On June 16th Pisa holds the Luminara festival, held for the patron saint's day (San Ranieri). At sunset, all the lights along the Arno are dimmed and more than 10000 candles are lit, which makes for some spectacular sights from the Ponte di Mezzo. Various activities are organized in the streets and the night ends with a big fireworks.

Another summer attraction is the Gioco del Ponte (Game of Bridge), a historical manifestation held yearly for the last Sunday of June, in which the two sides of the city (Tramontana and Mezzogiorno, geographically split by the Arno river) participates to a historical procession, with 709 walk-ons, then challenges each other to a physical match in which their teams, each composed by 20 members, try to conquer the "Ponte di Mezzo" (the main bridge in Pisa) pushing a trolley in order to let the rival team out of the bridge themself.

For nightlife, there aren't many club or live music places in Pisa: the usual night in Pisa is having dinner with a pizza or a cheap kebab, having a beer in Borgo Stretto, Piazza delle Vettovaglie or a pub of the surrounding areas, and having a walk in Piazza Garibaldi and Lungarni, where the "spallette" (the low brick walls around the river) are full of students.

Pisa is divided into 4 historical quarters. There is much more than the Leaning Tower in the city and several different walking itineraries are possible.

• The Piazza dei Miracoli or Field of Miracles is to the north of central Pisa. It's an UNESCO World Heritage site and contains its most famous sights:
  • Torre Pendente (Leaning Tower) [3] Originally the cathedral's bell tower, construction began in 1173 and the tower started leaning soon afterwards due to subsidence of the ground underneath its base. A project to keep the tower from leaning more and tipping over finally reached a successful conclusion in 2001, and the tower is again open to those wishing to climb it. Climbing the tower requires a reservation-based ticket for 15 Euro. Expect 45 minutes to 2 hours wait, but there is a lot to see while you wait. It is better if you buy tickets online for 17 Euro well in advance at [4]. Warning, the tickets are non-exchangeable, effectively non-refundable, and only good for the Torre, so they're a big risk to purchase in advance.
  • Duomo di Pisa, (Cathedral of Pisa) the splendid cathedral, contains artwork by Giambologna, Della Robbia, and other major artists. Fine Romanesque style with double aisles and a cupola, a huge apse mosaic partly by Cimabue, and a fine pulpit by Giovanni Pisano in late Gothic / early Renaissance style.
  • Battistero (Baptistry) large round Romanesque dome with many sculptured decorations and a fine view up top; climb this if you want a great view with the Leaning Tower visible in your photos. Arabic-style pavement, pulpit by Nicola Pisano (father of Giovanni), and fine octagonal font. At regular intervals, the ticket-checker-guard at entrance comes into the baptistry and gives an audio-treat of echo-effect. The guard shouts out few sounds which when echoed sound like pure beautiful music. Do not miss it. You can also cast your inhibitions to the wind, stand by the wall, and sing long notes that turn into chords by yourself, as the echoes go round and round the dome of the building.
  • Campo Santo Monumentale (Cemetery) a huge cemetery building with lots of interesting art, including a collection of ancient Roman sarcophagi and splendid medieval frescoes by the "Master of the Triumph of Death".
  • Museo del Opera del Duomo has sculptures and paintings formerly preserved in the Cathedral and the cemetery. Some of the more unusual are bronze griffins from Syria captured by the Crusaders.
  • Museo delle Sinopie Skipped over by many visitors, this museum is a treat for art lovers. After WWII many of the surviving murals and pieces of murals from Pisa's Campo Santo were detached from the walls to try to preserve them. It was unexpectedly discovered that the artist sketches underneath survived. These were moved to this museum.
• Piazza dei Cavalieri a small town square with many historical buildings that hosted the political powers of the city in the middle ages and reinassance, but most of them are not accessible to tourists, as they are now property of the University of Pisa or Scuola Normale Superiore (a prestigious elitary school).
  • Palazzo della Carovana, the main Scuola Normale Superiore building, with an elaborate façade, by the important italian Renaissance artist and architect Giorgio Vasari - who is also said to be the first historian of art.
  • Palazzo dell'Orologio (Clock Palace), a XIV century building that has inglobated the Torre della Fame (tower of hunger), where the Conte Ugolino della Gherardesca was imprisoned and left to die of hunger with his sons, as cited in the Dante's Divina Commedia
  • Chiesa di Santo Stefano, designed by Giorgio Vasari in the XVI century for the Ordine dei Cavalieri di Santo Stefano (Order of Chivalry of Saint Stephan), a chivalry order founded to fight piracy in 1561.
  • other historical buildings such as Church of San Rocco, the Rectory, Palazzo Carovana and Palazzo dei Dodici.
• Lungarno Mediceo and Lungarno Pacinotti on the north side of Arno river, Lungarno Galilei and Lungarno Gambacorti on the south side: these riverside streets give a distinctive character to Pisa, expecially at night where the lamp reflects on the Arno river. Along the Lungarni stands intresting places like:
  • Piazza Garibaldi and Piazza XX Settembre, two opposing town square, one at each end of Ponte di Mezzo (middle bridge), and are considered the centre of the city. From Piazza Garibaldi starts Borgo Stretto, an old street with lots of shops that, toghether with Corso Italia starting in the opposite direction from Piazza XX Settembre, create a pedonal area (interrupted only by the bridge) that is considered the center of the city. In Piazza XX Settembre you can find the Logge dei Banchi, a building created to host texile market in 1600, and the town hall, in the Palazzo del Comune.
  • Museo di San Matteo, on Lungarno Mediceo, a small history and art museum, but one of the biggest for tuscan reinassance art, hosted in the rooms of the San Matteo monastery. Address: Piazza San Matteo, 1, lungarno Mediceo Tel. +39 050 541865
  • Santo Sepolcro, on Lungarno Galilei, a Romanesque octagonal church with conical spire by Diotisalvi, who also built the baptistry - a Templar church, striking and forceful. Usually is not open
  • Ussero Café founded on 1775, lungarno Pacinotti 27, [5]. A monument to Italian culture in the 1400's Palazzo Agostini, on Lungarno. In 1839, it was seat of the meetings of the first Italian Congress of Scientists
  • Santa Maria della Spina, on Lungarno Gambacorti, a very small Gothic church built in 1230 to house a thorn from Jesus's crown, it's considered one of the best expressions of italian gothic. It is so small it moved from the river of the Arno, in 1800, to a place some meters above, one stone at time, to protect it from floodings. Usually it's not open
  • Giardino Scotto, on Lungarno Fibonacci at the end of Lungarno Galilei, is a fortress coverted to a public park which opens in summer for open air cinema, music shows and other events.
  • La Cittadella, at the end of Lungarno Simonelli, is a fortress built to guard the access by the river Arno and the shipyard in the middle age, when the sea was closer to the city
• University botanical garden, via Luca Ghini 5, is the first university botanical garden of Europe, created by the will of Cosimo de Medici in 1544. It is open weekday mornings without charge.
• fine Romanesque churches - San Paolo a Ripa d'Arno, San Michele in Borgo, San Paolo with a sculpture gallery inside, Sant'Andrea - not all are open every day
• Tuttomondo, Keith Haring mural [6]. Keith Haring visited once Pisa and fell in love with the town, so he decided to paint this amazing mural as a gift to Pisa. Though extremely large, it is easy to miss so look out for it, it is located between the train station and Corso Italia.

