173 



PISA. 



PISA. 



174 



from the Passion of our Lord. Above the intersection of the nave and 

 transepts rises a dome, which is one of the earliest constructions of 

 the kind in Italy. The pulpit is enriched with valuable sculptures 

 by Giovanni di Pisa ; other statues and sculptures by the same master- 

 hand, and by Giovanni da Bologna and other artists, are in various 

 parts of the church. The paintings are by Andrea del Sarto, Ilazzi, 

 Salvator Rosa, Roselli, and other masters. The pavement is of marble 

 of various colours. 



The Baptistery, erected between the years 1152 and 1160 by Dioti- 

 salvi, is of a singular design. The plan is circular, with a diameter of 

 116 feet ; the walls are S feet thick ; the building is raised on 3 steps, 

 and surmounted with a dome in the shape of a pear. The external 

 elevation ia divided into 3 stories : in the basement the columns, 20 

 in number, are engaged, and have arches springing from column to 

 column, with a bold cornice above ; in the first story the columns are 

 smaller, stand out in relief, and are placed closer together ; and the 

 order is surmounted with pinnacles and high pediments placed at equal 

 distances : the terminations of these parts are crowned with statues. 

 Above this is an attic story, decorated with other high pediments, pin- 

 nacle*, and statues. The dome, which is covered with lead, is inter- 

 sected by long lines of very prominent fretwork : all these lines meet 

 in a little cornice near the top, and terminate in another dome, above 

 which is a statue of St. John, The interior is much admired for its 

 proportions: 8 granite columns, placed between 4 piers decorated 

 with pilasters, are arranged round the basement' story, which support 

 a second order of piers arranged in a similar manner, on which the 

 dome rests, which is famous for its echo. The interior is ornamented 

 with numerous sculptures : the pulpit, by Nicola Pisano, is considered 

 a masterpiece. In the middle of the Baptixtery is a large octagonal 

 basin of marble, raised on three steps. Within the basin there are 

 four circular places hollowed out for water, and round the centre of 

 the basin, which is occupied by a pedestal, is a place likewise hollowed 

 out for the priest, who was thus enabled to turn from one basin to 

 the other. 



The Belfry, one of the most celebrated buildings of Pisa, is a round 

 tower built externally of white marble. It is 160 feet high, divided 

 into nine stories by rows of columns. It is generally named the 

 Leaning Tower, from the circumstance that it deviates from the per- 

 pendicular line about fourteen feet. It was erected in the latter part 

 of the 12th century by the architects William of Innspruck and 

 Bonanno of Pisa. From the summit there i a splendid view of the 

 plain, the surround iug mountains, and the sea. 



I ampo Santo, or cemetery, constructed in the 1 3th century 



.-auiii <li Pisa, is a parallelogram, 430 feet in length, 148 feet 

 ith nn arcade or cloister running all round the interiur, th.- 



walU of which are covered with fresco paintings chiefly by Giotto, 



Orcogna, and MemniL The paintings are for the most part greatly 



damaged, and some are entirely obliterated. A series of engravings 



paintiugt was published by Kosini in 1816. Several ancient 



;res and other remains of antiquity are deposited in the Oampo 

 Among the tombs is that of the Couutea* Beatrice, the mother 

 <>f Mi 1 :!!. ; of Algarotti, Pignotti, and of the celebrated surgeon and 

 icca, which last i* the work of Thorwaldsen. 



nif the other remarkable buil'liugs of Pi* are the church of 

 San Stcfauo, which was f.mi. 1 by the grand-duke Cosmo; 



that of San Prediano, which in rich in painting*; San Nicola, with a 

 handsome belfry, the work of Nicola Pisano; San Michel') in Borgo 



i the monument of Guiiln Urandi, a celebrated mathematician 



[temporary of Newton ; Sauta Maria della Spina, a handsome 



:. with good paintings and sculptures; the palaces of Lanfnuichi 

 and Lanfroclucci ; the Torre delta rarne (immortalised by Dante in 

 hu ' Inferno '), in which Ugolino and hi* children were starved to 

 death, and DOW forms part of a structure called Palazzo dell' Orologio, 

 on the Piazza de' Car alien ; the university buildings, the library, 

 observatory, and botanical garden ; the great hospital ; the Loggia, or 

 old exchange. 



