  
History of PisaThe legend has it that it was some mythic Trojan refugees coming from the homonymous Greek city of Pisa, once situated in the valley of the Alpheus river (Peloponnese), who founded the town.
A city of Etruscan origin, Pisa reached its highest splendour in the 11th century, when thanks to its harbour it became one of the four influent Italian Maritime Republics together with Genoa, Venice and Amalfi. During most of the Middle Ages, it dominated the western Mediterranean Sea. Right in that period began the construction of what would become the city’s most famous monuments: the Duomo of Pisa, the Leaning Tower and the Monumental Cemetery.
Pisa was a wealthy city with colonies in northern Africa, in southern Spain and along the southern coasts of Asia Minor. The 1284 defeat against Genoa marked the beginning of Pisa’s decline; the situation worsened as the harbour progressively silted up.
Florence conquered Pisa in 1406 and under the Medici the city flourished anew. Indeed in 1472 the Medici commissioned the construction of the new University, which gave new lustre to the city centre. Pisa gave also birth to Galileo Galilei, the famous astronomer, physicist, mathematician and the one who introduced the experimental method.
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