Pisa has regular trains to and from Florence (usually three per hour), to and from Lucca (usually every hour) and is also accessible by bus, and has an international airport.

Pisa Airport "Galileo Galilei" [2] is the main airport of Tuscany and is served by several airlines operating hundreds of weekly flights to national and international destinations. Numerous companies offer charter flights to and from a number of European and non-European destinations. Flying to Pisa is really cheap and easy: the most important low-cost companies reach Pisa. The airport is close to the city centre - it takes only a few minutes to reach the centre by bus, train or taxi. It is even possible to walk to the centre, this takes around 20 minutes.

Do not expect the airport to be open 24/7!

You can purchase bus and train tickets from the information office in the arrivals hall. The trains are the fastest way to get to the city. The tickets cost €1,10 and the ride takes only about five minutes. However, the trains are not very frequent. There are only two per hour. The bus has a regular service every 15 minutes and it takes about 15 minutes to get to the city. The bus runs to Piazza dei Miracoli and the central station. Tickets are best bought at the information desk, since the ticket machine at the bus terminal is often out of service. Tickets cost €0.95, but if you buy them from the driver on the bus, you pay double. The bus terminal is directly in front of the airport, on the right side when coming out of the terminal building. Once in the city, its main sights are easy to locate and are all within walking distance.

Taxi can be the best method of getting to the center from the airport at around 6-8 Euro depending.... takes away the hassle of getting lost with luggage etc.

