Il Battistero

A guide to Pisa—the Leaning Tower, the Field of Miracles, and more

The baptistery in Pisa If you liked the Pisano pulpit in the Duomo, check out the one his pop Nicola Pisano sculpted in 1255-60 in the Baptistery.

This massive drum-like building has a Romanesque base, but Nicola and Giovanni Pisano finished it off with a Gothic skullcap of a roof—all minispires and statuettes.

The Nicola Pisano pulpit in Pisa's BaptisteryGet the guard to trill a few notes at the baptistery's center so you can hear the brilliant acoustics bounce around (when a choir sings in here, you can hear it for miles).

Tips & links

Details

★★ Il Battistero di Pisa
Piazza del Duomo/Campo dei Miracoli (western edge)
tel. +39-050-835-011/12
www.opapisa.it
Open: Apr–Sept 8am–8pm; Oct 9am–7pm; Nov-Feb 10am–5pm; Mar 9am–6pm
Adm: €5–€42

Planning your time

It only takes about 15 minutes to go in, see the pulpit, and say "boop!" really loudly to test the acoustics. Add another 15 minutes if you plan to climb up to the upper level and walk around the open corridor for views back down into the baptistery and the occasional temporary exhibit installed up here.

Admissions

Campo dei Miracoli admissions
Leaning Tower: €18
Cathedral: free admission with any ticket
1 monument: €5 ea.
2 monuments: €7 ea.
3 monuments: €8 ea.

Book your tickets ahead of time.

You actually only book a specific entry time for the Leaning Tower itself (at least 15 days before your visit at www.opapisa.it), but when you buy that ticket you can also include on it admission to any or all of the other five sights and monuments on the Campo dei Miracoli. You actually only pay for any random one to five other "monument" (see box); you get to pick which ones you want to see once you're here.

Look it sounds complicated, but here's what you do: by everything. Book the Leaning Tower ticket, and then go ahead and buy the ticket for all the other sights. It's just not worth troubling over—especially not for a mere €10 (€8 in winter, when the cathedral is free)—and they're all worth popping into.

The baptistery interior.Note that you have a specific window in which you can book online: starting 45 days before your visit, but ending 15 days before your visit. In other words, if its two weeks before you arrive in Pisa, you're going to have to hope you get lucky and will be able to find tickets on the day at the ticket desk. (Entry to everything else is always available, so if you don't care to climb the tower, you can just show upon the day.)

Hint: to avoid waiting in the regular Leaning Tower line, while booking tick the box that you want to pick up your tickets either at the Central Ticket Office or the Museo delle Sinopie

Book a tour

Prefer to leave the driving and arrangements to someone else? Take either a bus tour to Pisa or a private walking tour of Pisa (or Pisa and Lucca) including transport from Florence with a private driver/guide. (Be sure to let them know you want admission to the Tower and other sights in Pisa, though; they'll tack it on to the price.)

Private Tour: Pisa and the Leaning Tower from Florence (4 hrs)
Pisa and the Leaning Tower Half-Day Trip from Florence (5.5 hrs)
Private Tour: Lucca and Pisa from Florence (10 hrs)
Tuscany in One Day Sightseeing Tour (12 hrs)

Get tickets at the Museo delle Sinopie

There is a single ticket for entry into all the sights on the Campo dei Miracoli. if you didn't book it ahead of time, make sure you buy it at the Museo dell Sinopie, which has the largest ticketing desk and the shortest lines.

Tourist information

Pisa tourist information office
Most convenient location:
Piazza Arcivescovado 8 (in the Museo del Duomo, just behind the Leaning Tower)
tel. +39-334-641-9408

Main location:
Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II 16 (two blocks north of the main train station)
tel. +39-050-42-291

Other locations:
• At the aiport
• Near Ponte di Mezzo (Lungarno Galilei at Piazza XX Settembre)

www.pisaunicaterra.it
www.pisaturismo.it

Hotels in Pisa

Share this page

Search ReidsItaly.com

Pisa

Guided tours

Walks, activities, tours, & guides
Viator.com
ContextTravel.com
SelectItaly.com
City-discovery.com

Italy hotels

Italy activities

Details

★★ Il Battistero di Pisa
Piazza del Duomo/Campo dei Miracoli (western edge)
tel. +39-050-835-011/12
www.opapisa.it
Open: Apr–Sept 8am–8pm
Oct 9am–7pm
Nov-Feb 10am–5pm
Mar 9am–6pm
Adm: €5–€42

Tourist info