When I walk home from work in Pisa, I often make a point to walk by the beautiful mural by Keith Haring, Tuttomondo. It was the artist’s last public work of art, painted in 1989 before his premature death. Not many people know about this large mural, but my fascination with this interesting wall-painting dates back to my first years in Pisa as a student. I love the colours, the richness of the composition, and I always notice some new characters that I hadn’t noticed before.

(Photo by juanita.laguna)

Other than these few observations, don’t expect “an educated comment” here: I am in no way qualified for that and I get quite bored with the average art expert’s blabbering. In my ignorance of the matter, I simply like works of art which have something to say to me… and, to me, Tuttomondo has always been the symbol of a welcoming and lively city where I have spent the last 17 years and which has always struck me as being so very different from the only other “art mecca” I was familiar with for having grown up in the area: Siena.

There are three main reasons why I love Tuttomondo.

First of all, I have always thought that Keith Haring’s work was perfectly in line with the cultural atmosphere of the city, which has always been very “popular” in a way. Street art in Pisa is a blessing and a curse. Being a university city with over 30,000 students and a very lively cultural life, there is a vast population of street artists. Some of them are more harmful than artistic, others though, paint beautiful things. The city has always tried to encourage the “controlled” expression of street art by providing authorized spaces for graffiti and murals. Recently, during the renovations of the Logge de’ Banchi in Corso Italia, the City enclosed the building with white boards and asked street artists and students to decorate them. For a couple of years, the area was an open street art gallery, which received mixed comments. Folk art is like that… you either love it or hate it. And recently, street artists have been ask to decorate the new “Casa Sperimentale”, a brand new student residency built in line with the most recent proposals of eco-compatible and bio-compatible architecture.

Secondly, I like the fact that the inspiration for the mural came from a fortuitous meeting between Keith Haring and a student of the Univeristy of Pisa. The University is the real moving force of the city. For someone like me who has spent the last 10 years trying to “form the young minds” at this university, it is amazing to see that some of the work we do here can bring such great gifts to the city.

(Photo by buxx)

Last but not least, I love the message. Tuttomondo was painted in a week without preparatory sketches to represent the good and bad of human coexistence.  The main theme is harmony and peace in the world, but next to the positive figures such as a mother with a baby, two men supporting a dolphin and dancing figures symbolizing the vitality of humanity, there are some more “troubled” figures, such as a scissor man cutting a snake that has already eaten a man’s head or a man wolf with a knife, to symbolize the fact that mankind can be dark and dangerous, but we can fight the evil that is in society to reach harmony, the same harmony that strikes me when I look at the way all the figures fit into place on the wall.

Tuttomondo is only few steps away from the central train station, in Piazza Vittorio Emanuele, on the side of the old convent of St. Antonio.

(Photo by MagnusW)

If you want to take some time to admire it and see if you can figure out the meaning of all the characters, you can sit at one of the tables of the Keith Café, opposite the mural. At lunch time they offer free wi-fi and delicious food. In the evening, they serve a great aperitivo and they often host parties and interesting events.

More on Tuttomondo is available here:

• The Mural of Keith Haring: Tuttomondo
• Keith Haring twenty years later
• In Pisa, Keith Haring’s Last Great Work Is Fading Fast

Italy Blogging Roundtable

This is the third post in a monthly series called The Italy Blogging Roundtable. Here you can find the posts of the other bloggers who participate in the roundtable and who, like me, talk about “a work of art in Italy“:

Alexandra (Arttrav) – Is it possible for an art historian to have one favourite work of art?

Jessica (Italylogue) – My Favorite Work of Art in Italy

Melanie (Italofile) -Five Fabulous Art Works in Rome You May Have Missed

Rebecca (Brigolante) – liding Doors, What-ifs, and the Cross of San Damiano

Patricia of Got Saga asked me to contribute an article to her blog, and I did with pleasure. This is a slightly longer version of the article I wrote for her.

10 alternative things to do in Tuscany

Tuscany is one of the most popular destinations in Italy. Most travelers to this region, though, don’t venture outside the major landmarks. For this reason, they sometimes go back home thinking that Tuscany is a mostly touristy destination with lots of tourists everywhere. Quite to the contrary, Tuscany has lots of places that are easy to reach even if you choose to base yourselves in one of the popular spots but which are definitely off-the-beaten-path. These places can offer you a completely different image of this amazing region, certainly one of the most beautiful places in the world, and make for outstanding day trips.

