lorenzo.ferrari@unipi.it
+39 050 2217132
Largo Lucio Lazzarino IT-56122 Pisa, Italy
The Monastery of S. Benedetto was initially built at the beginning of the 12th century near S. Piero a Grado, as a hermit community, on the Pisan coast. Due to the raids of Saracen pirates, the nuns abandoned the place of their first settlement to take refuge in the city, near the church of S. Paolo a Ripa d’Arno, held at the time by Benedictine monks.
The construction of the new monastery dates back to 1393. The complex – church and convent – was built on the southern bank of the Arno river, in an area called “tegularia” in the late Middle Ages due to the presence of brick and ceramic kilns, as also attested by some findings in archaeological sites inside the monastery.
The structure underwent massive renovations in the sixteenth century, due to the passage of the nuns to the Order of Santo Stefano (1565) and again in the seventeenth, with the creation of the facade overlooking Piazza S. Paolo a Ripa d’Arno and the quadrangular bell tower with a pyramid roof. In the ronovation of 1643, the fifteenth-century frescoes by Benozzo Gozzoli representing San Benedetto were almost totally destroyed. A fragment is preserved in the headquarters of the Cassa di Risparmio di Pisa in Piazza Dante.
In 1808, the monastery was requisitioned under the Napoleonic occupation, and the nuns were forced to move. In 1814, they accepted the condition imposed on them by Ferdinand of Lorraine and restored it at their own expense to regain its possession. Subsequently, in 1850, the façade along the course of the Arno was built, designed by the architect Domenico Santini who devised the division into three dark red aedicules, connected by yellow earthen hangings, decorated with terracotta elements. The use of windows in the flamboyant Gothic style was a novelty for Pisan architectural customs.
The area of Pisa has been inhabited since the seventh century BC, due to its strategic proximity to the sea and location on the Arno river. In 180 BC, it became a Roman colony and port for naval enterprises against Ligurians, Gauls, and Carthaginians. During the Roman domination it was connected to Rome by the Via Aurelia. Remains of Roman shipyards can now be visited in the western part of the city.
Before the year 1000, the vocation of a seafaring city is demonstrated by the defensive collaborations with the city of Salerno against the Saracens. From the 11th to the early 15th century, Pisa was a Republic that expanded its commercial and military influence across the western Mediterranean. For this reason, it was then associated with the so-called Maritime Republics with Genoa, Venice, and Amalfi, which dominated the Mediterranean for many centuries.
In 1406 it fell under the dominion of Florence, and from that moment, a period of economic, demographic, and cultural decline began in the city. Under the dominion of the Medici, the city was repopulated and some important pieces of art were built. However, the port activity was transferred to Livorno.
The city cultural renaissance takes place with the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, which develops cultural and university activities also intervening on the communication infrastructures (railways and roads) and on the reclamation of the marshes along the Tyrrhenian coast. In the short period of Napoleonic domination, the Scuola Normale Superiore of Pisa was founded as a replica of the Ecole Normale in Paris.
Pope Clement VI founded the University of Pisa in 1343 with the mark “In supremae dignitatis” (a wording still present in the University logo). After closure from 1406 to 1543, Cosimo I dei Medici reopens the Pisano Studio in the Palazzo della Sapienza, whose construction had been begun by Lorenzo dei Medici. The Medici themselves decreed the University of Pisa as the reference University of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany. In 1850 it was one of the first Italian universities to establish engineering studies with a degree course in Civil Engineering and Architecture, and 25 years later with the course of Applications for Engineering. The Application School for Engineers was established in 1913 and later became a Faculty of Engineering in 1935. In 1862 the University of Pisa was recognized as one of the six national primary universities along with Bologna, Pavia, Turin, Naples and Palermo.
The Pisa School of Engineering now offers ten three-year degree courses, 17 master’s degree courses, and a five-year single-cycle degree course in almost all Industrial, Information and Civil Engineering disciplines.
Via Carlo Francesco Gabba, 17 – 56122 Pisa
Tel. +39 050.524030 Fax +39 050.532072
Via Santa Maria, 94– 56126 Pisa
Tel. +39 050.825088 Fax +39 050.560418
https://www.grandhotelduomopisa.it/it/ info@grandhotelduomo.it
Lungarno Sonnino 18, Pisa, Italia
Tel. 050 28 257 Fax 050 22 06 593
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