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Pisa da
Visitare
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The
history of Pisa
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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 |
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| 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. |
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