1. Vie cave

Tuscany was home to one of the most ancient Italic civilizations: the Etruscans. They were powerful and thriving long before the Romans made their appearance on the scene and visiting the remains of their ancient world is one of the most impressive experiences both for adult and younger visitors to the region. One of the most incredible hikes in the entire region is that though the network of roads carved by the Etruscans through tall tuff stone walls near the beautiful town of Pitigliano:  the so-called Vie Cave.  Nobody really knows how Etruscans managed to cut these passages through stone, nor what their actual function was. The most credited hypotheses are that they were either water channels or sacred roads connecting burial grounds and other sacred grounds. A magical walk you won’t easily forget.

(Photo by Sbrinz81)

2. Picnic on Monte Amiata

Most people know that Tuscany is made of gentle rolling hills and open countryside. Most of those landscapes, which are typical of the Val d’Orcia and of the Sienese Crete, were created by an ancient volcano, Mount Amiata. Mount Amiata is the highest peak in the region, at 1700 m above sea level. Its slopes are dotted by small villages and towns, which have a distinct atmosphere. A visit to Mount Amiata is a way to discover a completely different facet of Tuscany, with its beech tree forests, the chestnut groves, the small churches hidden among large volcanic rocks. The woods that cover the top of the mountain are one of the most popular picnic destinations among the locals, who venture there to escape the heat of the long summer days. There are equipped areas where it’s possible to barbecue and sit at one of the many picnic tables. Or you can bring your own picnic food and choose a more private hideaway spot in the woods: it’s never too crowded. If you feel like some sightseeing too, the town of Abbadia San Salvatore has a fabulous medieval abbey, and the drive from Castiglion d’Orcia to Montalcino is simply breathtaking, especially if you are travelling by motorbike.

3. Climbing trees with kids

Italy does not have much which is specifically meant for younger travelers. Tree climbing parks are a notable exception and are perfect for a fun family day on the coast. Cielo Verde Adventure Park is a tree climbing park with itineraries ideal for all different ages. It’s located in the pine tree forest that lines the coast of Marina di Grosseto and makes for a perfect morning activity which can be ideally followed by a relaxing afternoon on the beautiful beach of the Maremma.

4. Horseback ride in the Maremma

The Maremma is a loosely populated area, with plenty of itineraries that are ideally discovered on horseback. Hire a guide for the day, and he will take you through what is considered the wild west of Tuscany, along paths that cut the Mediterranean maquis that covers the hills, through rivers that run through the plains, and past old farm houses and ancient ruins.

(Photo by aeminphilly)

5. Minicruise of the Tuscan archipelago

Tuscany is not only famous for its art heritage: its nature is also just as impressive. Not many people know that the coast of Tuscany is among the best in Italy, and even fewer people know that Tuscany is home to a spectacular archipelago, which is a paradise for divers and sea lovers. If you are on a tight schedule, one great way to enjoy a day at sea is to go on one of the 1 day mini-cruises which set off daily from Castiglione della Pescaia and Porto Santo Stefano and take people to the main islands of the archipelago including the Isle of Giglio, the Isle of Giannutri (a limited-access nature park with a fabulous archaeological site), the Isle of Elba, Capraia, Montecristo and Pianosa. The mini-cruise usually include a seafood meal on board and several stops to visit the islands and take a swim where is allowed.  Yet another way to discover one of the many facets of Tuscany.

(Isola del Giglio, photo by gioanola)

6. San Rossore Nature Park in a carriage

Pisa is famous for its Leaning Tower, but it has many other treasures. One of them is the beautiful nature park of San Rossore, which stretches from the city to the coast. One cool and romantic way to discover the park is to visit it on a horse-drawn carriage, just like the many noblemen and artists who used to spend their vacations in Pisa in the 19^th century used to do it.

(San Rossore in Carrozza)

7. Visit Borgo di Isola santa in Garfagnana

Another area of Tuscany which is very different from the better known images of the region is the mountain area north of Lucca called Garfagnana. This area is dotted by remote towns, semi-abandoned villages, and old large farmhouses where life must have been very hard only 50 years ago. Garfagnana is perfect for hiking but also to spend some time away from it all. One place that certainly allows for an away-from-it-all get away is the hamlet of Isola Santa. The hamlet is on the border of a small lake in the heart of the Apuan Alps. It was abandoned long ago, and some of the houses have recently been renovated and transformed in vacation rental apartments. From the hamlet, trails through the surrounding woods lead to other small abandoned villages: a magic hideaway in Tuscany.

