Fishing Hut

Slightly out of jurisdiction: fishing hut on stilts, Marina di Pisa.
Appena fuori giurisdizione: palafitta per la pesca, Marina di Pisa.

The Pisan Tree

For the first time in years we do not have a Christmas tree in any of our squares. There is no money for it, so let us enjoy the nice tree the spendthrift Pisans managed to set up in Piazza XX Settembre, in front of their Town Hall.

To add insult to injury, our profligate neighbors erected another sizable Christman tree at Palazzo Blu, which is hosting the exhibition “Amedeo Modigliani et ses amis” (Amedeo Modigliani and his friends), dedicated to the Livornese painter.

See also: Merry Christmas (2008) - Christmas Eve (2009) - Christmas Trees (2010) - Happy Holidays! (2011) - Starry Night in via Maggi (2012) - Tree of Light (2013)

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Super Hercules

The C-130, in its more recent versions, is still the workhorse of the 46th Air Brigade. This is a C-130J-30, a stretch version of the original model, with a fuselage extended of 4.6 m (15 ft) its maximum payload is almost 20 tons, with a range of 1900 miles.

The inside of the same aircraft, with the ramp closed. By the way, my first flight experience, almost forty years ago, was on a C-130.

External links: Lockheed Martin C-130J Super Hercules (Wikipedia) - 46ª Brigata Aerea (Italian Air Force)
See also: Pisa - Lübeck - 46th Air Brigade

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46th Air Brigade

Pisa is the home of the 46ª Brigata Aerea (46th Air Brigade), the only transport wing in the Italian Air Force. Among its roles are the aerial delivery of paratroopers and material, the transport of equipment, tactical and special operations. The aircraft are also used for emergency medical services and as support for several humanitarian and civilian activities.

The transport brigade is composed by three units: the 2nd and 50th Flight Units are equipped with C-130J and C-130J-30 aircraft, while the 98th Flight Unit uses the C-27J.

External links: 46ª Brigata Aerea (Italian Air Force) - Lockheed Martin C-130J Super Hercules - Alenia C-27J Spartan (Wikipedia)
See also: Pisa - Lübeck

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Pisa - Lübeck

Last Wednesday we have been able to visit the base of the “Aeronautica Militare” (Italian Air Force) which is part of the airport of Pisa. The first effect of this were some close-up pictures of commercial aircraft.

A Ryanair Boeing 737-8AS taking off in front of the control tower of the airport.

The aircraft, with the logo “Krakow & Malopolska”, was departing for a flight to Lübeck, in Germany.

External links: Italian Air Force - Boeing 737 - Ryanair (Wikipedia)
See also: Livorno Airport

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Cristofano Allori

The main altar of Santo Stefano dei Cavalieri: on the left is visible “Il Martirio di Santo Stefano” (The Martyr of Saint Stephen), painted by Giorgio Vasari in 1571. The painting is actually under restoration.

On a part of the gorgeous panelled ceiling of the church we can see “The Embarkation of Maria de' Medici at Livorno”, painted by Cristofano Allori in 1604. A detail of the painting, showing a bastion of the Fortezza Vecchia, is visible here.

See also: Santo Stefano dei Cavalieri - Marie de' Medici - Fortezza Vecchia - Molo del Soccorso
External links: Santo Stefano dei Cavalieri - Giorgio Vasari - Cristofano Allori (Wikipedia)

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Santo Stefano dei Cavalieri

The Order of Saint Stephen was created by Cosimo I de' Medici, first Grand Duke of Tuscany, with the objective of fighting the Ottoman Turks and the pirates that sailed Mediterranean Sea in the 16th century. The monument to Ferdinando I de' Medici in Livorno, better known as the Quattro Mori (Four Moors), celebrates the victories of the Order, with the Grand Duke himself dressed as its Grand Master.

Santo Stefano dei Cavalieri is a church in Pisa, in Piazza dei Cavalieri (Knight's Square), on the right side of the Palazzo della Carovana, the headquarters of the Knights. It was built between 1565 and 1569 as the church of the Order, on a project by Giorgio Vasari.

The bell-tower, also designed by Vasari, was completed by 1572 by Giovanni Fancelli.

External links: Santo Stefano dei Cavalieri - Order of Saint Stephen - Knight's Square - Palazzo della Carovana (Wikipedia)
See also: Four Moors

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Saturday in Pisa

I happened to be in Pisa two days in a row: this is a selection of some pictures taken on Saturday.

It seems that the worst is passed, but the parapets of the river Arno are still planked up and sandbagged.

Visitors almost on top of the Leaning Tower.

Some Recommended by Routard plaques outside a hotel: I wonder what happened in 2010...

You see strange things on the roofs of Pisa.

Double and symmetrical selfies on the Ponte della Fortezza (Fortress Bridge).

More Walks
See also: Livorno Airport - Pisan Walk (2010) - Pisan Walk 1 of 2 - Pisan Walk 2 of 2 (2011) - In Pisa (2013)
Search labels: Pisa

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Bluesmobile

In the same bar where is on display the Elektra espresso machine, you can see a Bluesmobile.

External links: Bluesmobile (Wikipedia)
See also: Elektra

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Elektra

This is not a Belle Époque version of R2-D2, the little robot from Star Wars, but an old model of an Elektra, the legendary copper and brass espresso machine, on display in a bar in Pisa.

External links: Elektra espresso machines (Wikipedia) - Elektra (Official site)

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Cat on a Balcony

A Pisan cat on a balcony, in via San Zeno.