' 'crtooa, or Carthusian convent and church, is in a pleasant 

 situation, about two miles east of Pisa, The vast farm and forest of 

 San Roisore, belonging to the grand-<luke, three miles from Pisa, near 

 the sea, is chiefly remarkable for the camels, about eighty in number, 

 the original stock of which were brought to this spot in the time of 

 the Crusades. The mineral bath*, called Di San Giuliano, four miles 



'isa, at the foot of a mountain, have been restored on the remain* 



of ancient Therm*;, which were frequented in the middle ages by the 



countes* Matilda. The present building* are of the last century. In 



summer the air of Pisa and the neighbouring plain is not considered 



wholesome, though it is not so deleterious as it once was, owing to 



niientd iu drainage and cultivation. During the winter the 



.to of Pisa is extremely mild, though rainy. 



The origin of Pisa i unknown. It was on the border between 

 Etrtiria and the country of the Ligurians, and was probably colonised 

 by the Ktnucans when they extended their dominion from the Arno 

 to the Micro. It became subject to Rome shout the middle of the 



Titnry of Uotne, retaining, *liko most Etruscan towns, it* muni- 



nn nf government. I/ivy (xl. 43) mentions that a Latin colony 

 was sent to Pisa about B.C. 17'.'. Nothing more is said concerning Pisa 

 in Roman history. It had bishop* at the beginning of the 4th cen- 

 tury. Pis* pawed successively under the dominion of the various 



conquerors of Italy, the Goths, the Longobards, and the Carlovingians. 

 Under the last it governed itself as an independent community, with 

 a nominal allegiance to the emperors and their great feudatories the 

 counts or marquises of Tuscany. In A.D. 874 the Pisaus defeated the 

 Saracen pirates, who, after having plundered the Roman coast, landed 

 at San Pietro in Grado, about three miles from Pisa. In 965 Otho I. , 

 on his return from Rome, stopped at Pisa, and granted various privi- 

 leges to the town. About 1003 the Pisans sent their galleys to the 

 coast of Syria against the Seljuk Turks, who had invaded the couutry, 

 and who vexed the Christians of Palestine. 



In the following year began the long struggle between the Pisans 

 and Muscet, the Moorish king of Sardinia, which ended in the final 

 conquest of that island by the united Pisans and Genoese, iu the year 

 At this period Pisa was a republic, having its annual consuls. 

 About 1050 the Pisans subjected the island of Corsica, and in 10S9 

 or 1091, Pope Urban II. made a grant to them of the whole island as 

 a fief of the Apostolic See. In 1063 they sailed to Palermo, cut the 

 Saracen fleet out of the harbour, and carried away a rich booty, part 

 of which was employed in building their splendid cathedral. About 

 the year 1070 began the wars between Geuoa and Pisa, which con- 

 tinued, with various interruptions, for more than two centuries, aud 

 ended in the downfal of Pisa, In 1088, the two states having made 

 peace, joined their fleets, and sailing to the coast of Barbary, took the 

 town of Mahadiah, then the capital of a considerable Saracen state, 

 and obliged the king to release all his Christian slaves. 



It was in this period of their prosperity that the Pisans completed 

 their splendid monuments of art, the cathedral, the belfry, baptistery, 

 aud Canipo Santo. The Pisaus sent a fleet of 120 sail to the first 

 crusade, and their soldiers and sailors assisted at the taking of Nicsea, 

 and afterwards at that of Autioch, as a reward for which they obtained 

 a street of that city to establish a factory iu. In 1099 the Pisans 

 were at the taking of Jerusalem. In the following year they sailed 

 into the sea of Marmora, and obliged the emperor Alexius to sign a 

 treaty, by which he allowed them to establish a factory at Constanti- 

 nople, with ample privileges. The Pisau fleet returned home iu 

 triumph, aud their city was then entirely surrounded by walls. 