(Photo by Rufux)

8. The monasteries of the Casentino near Arezzo

The wooded area called Casentino, near Arezzo, are the cradle of medieval Tuscany. Since the area is not central to the most popular destinations and definitely not the type of landscape you see on postcards and guidebooks, only few people venture there. Italians, though, love it. The Casentino forest is actually a national park, with great hiking and horseback riding itineraries. The park is dotted by ancient towns with castles and old churches. But the most impressive sites are La Verna and the Camaldoli Hermitages. La Verna is famous because St. Francis of Assisi received his stigmata here and it is a popular destination for pilgrims. Camaldoli is one of the most impressive Benedictine monasteries in Italy, dating back to the 13^th century. Hiking through the Foresta Casentinese to the hermitages is an unforgettable experience.

(Photo by Friar’s Balsam)

9. The Roman-Etruscan sites in Populonia and the beautiful Gulf of Baratti

A daytrip to Populonia and Baratti, on the coast of the Maremma, is a very rewarding experience. Populonia is home to a large Roman-Etruscan archaeological site, with well-preserved remains of houses, public and sacred buildings, burial grounds (necropolis) and roads. The archaeological park is quite big, and there are several itineraries that visitors can follow to visit it and for which you will need between 1 h 30 minutes and 2 hours and 30 minutes. From Populonia, where there is also a great fort on a very panoramic spot, you can walk down to the beautiful cove called Golfo di Baratti and enjoy a day on one of the best beaches in Italy.

(Photo by TuscanyArts)

10. Parco dei Mulini in Val d’Orcia

The Val d’Orcia is one of the most popular areas in Tuscany, but even in such a well-known area there are interesting sites that remain off-the-beaten-path. One of the most impressive is the park created to preserve the ancient medieval mills which supplied the region of Siena with flour. The park is near the pretty town of Bagni Vignone, famous for its thermal baths.

(Photo by gi+cri)

Tuscany is much more than the usual popular spots and venturing out off the beaten path does not mean missing out on something, but enjoying true treasures away from the crowds.

I have already written about the gardens of Pisa in the past,including about the Botanic Garden, but Viale delle Piagge deserves a post of its own.

Le Piagge is a tree-lined boulevard running along the river just outside the center of the city. The boulevard has buildings on one side, and a lovely park on the other. It is very popular among the locals, who go there to exercise, take their dogs out or just to take a romantic walk hand in hand with their loved one.

Viale delle Piagge is a 2km long trail, beginning at Ponte della Vittoria and ending at Ponte delle Bocchette.

There is a bar at the entrance of the park, called Bar Salvini, which also has a nice terrace by the river. Just a few steps from the bar, there is a children’s playground.

People with dogs normally use the smaller trail closer to the river, while people jogging or walking use the “proper” park trail.

I like walking from Ponte della Vittoria to the beautiful Church of San Michele degli Scalzi. The bell tower is the second most leaning tower in the city. Pretty impressive.

An old industrial complex which was built by the church has recently been renovated and houses now a bar and rooms for events. I love the clash of the modern building with the “quarter monogram” standing in the middle of the square and the Romanesque architecture of the old church which dates back to 1025 AD.

In the square where the church opens there are still ruins from old 19th century buildings bombed during Worl War 2.

Le Piagge makes for a nice off-the-beaten-path walk in Pisa, and a perfect way to discover Pisa away from the crowds of the main sites.

Something to remember: in mid May, Le Piagge hosts a really nice fair called Fiera di Sant’Ubaldo. Lots of stalls selling flowers, pets, local products and good street food.

Below, you find a slide show of some of the photos we took the other day. To see them in their original size, just click on the icon in the bottom right-hand corner of the slide show.

Besides the uninterrupted succession of medieval and renaissance buildings, and the imposing eponymous church, Via San Martino houses a number of good restaurants, wine bars, pubs, and locals.

Some restaurants are quite fancy, and make for the perfect spot for a romantic dinner: l’Artilafo and l’Etichetta. There is a restaurant I love, which is Numero 11.  It is a “ristorante conviviale”, which means that you can sit anywhere at one of the long tables wherever you find a spot, next to whomever happens to be there. There are no waiters: you need to order what you want at the counter, choosing from the menu written on a blackboard or among the ingredients on display. One of the most popular ethnic restaurants in the city is also here: Al-Madina, offering the specialties of middle eastern cuisine.

Via San Martino opens up by the church of San Martino. Two very popular pubs (an Irish and a Scottish pub) open onto this square, which is quite busy in the evening. Just a few steps away from the square, in two of the many alleys that from Via San Martino reach the Lungarno, there are two interesting circoli, private clubs that serve food and drink as well as organize events, courses and exhibitions for their members: Leningrad Cafè and Agorà. Another interesting place in Via San Martino is the cineclub “Arsenale“.

Via San Martino also houses a small market on Wednesdays and Saturdays, and many smaller shops (groceries, bakeries, art shops, a vinyl record store, etc.) which have survived the opening of the large supermarkets.