Search labels: cat

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Centro dei Borghi

Il “Centro dei Borghi”, which can loosely be translated as Center of the Villages, is a shopping center in Navacchio, near Cascina, in the province of Pisa. It is not much more than a gallery of shops around a huge supermarket, but it is nice to go there during the week, when it is not too crowded.

Parking is not a problem and in the area there are many furniture and home furnishings stores.

We have something like this in Livorno, but not nearly as good as this one.

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San Zeno

The church of San Zeno was a former abbey built around 11th century as part of a Camaldolese monastery. It has been deconsecrated a while back and the building is now a museum, also used for exhibitions.
This is the last post from our self-imposed cyber-exile, but we have not yet finished with Pisa: in the future we will probably visit our cousins more often and on regular basis...

External links: San Zeno - Camaldolese (Wikipedia)

(Why are we posting about Pisa? Click here for an answer)

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Domus Mazziniana

This is the house where Giuseppe Mazzini spent the last years of his life and where he died on 10 March 1872. Practically rebuilt after the damages of the Second World War, it is now a museum dedicated to his life and works: the lettering on the facade of the building represent the verbose oath of the Giovine Italia (Young Italy), written by Mazzini himself in 1831 in Marseille.

External links: Giuseppe Mazzini - Young Italy (Wikipedia) - The oath of the Giovine Italia (Mazzini: His life, Writings, and Political Principles)

(Why are we posting about Pisa? Click here for an answer)

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Santa Maria della Spina

After the destruction of the Ponte Nuovo in 1400, it became the repository of a small piece of the Crown of Thorns, and took the name of Our Lady, of the Thorn. Brought from over seas by a Pisan merchant, the thorns were preserved with loving care in a little urn. Before faring again to distant lands he entrusted the precious relic to the care of his family. He never was heard of more, and one of his descendants, a Longhi, presented it to the church.

(“The Story of Pisa” by Janet Ross and Nelly Erichsen, 1909)

One of the wonders of Pisa is the small Gothic masterpiece of Santa Maria della Spina. The church was built around 1230 on the lower bank of the river Arno, but it was dismantled and rebuilt on the higher bank during the works for the construction of the nearby Solferino bridge, in 1871.

External links: Santa Maria della Spina (Wikipedia) - “The Story of Pisa” by Janet Ross and Nelly Erichsen (Archive.org)

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Via Santa Maria

At work re-asphalting Via Santa Maria, in Pisa. We don't see often this kind of works in Livorno: repaving streets is clearly not a priority here.

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Kinzica de' Sismondi

Whereupon, according to the legend, the Saracen Emir Moezz-Ibn-Badis, called Musa or Mugettus by the Italian chroniclers, left Sardinia, which he had conquered, and sailed up the Arno by night to attack Pisa in 1005. The houses on the left bank of the river were in flames and the inhabitants in full flight, when a woman of the Sismondi family named Chinzica rushed across the bridge to the palace of the Consuls and gave the alarm. A statue was erected to her when the burnt portion of the town was rebuilt and called after her.

(“The Story of Pisa” by Janet Ross and Nelly Erichsen, 1909)

The story is probably only a legend and the presumed statue of Kinzica, still visible outside Casa Tizzoni in Via San Martino, is almost certainly only a fragment of a 3rd-century Roman sarcophagus.

A more modern statue, called “Chinzica” and representing the heroine of the legend, is the work of the sculptor Angelo Ciucci and was erected in 2005 in the middle of Piazza Guerrazzi.

External links: “The Story of Pisa” by Janet Ross and Nelly Erichsen (Archive.org)

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Camposanto Monumentale

The Gothic tabernacle above the entance of the Camposanto Monumentale (Monumental Cemetery), at the northern edge of Piazza dei Miracoli. The Campo Santo, which translates as Holy Field, is a 13th-century cemetery built after the Fourth Crusade. Ubaldo de' Lanfranchi, archbishop of Pisa, decided that the Pisans were to be buried in the very earth of the Holy Land and commissioned a fleet of ships to bring home thousands of tons of soil from the hill outside Jerusalem where Jesus is believed to have been crucified.

See also: Santa Maria Assunta - Leaning Tower - Baptistry of St. John
External links: Piazza dei Miracoli - Leaning Tower - Baptistry - Camposanto Monumentale (Wikipedia)

(Why are we posting about Pisa? Click here for an answer)

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Nicola Pisano

The work of Nicola Pisano (c. 1220—c. 1284), along with that of his son Giovanni and other artists of their workshop, created a new sculptural style for the late 13th and the 14th centuries in Italy. This monument to him, made by the sculptor Salvino Salvini in 1864, is placed in front of the church of Santa Maria del Carmine (St. Mary of Carmel) in Corso Italia.

External links: Nicola Pisano (Wikipedia)

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Baptistry of St. John

Still in Piazza dei Miracoli, facing the Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta, lies the Battistero di San Giovanni (Baptistry of St. John). The building has almost the same hight of the Tower of Pisa, it took as long to be built (1152-1363) and it is also slightly leaning.

See also: Santa Maria Assunta - Leaning Tower
External links: Piazza dei Miracoli - Leaning Tower of Pisa - Baptistry (Wikipedia)

After twelve days and twelve nights they finally shut down that damned generator. Livorno Daily Photo in Pisa will go on for twelve days as well, so we have another Pisan week before returning on home turf.

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