The
history of Pisa
(clickable images)
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If the most remote origins of Pisa and of its name are inevitably lost in myth and legend, the most recent historiographical acquisitions, abetted by archeological finds, testify to far distant Eneolithic settlements and the certain presence of the Etruscans between the 6th and 3rd centuries B.C. It is most likely that Ligurian colonists of Celtic origin settled here even earlier, anticipating Greek colonization. Moreover, even though the legend of Pelops, who left the shores of the Alfeo (a river |
| in the Peloponnesus) for those of the Arno to found a new Pisa, in perennial memory of his land of origin, is inirectly supported by Virgil himself in the 10th book of the Aeneid, we know with certainty that Pisa was a port of call in trading with the Greeks. In the Etruscan period Pisa, situated near the extreme northern border of Etruria, was certainly influenced by Volterra but never became more than a modest village of fishers and skilful shipbuilders, which depended in a part on the instability of the coastline and the periodical floods of the Arno. As Etruria was romanized, Pisa grew in importance and was an ally of Rome in the long wars against the Ligurians and the Carthaginians. The port (Portus Pisanus), at the tima situated between the mouth of the river (in those times near where San Piero a Grado stands today) and that portion of the coast now occupied by Livorno, constituted an ideal naval base for the Roman fleet in the expeditions against the Ligurians and the Gauls, and in the operations aimed at subjugating Corsica, Sardinia and other coastal zones of Spain. Pisa, ally of Rome, then became a colonia, a municipium, and in the time of Octavianus Augustus (1st cent. B.C.) was known as Colonia Julia Pisana Obsequens. In the meanwhile the growth in population, the development of shipbuilding and trade - fostered by the establishment of the Via Aurelia and the Via Aemilia Scaurii as well as by the harbor - meant an expansion of the inhabited area which was soon surrounded by a circle of walls. | |
| The imperial was noted for the magnificence of its public and private buildings: although at present traces of 'Roman life' in Pisa are scarse (Baths of Hadrian, improperly called the 'Baths of Nero', capitals from the age of Severus, 3rd cent. A.D.) there seems to be little doubt as to the existence of a Forum and a Palatium as well as an Anphitheatre, a Piscina, a Naval Circus and numerous temple structures, replaced by churches in Christian times. Recently (June 1991) axcavations carried out near the Arena Garibaldi have revealed the presence of an Etruscan necropolis on |  |
| which a domus augustea was laid out in Roman times. The first Christian ferments were introduced into the area of Pisa by Saint Peter himself, who landed 'ad Gradus' in 47 A.D. So goes the legend, so deeply rooted however that a basilica was subsequently built here.With the fall of the Roman Empire, Pisa passed first under the Lombards and then under the Franks. In the early Middle Ages the city's maritime vocation burgeoned and soon contrasted with the Saracens, who were aiming at full supremacy of the Mediterranean. With bases in Corsica and Sardinia, they frequently threatened the lands controlled by the Church itself. The story of Kinzica de' Sismondi is well known. This young pisan heroine is said to have saved the city from a Saracen incursion while most of the Pisan army and fleet were out driving the infields of Reggio Calabria (1005). Between 1016 and 1046 the Pisans conquered Sardinia, hand Corsica too in the end (1052), thus laying the bases for an effective control of the Tyrrhenian Sea as opposed to the Saracens. After these successes the city, with Papal consent, sent the fleet to Sicily to support the struggle of the Norman Roger I and Robert against the Saracens. After breaking the chains of the harbor of Palermo, the ships hoisting the Pisan Cross in a field of red (the city's standard since the exploit of Sardinia) defeated the enemy (1062) returning home with such rich booty that they were able to begin the construction of the Cathedral. | |