Here is a “photo tour” of Via San Martino: don’t miss it if you visit Pisa!!

Entering Via San Martino from Corso Italia:

The Church of San Francesco may go unnoticed because of its hidden location in the eponymous quarter of the city, and its modest 17th century marble facade tucked in between later buildings. The square in which it opens, though, is in itself a jewel of medieval and renaissance masonry and is characterized by that mix of architectural styles that is the distinctive feature of the center of Pisa.

This apparently modest presentation is nevertheless deceptive: behind the plain white facade opens a fabulous textbook Franciscan church, presenting a mixture of late Romanesque and early Italian Gothic styles, with a 70m long single nave with several chapels, a very tall truss ceiling and fabulous stained-glass windows as tall as the the apse behind the main altar. Stepping inside literally takes your breath away.

The façade is completely different from the rest of the church because it was added in the 17th century on the occasion of a restyling (check out the Medici emblem on the tympanum), but the main body of the church was built in the 13th century and has many similarities with the Basilica of San Domenico in Siena.

The Church of San Francesco has a large single nave and the transept is embellished by a series of bright chapels with large stained-glass windows. Many of the original 13th century frescoes are still in excellent condition. If you love art and you happen to stumble upon this beautiful church while venturing away from Piazza dei Miracoli, you should not miss Taddeo Gaddi’s (one of Giotto’s disciples) frescoes in the choir and the tomb of  Count Ugolino della Gherardesca in the second chapel in the right-hand wing of the transept.

I was actually surprised that the count had been buried here. For those who don’t know the story of Ugolino, he was an Italian nobleman, politician and naval commander who, after being accused of treason, was imprisoned with his children in a tower (which is now the library of the Scuola Normale Superiore) and left to starve... The legend goes that he ended up eating his kids! Dante features him prominently in his Divine Comedy, and you can read everything about him on the dedicated Wikipedia entry (what would we do without Wikipedia these days?!), or read about his “prison” on my page on Piazza dei Cavalieri in the Quarter of Santa Maria in Pisa.

Two things can give you an idea of how important this church used to be: the many gravestones on the floor and walls, which evidence the desire of noble people to be buried in this prestigious sacred place, and the fact that Cimabue‘s Maestà was made for this church. The painting is considered an undisputed masterpiece of Italian medieval sacred art and is now on display at the Louvre museum in Paris (not sure how or when it ended up there).

The Church of San Francesco has another surprise for its visitors: a beautiful 14th century cloister. Francesco da Buti, first commentator of Dante’s Divina Commedia is buried here. The cloister can be accessed from the Piazza as well from a door next to the portal of the church. It is a typical Franciscan cloister, with a central well, a garden and porticoes. I think the convent is still in use because I often see Franciscan friars walking by, so I guess there are still some who live there.

A last thing that I loved to discover about this church is the way in which the bell tower was ingeniously designed by Giovanni di Simone: two of its four walls rest on the foundations of the church, whereas the other two walls rest on arcades so as to avoid the annoying problem of damp that afflicts many of the buildings in the city.

To get to the church of San Francesco you can walk down the beautiful and non-touristy Via San Francesco: that will give you a real taste of “authentic Pisa” with many stores for local people and several good restaurants and bars. As an alternative, you can walk through the meander of small medieval streets which depart from Borgo Stretto. They are also much more popular with the locals than with tourists.

And if the walk and visit make you hungry, you can have lunch or dinner at the fabulous Osteria di Culegna or at a “spaghetteria”, Alle Bandierine, which is located  in the very same place that has housed one restaurant or another for over 400 years, can you believe it?! If you are up for a “beer pit stop”, then Orzo Bruno is what you are looking for: they brew their own beer and it’s delicious!

Located outside the major tourist routes in the city, Piazza San Silvestro has an ancient and glorious history. Medieval buildings encircle a central garden with tall pine trees and benches. One side of the square is occupied by the monumental complex composed by the Church of San Silvestro and the old convent.

The Church of San Silvestro dates back to the 12th century, but its façade is Baroque in style. Built at the end of the 18th century, it has three portals, and two statues representing St. Sylvester and St. Dominic decorate the top corners. The church will soon become part of the National Museum of San Matteo, and will be probably be used as a location for conferences and exhibitions.

Next to the church, the old convent is a majestic building with typical Renaissance features. The convent was closed in 1810 by the French. Following Napoleon‘s direct orders, an institution like the Ecole Normale Supérieure of Paris was founded in Pisa, and the convent was transformed into the first seat of the Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa, which remains one of the most prestigious universities in Europe to this day.