There are regular buses around town, including from the train station to the Field of Miracles. Attractions are within a half hour walk of each other. Local bus tickets are available at the bus stops at both the airport and train station & Tobacco shops.

There's a vast collection of car rental agencies at the airport. While you won't need a car in the city itself, it can be a good choice if you want to go around Tuscany from Pisa. To get to the car rental offices take the shuttle bus in front of the airport's arrival hall.

The central shopping area is centred around Corso Italia, between the railway station and the Ponte di Mezzo (the central bridge) and also into Via Borgo Stretto, north of the bridge. However, many specialised shops are sprinkled around the city.

The area around the leaning tower is geared towards tourists: There are lots of small souvenir kiosks, stands and "flying merchants", selling all kinds of souvenirs from small statues to hour-glasses--of course the motif is the leaning tower!

Beware it is an offense to buy from a fly trader (you can recognize them because they don't have a stand, they keep the merchandise in the hand or on blankets on the street), which are illegal and sell illegal replicas-- they are very persuasive ---- if you make eye contact they hang around like flies, if you buy anything haggle they drop their prices by 90%. The best way to get rid of them is to tell them you already bought something from the previous one!

Every two weeks there is a bazaar with quite cheap books, records and old stuff.

As a general rule, try not to eat near the Leaning Tower where prices are high and quality low, on the contrary head to the central area (5-10 minutes walking from Piazza dei Miracoli). where you can find very good and cheap typical restaurants there. For example, there are excellent, friendly and reasonably priced cafeterias in the busy small vegetable market, Piazza delle Vettovaglie. Also Via San Martino, close to the south bank of the river, offers some places with good quality and low price. This said, near the Leaning Tower, in via Roma, there's a good Indian Restaurant, with a beautiful atmosphere and really good, though not always cheap, dishes. And in Piazza dei Miracoli, there's a quite good restaurant-pizzeria, cheap enough, the Kinzica. In any case, don't miss Salza, in Borgo Stretto, with high prices but absolutely gorgeous chocolate, sweets and pastries of all kinds. Don't sit down inside, though, because you end up paying 10 Euros for two coffees. Finally, there's a good pizzeria near the Youth Hostel, too, on the road that leads to the Leclerc, on the left then you must go in the tunnel.

Here are some good spots for eating:

• Numero 11, Via San Martino. Quite cheap prices, good food and generous portions in an informal setting. You can find any kind of food there.

• Vineria di Piazza, Piazza delle Vettovaglie. Serves very few dishes but they are good and cheap. You can find very traditional food here.

• Il Montino, Via del Monte. Great place to get fine pizza and excellent focaccine at a very cheap price. You can eat there or take away the food.

• La Stanzina, Via Calvalca close to Piazza delle Vettovaglie. Has very good food at reasonable price in a cozy environment. Many of the recipes come from southern Italy.

• Osteria dei Cavalieri, Via San Frediano very close to Piazza dei Cavalieri. Quite expensive but very good. You can find typical and traditional recipes from tuscany.

• La Mescita, Via Cavalca very close to Piazza delle Vettovaglie. An expensive but very good choice. They serve both traditional and more sophisticated food.

• Funicolì, Via L. Bianchi 33. An excellent pizzeria just outside the walls, not far from the Leanining Tower. It is not a touristy place and the price is reasonable. Pizza is very good and the entrée (antipasti) are even better. The place is not very big so it is better to reserve, especially during week-ends.

During summer nights, everybody stays around the banks of the rivers, sipping drinks bought from the several bars in the area. A few very good wine-bars are also available for colder, winter night.

• Orzobruno, Via Case Dipinte 6/8, ☎ 050/578802, [7]. Sun-Thu 19-01, Fri-Sat 19-02. Artisan organic beer and organic food at a good price. A bit tricky to find but worth it.  edit
• Pisa Caffè dell'Ussero, Lungarno Pacinotti, 27. It is a monument to Italian culture in the 1400's Palazzo Agostini, on Lungarno. Its walls are covered with glorious memories from its most famous visitors of the Risorgimento when they were students: Carlo Goldoni, Gacomo Casanova, Vittorio Alfieri, Filippo Mazzei, John Ruskin, Domenico Guerrazzi, Giuseppe Giusti, Renato Fucini, Giosuè Carducci, Cesare Abba, Giuseppe Montanelli. In 1839, it was seat of the meetings of the first Italian Congress of Scientists.  edit