Piazza dei Miracoli (Piazza del Duomo)

Piazza dei Miracoli, also called Piazza del Duomo, is an open green space in the north-west corner of Pisa's old town, enclosed by the medieval walls. It holds four great monuments built over about three centuries with the wealth of the Pisan Maritime Republic: the Cathedral (begun 1064), the Baptistery (begun 1152), the bell tower known as the Leaning Tower (begun 1173) and the Camposanto cemetery (begun 1277). The monuments share a vocabulary of white and grey marble, blind arcading and carved galleries that came to be called Pisan Romanesque, and the visual effect of white stone on lawn is deliberate. The writer Gabriele D'Annunzio is credited with the name 'Piazza dei Miracoli', or Square of Miracles. UNESCO inscribed the square on the World Heritage List in 1987. Visitors buy tickets from the Opera della Primaziale Pisana, the body that has managed the monuments since the 12th century; the Tower requires a timed ticket, children under 8 cannot climb, and bags must be left in the free cloakroom. The piazza also contains the Museo delle Sinopie and the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, which explain how the monuments were built.