In 1114 the Pisaus gent a large armament, the largest that had ever 

 sailed from their coast, to the conquest of the Balearic Islands, which 

 were in possession of the Moors, and which had become a nest ot 

 Mohammedan pirates. The fleet consisted of 300 ships of various 

 size*, having on board 35,000 men and 900 horses. The archbishop 

 of Pisa, Pietro Morieoui, himself commanded the expedition. In 

 April, 1117, the Pisana, in conjunction with Rayuuuido IV., couut of 

 Barcelona, accomplished tlio conquest of the Balcareg. In tho year 

 1137, the PiiJui fleet went to the coast of Naples to aid thu I'upe and 

 the emperor agaiu.it the Normans, and took the town of Amain. 



In the war between Frederic Barbarossa and the Lombard cities, 

 Pisa sided with tho emperor. In tho following century the Pisans, 

 as Ghibolinea, took the part of Frederick II. against the Pope. In 

 1258, peace was made between Genoa and Pisa, through the media- 

 tion of Pope Alexander IV. In 1282 began the fourth war between 

 Piaa and Genoa. In !-! they suffered a disastrous defeat off the 

 island of Meloria from the Genoese, commanded l>y Olierto Doria. 

 In the action they lost 3000 inou killed or drowned, and 13,000 were 

 carried prisoners to Genoa, where they wero confined in chains, and 

 where most of them died. Hence a proverb became current through- 

 out Italy" Those who want to sea 1'ixa must go to Genoa." In 

 1 Doria attacked the Porto Pisauo, destroyed its towers, 

 and sunk ships filled with stones at the entrance. From that time 

 I'ina completely lost iti rank as a maritime power, after a glorious 

 career of four centuries, and Venice and Geuoa were left alone to 

 dispute for the naval supremacy of the Mediterranean. 



In the meantime Florence, at the head of the Guelphs of Tuscany, 

 availed Pisa by land, and in their dintresg the Pisans appointed us 

 their captain-general, for 10 years, Ugolino Count Gherardesca, a 

 Ghibelino feudal baron, who, in order to keep himself in power, 

 favoured alternately Guelphs and Ghibelines, while he proscribed the 

 more independent loaders of both piirtiea. He was opposed by the 

 archbishop Ruggiero degli Ubaldini, a staunch (ihibeline; and in 

 1288, being accused of betraying his country into tho bauds of the 

 Guelphs of Florence and Lucca, nn insurrection broke out against 

 him, beaded by the archbishop. Ugolino, being overpowered, was 

 confined, with two of his sous and two of his grandsons, in a tower 

 near the Arno, where the wretched prisoners were left to die of hunger. 

 This catastrophe has furnished Danto with the subject of one of his 

 most powerful descriptions. 



The Pisans then appointed Guido da Montefeltro their captain- 

 general. He recovered by force the strongholds which Ugoliuo Im.l 

 put into the hands of the Guelphx. Peace was made with Florence 

 iu 1293, and iu 12X' with Genoa also. I'i.-u continued attached to 

 the Ghibeline party, and at the death of thn emperor Henry VII., in 

 1313, found herself exposed to the attack of all the Guelphs of 

 Tuscany. The Pisans gave the chief command to Uguccione della 

 Fsggiuola, a captain of some renown, who took Lucca, in 1314, and 

 afterwards defeated the Florentines in the battle of Montecatino. 

 Pisa resumed its republican form of government in 1316, and in 1322 

 exiled 15 nf tho (ihibeline nobles, and made peace with the Guelphs. 

 In the following year a general massacre of the Pisans took place in 



