Not to miss

Battistero

The unusual round battistero has one dome piled on top of another, each roofed half in lead, half in tiles, and is topped by a gilt bronze John the Baptist (1395). It was started in 1153 by Diotisalvi, notably remodelled and continued by Nicola Pisano and son Giovanni more than a century later and finally completed in the 14th century - hence its hybrid architectural style.

The lower level of arcades is Pisan-Romanesque, while the pinnacled upper section and dome are Gothic. Inside, the beautiful hexagonal pulpit (compare it with Giovanni's notably more ornate one in the cathedral) carved by Nicola Pisano in 1260 is the undisputable highlight. Inspired by Roman art, Pisano used sarcophagi from Pisa's Camposanto as models for his powerfully nude Hercules - Christian fortification personified inspiration - and other strong allegorical figures. Five panels on the pulpit illustrate Christ's life. Don't leave the baptistry without (a) admiring the Islamic floor, (b) climbing up to the gallery for a stunning overview and (c) risking a whisper and listening to it resound. Alternatively, the custodian demonstrates the double dome's remarkable acoustics and echo effects every half-hour.

Cemetery

Soil shipped from Calvary during the Crusades - and reputed to reduce cadavers to skeletons within days - is said to lie within the white walls of this hauntingly beautiful cemetery, a beautiful final resting place for many prominent Pisans, arranged around a garden in a cloistered quadrangle. Many of the more interesting sarcophagi are of Greco-Roman origin, recycled in the Middle Ages.

During WWII, Allied artillery destroyed many of the cloisters' precious frescoes. Among the few to survive was the Triumph of Death - a remarkable illustration of Hell - attributed to an anonymous 14th-century painter known as 'The Master of the Triumph of Death'. Fortunately, the mirrors apparently once stuck next to the graphic, no-holds-barred images of the damned being roasted alive on spits have since been removed - meaning a marginally less uncomfortable visit for visitors who would have once seen their own faces peering out of the cruel wall painting.

Duomo

Pisa's duomo was paid for with spoils brought home after Pisans attacked an Arab fleet entering Palermo in 1063. Begun a year later, the cathedral, with its striking cladding of alternating bands of green and cream marble, became the blueprint floor for Romanesque churches throughout Tuscany. The elliptical dome, the first of its kind in Europe at the time, was added in 1380.

It is the three pairs of firmly closed, 16th-century bronze doors of the main entrance (west), designed by the school of Giambologna to replace the wooden originals destroyed (along with most of the cathedral interior) by fire in 1596, which the crowds ogle over. Quite spellbinding, hours can be spent deciphering the biblical scenes illustrating the immaculate conception of the Virgin and birth of Christ (central doors), the road to Calvary and crucifixion of Christ etc and the Ministry of Christ. Kids can play spot the rhino.