Tuscany Shore Excursion Overview & Ratings: Popularity: «««  Higlights: Duration: 7 Hrs • The Leaning Tower of Pisa • Piazza dei Miracoli and the Cathedral • CityWalls of Lucca Travel Time: 3 Hrs Sightseeing Time: 4 Hrs

This Private Shore Excursion will depart from Livorno and take you to Pisa to visit the Miracle Square with the leaning tower of Pisa, cathedral, baptistery and “campo santo” form the architectural complex which is commonly considered one of the most beautiful in Tuscany. The Shore Excursion will continue on to the nearby Lucca,. a city of Tuscany with a totally different character, Lucca's center was perfectly preserved and city walls. Lucca is one of the most representative sights of Tuscany where its powerful past is very visible and enjoyable nowadays.

Pisa was a flowering town in the Middle Ages.  The greatest legacy is it’s unique architecture and art.
The Duomo of Pisa was the first cathedral in Tuscany where the innovative “Pisan-Romanesque” stile was fully developed and later copied in dozens of the Tuscany's other churches.  Inside, the main feature is the elaborate pulpit.  The Baptistery of Pisa, in front of the facade contains anther Pisano's lovely pulpit.  You may want to also visit the Camposanto (holy field), a monumental cemetery said to have been filled by dirt brought by the Pisan crusaders from the Hill of Cavalry in Jerusalem.

The Leaning Tower of Pisa probably carries the most legends of buildings of its kind; perhaps it was deliberately constructed to lean.  Perhaps Galileo, who was born in Pisa and key to the fame of the university of Pisa which is the oldest in Tuscany, used to the let objects of different weights fall from the tower of Pisa and timed the fall to demonstrate his theories about bodies in motion.  Pisa leaning tower is said to lean approximately 14 feet from the perpendicular.  Climbing the tower is surely an evocative experience, and time permitting should not be missed. The Leanng Tower of Pisa is the only building in the world where one could get out at each single level and walk around its exterior 360°.

A neighboring rival of Pisa, just to the north, is Lucca.  The 16th century walls serve as a perfect introduction to the serene beauty of Lucca within.  Thanks to them, Lucca was protected from any siege; consequently, its historic center is perfectly preserved.  In Lucca you'll find landmarks diverse in appearance and history - from a medieval maze of alleyways to the Roman grid-like arrangement of passageways, from Renaissance loggias to Rococo facades.

Lucca has a distinctive look among Tuscany's towns; beneath red-tiled roofs, the buildings of Lucca are brick, white or cream; the palaces are more open, less fortress-like, and the church crenellations rises slender and delicate toward the sky.  Lucca in flavor is more feminine, more aristocratic, and more northern European than other cities in Tuscany.

Lucca flourished in the Middle Ages as a banking and merchant center, known principally for its beautiful silk.  Today the city is said to produce the finest olive oil in the world.

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