Ömer Faruk Karakurt When we decided to go to Italy, we couldn’t miss seeing the Leaning Tower of Pisa, one of Italy’s iconic structures. Despite saying this, I didn’t know the purpose of the Leaning Tower of Pisa until we went to Pisa. We dedicated one of our three days in Florence to visit Pisa, which was only an hour and a half by bus.
After a comfortable journey, we arrived in Pisa. Until that moment, it felt a bit different from the other cities we had visited in Italy, like Milan, Venice, and Florence. It had the appearance of a distant district connected to Florence, almost like a village. As we walked from the bus station towards Pisa, we came across a local market. Not wanting to spend our budget on food, we quickly bought some items from the market and made sandwiches to have a meal. Then we continued walking towards the area where the Leaning Tower of Pisa was located. When we entered the area surrounded by a structure resembling a wall, we found ourselves in a completely different world compared to the outside.
While the outside of the wall resembled a town, the area where the tower was located felt like a small city. Even the colors had changed; the ground was covered in lush green grass. While we were sitting on the grass and chatting, I realized that the Leaning Tower of Pisa, which I thought was a purposeless tower, was actually a bell tower. People might have been aware of this, but the moment I realized it, I had a great epiphany. Because it was a structure famous for its tilt, with people constantly posing as if they were holding it with their hands. I had never thought it could be a bell tower. Right behind the tower was the Pisa Cathedral, and next to it was a baptistery. It resembled a kind of fountain, but of course, it was a larger structure than a fountain.
Hustle and Bustle
After spending a short time on the grass, we started exploring. Our main purpose for going to Pisa was to see the tower. We learned that there were historical buildings around the tower only after we got there. It was nearing five o’clock, and we had less than an hour to visit the museums and the cathedral. Realizing this, we started running, but we couldn’t find where to buy tickets. After struggling to find the ticket office, we finally bought a ticket for 10 Euros that included access to the museums and the cathedral, but not the tower climb. The lady at the ticket office, realizing we were Turkish, tried to chat with us using a few Turkish words. It was a small detail, but being welcomed with hospitality abroad warms your heart.
Then we started running towards the wall surrounding the tower area. We thought the ticket we bought included access to the wall. However, when we tried to enter the wall, we found out that our ticket was invalid for the wall, which was a bit disappointing. But we couldn’t waste time being sad, so we started running again. We first entered the baptistery and went up to the upper floor. In the middle of the baptistery, there was a structure resembling a tub, and although I’m not sure about the details, I think the blessing is done there.
Encountering Sinop in Italy
After the baptistery, we entered the Camposanto. During the period it was built, Camposanto became the cemetery for the upper class in Pisa. Additionally, the Camposanto contains many frescoes. A large portion of the frescoes was damaged during World War II. Similarly, the Camposanto itself was mostly under restoration. I didn’t have much time to study the frescoes in detail, as I wanted to visit other museums as well. However, the drawings were extraordinary; it was truly astonishing to see such large-scale paintings on enormous walls. After exploring the garden of the Camposanto a bit, we went to the Sinopie Museum. Interestingly, the name Sinopie caught my attention because I didn’t expect to be reminded of my hometown, Sinop, in Italy. While wondering if there could be any connection, I learned that the name Sinopie actually comes from Sinop.
Sinopie are drawings used as preliminary sketches in the underpainting of frescoes. Since they are drafts, you can’t see very clear images, but a reddish color draws you in. The name Sinopie comes exactly from this. This striking red color comes from the clay soil in Sinop, which is rich in iron oxide. Excited by this information that reminded me of my hometown, I began examining the sinopie. The drawing styles and colors resembled cave drawings. Wars, rituals, nobles, and peasants… It seemed to reflect the dark aspects of medieval Europe.
Caftans, Hand Mirrors, and Cups
With these thoughts, we left the Sinopie Museum and entered the last place we were going to visit, the Opera Museum. As soon as we entered, we were greeted by music unfamiliar to us. It felt partly like a church service and partly like a theatrical experience. As the name suggests, it was the Opera Museum. But the museum was not just about this. It was a museum displaying personal belongings of people from the past, along with sculptures.
The Pisa Griffin, a combination of several animals, was also there, but what caught my attention the most were the caftans, sashes, hand mirrors, plates, and cups. The handcrafted caftans and the intricately decorated cups made of gold and silver looked very majestic. We, on the other hand, were about to drink coffee in a porcelain cup. Leaving all this splendor behind, we decided to go to the café we saw upstairs. We decided to sit for a while with the view of this tower, which attracts millions of tourists every year with its tilted appearance. After all, the museums had closed by then.
Silent Protest
After a few sips of bad espresso, for which I paid more for the view of the Leaning Tower of Pisa than the coffee itself, we were nearing the end of our visit. One of the memories that stayed with me is this: while wandering outside the walls, we saw a group of about 10 people, including some elderly individuals, holding a silent protest. They had banners around their necks that read “Stop the Genocide!” The sensitivity of these people, who had neither cultural nor religious ties to Palestine, increased my love for Italy and its people even more.
Farewell to Pisa
And now, it was time to return to Florence. Pisa was a place where most of the attractions were concentrated in one area; it was small, almost like a town. But it holds a special place for me. I only learned the reason for the construction of the Leaning Tower of Pisa, which I had seen and heard about for years, when I visited there. The rush to catch the museums, the Leaning Tower of Pisa being much more tilted than it appears in photos, the Sinopie Museum reminding me of my hometown while abroad, and the silent protest… It was all very beautiful.
