, is the largest baptistry in Italy. The Baptistry has the lower registers in the Romanesque style, with rounded arches, while the upper registers are in the Gothic style, with pointed arches. The Baptistry is constructed of marble, plentiful and often used in Italian architecture.

The portal, facing the facade of the cathedral, is flanked by two classical columns, while the inner jambs are executed in Byzantine style. The lintel is divided in two tiers. The lower one depicts several episodes in the life of St. John the Baptist, while the upper one shows Christ between the Madonna and St John the Baptist, flanked by angels and the evangelists.

Though the interiors are surprisingly bland with an eloquent lack of decoration, it is sure to awe your with its immensity and notable acoustics. When you stand below the edge of the dome and sing a sustained note for several seconds, the sound will travel around and around the dome for many more seconds. A single caretaker demonstrates 3-voice polyphonic harmony every half hour. Likewise applause creates a remarkable echo effect.

The octagonal font at the centre dates from 1246 and was made by Guido Bigarelli da Como. The bronze sculpture of St. John the Baptist at the centre of the font, is a remarkable work by Italo Griselli. The pulpit was sculpted by Nicola Pisano, father of Giovanni, the artist who produced the pulpit in the Duomo. The scenes on the pulpit, and especially the classical form of the naked Hercules, show at best Nicola Pisano’s qualities as the most important precursor of Italian renaissance sculpture by reinstating antique representations. Constructed on the same unstable sand as the Tower, the Baptistry (as well as the Cathedral) leans 0.6 degrees toward the cathedral.