The Leaning Tower of Pisa

Date: June 4, 2018
Location: Pisa, Italy – day trip from Florence, Italy

Via train, the trip from Florence to Pisa is one hour. We took the train to the the Pisa Centrale station and it was a one mile walk to Piazza dei Miracoli, where the Leaning Tower of Pisa is located.

About a week before this trip, we reserved our time online to climb up the leaning tower. You can not take any bags or purses with you in the tower, only a camera or items in your pockets. 20 minutes before your entry time you can lock items for free in the cloakroom.

Once we entered the tower, a guide gave us a brief history of the bell tower and told us not to touch the bells at the top. The bells ring twice a day at 9:15 am and noon. We then climbed the 296 steps to the top.

Inside the tower you could definitely tell that it was leaning. The amount of lean that you could feel was definitely more than we were expecting.

When we got to the top of the tower, we could see a storm rolling in. It started to get very windy just as we decided to descend.

The rain lasted for less than 10 minutes. We went into the cathedral.

Here is the tomb altar of Saint Rainerius, patron saint of Pisa.

Across from the church is the baptistry.

There is an additional fee to go into the baptistry and museums that are in the area. We decided not to purchase those tickets as we visited the baptistry and museums in Florence.

Before we left, we of course had to take the traditional pictures of us holding up the tower.

The trip to Pisa was shorter than I expected; even after stopping in a cafe on the way back to the train station, we arrived back in Florence by 3:30 pm. It’s definitely a very doable day trip for anyone staying in Florence.