Today the headquarters of the Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa are located in Piazza dei Cavalieri and for several years, the convent was used as a dorm for students attending the University of Pisa, until the building was in such bad shape that it was not safe to live in it any longer.

After a couple of years of neglect, the entire complex is presently undergoing some massive renovation works, thanks to a conspicuous donation by the Monte dei Paschi di Siena Foundation. It has been given to the Scuola Normale di Pisa and will be used for student housing. Part of the building, whose renovations have already been completed, houses now one of the most modern and advanced laboratories for nanotechnology research, called Laboratorio NEST (National Enterprise for nanoScience and nanoTechnology).

Looking for great accommodation in Pisa? Check our self-catering apartment near the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

I have fond memories of the farm nearby, known by the locals as “l‘Abbadia“, and I remember the mix of  fascination and fear that I felt around that dark church and its yard and in the wide rooms of the villa. The buildings that once belonged to the monastery had long become part of a larger structure which used to be a beautiful countryside home and the heart of a prosperous farm, and that is now privately owned and shamefully going to rack and ruin, since the owners only use the land as a game reserve and for horse-breeding. It’s disgraceful to see that amazing estate be completely neglected.

My great-grandmother worked there all her life, and I remember it when the “Abbadia” was at its best. I loved the stories that she would tell about the ghosts of the abbots and the skeletons they had found all around the abbey and how they must have been honest friars murdered by some debauched clergymen. I also remember stories about a mysterious crypt inhabited by large turtles that sometimes surfaced and were found by the church entrance: sinful monks come back under a different shape to pray in the abbey and ask for forgiveness. Obviously, only fascinating stories of bygone times, meant to entertain the family gathered around the fireplace in the long winter nights, but enough to charm and scare a child and to leave bittersweet memories in an adult heart.

The walk from the village of Civitella Marittima down to the river Lanzo and to the Abbey is lovely. The road is very steep but there are some neat things along the way, such as the old public fountains, once used by the women to do their laundry. I can’t imagine walking back and forth from the village with heavy soaking wet linens! When I was a kid, I remember going there often with my friends: it was as far as we would go from the village. We just sat there chatting or we tried to catch frogs with corks tied to a cotton thread, a pastime which would probably make today’s kids laugh out loud and yet it wasn’t more than 25 years ago. They would see something floating on the water and would try and bite it: you had to be really fast to pull them out of the water because of course, as soon as they figured that it wasn’t anything edible, they would let go! We would put them back in the water immediately of course, and start all over again: apparently frogs don’t smarten up quickly!

The abbey is at the bottom of the valley. There is a brand new bridge now, after years of crossing the river on a low cement platform, flooded during most of the winter months. Probably founded in the 11th century (some Papal bulls prove that it already existed in 1063), the abbey was located within the estates of the Ardengheschi family, in a strategic position along the important road known as “Via del Sale” (literally, “the way of the salt”) that connected Siena to the coast of the Maremma. It was probably founded by the powerful Sienese family: it is certain that the Ardengheschi Counts donated land and properties to the monastery, which, by the end of  the 12th century, had become so powerful and wealthy as to receive support from the Empire and to be controlled directly by the Holy See.

With the decline of the Ardengheschi’s power and the crisis of the Benedictines in Tuscany, due to the rise of the new system of municipalities or comuni, the Abbey started to lose its power, and in 1202 it accepted to make an act of obedience to the Republic of Siena. Over the centuries, its properties were either sold or usurped by the new powerful noblemen of the area who didn’t fear the abbots anymore.

The stories about the Abbey handed on from father to son over the centuries tell of corrupted and debauched abbots who led the Abbey to ruin to a point that in 1440 it lost its independence and was put under the control of the Sienese Augustinian priorship of Santa Maria degli Angeli. This didn’t stop the decline of the Abbey, which, in the 18th century, completely abandoned by the Church, was given to the Parish of Santa Maria in Montibus of the near village of Civitella Marittima, and transformed in nothing more but a countryside parish.

The Ardengheschi Abbey represents one of the highest examples of Romanesque architecture in Southern Tuscany. The severe façade is original of the 12th century and its decorations remind of the façade of Sant’Antimo Abbey. The two abbeys were in fact very close, and the monks living there often travelled between the two. The main common architectonic feature of the façades of the two abbeys are the columns flanking the portals, with decorated capitals with carvings showing animals and monstrous creatures. Originally made up of three naves and three apses, an unusual feature for the area, it was later reduced to a single aisle church, but the round arches that separated the three naves are still visible on the sides of the building.

A walk to the Abbey is well worth the time and effort.  As a local, my hope is that a greater popularity will regain this amazing place the respect that it deserves.