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Pisa in Tuscany, central Italy, is a major tourist attraction thanks to its many works of art and gravity-defying Leaning Tower. Archaeological remains suggest a city was here in the 5th century BC but its origins are unknown.

Pisa served as a base for Roman expeditions into Gaul and became a Roman colony in 180BC. It rose to become an important trading port and significant power base by the 11th century. But its maritime power ended with a major defeat at the Battle of Meloria 1284.

Repeated attempts to regain power failed and it is a now a light industrial centre with a strong tourist base, thanks to some remarkable architecture and the world famous Leaning Tower of Pisa.

Field of Miracles

The Leaning Tower is foremost amongst the city's key tourist attractions and is found to the north of the old centre in the Campo dei Miracola or 'Field of Miracles'. The 55m high freestanding bell tower tilts at an alarming 5.5degrees so that the top is 4.5m from the vertical.

It was started in 1173 and added to for nearly 175 years. It was declared, along with the rest of the remarkable Campo dei Miracoli, as a UNESCO World Heritage SIte in 1987.

Other attractions in Pisa are the Knight's Square with its impressive façade and the Santo Stefano church with art works by Donatello and Vasari.

Nearby is one of the best preserved Romanesque buildings at the Church of St Sixtus. There are another half dozen churches of huge architectural merit and containing many works of art and other treasures.

Palaces and gardens

Also of note is the Medici Palace, Europe's oldest botanical gardens and the Royal Palace where the city's most famous son Galileo Galilei revealed planets he had discovered with his newly invented telescope.

Pisa also boasts several important museums containing important works of art from the early Renaissance including masterworks by Giovani and Andrea Pisano and Masaccio.

Pisa is home to a major university noted in the fields of Physics, Mathematics, Engineering and Computer Science.

There are inter city bus services to many other parts of Italy including an express coach service from Pisa airport to Florence.

The city has three rail stations with the Central Station running services to major cities such as Rome, Turin, Naples and Florence. One station connects the airport to the city while the third is located near the Leaning Tower. Pisa is on the main A11 Genova- Livano motorway.

Galileo Galilei International Airport is about 2km from the city centre with services to London, Paris, Madrid, Helsinki, Munich, Cologne and Amsterdam. It is one of two main airports in Tuscany, the other being Peretola Airport near Florence.

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