Sinopie Museum is on the site originally of a hospital, but now houses large frescos meant to be…read moresaved, in a climate controlled indoor space. It is one of six buildings that you can visit as part of the Square of Pisa. You do need a ticket to enter, costing 7€ separately, but included as part of a 10€ package for the other museums (not the Tower) I love how the museum is structured, with 4 total stories (all accessible via elevator), but of different floor space, to allow fresco of different sizes to be displayed. For example the bottom floor housed frescos that took up more than one floor. You can walk through the entire floor space pretty fast if you peruse, but many of the frescos have interesting write-ups next to them, that you can use to study them. There was a nice 3-d rendition of the campus here as well. We spent about 30 minutes here.

Museo Delle Sinopie, is one of the museums that flank the leaning Tower of Pisa. It is a big hall…read morelike room that displays frescoes for the most part. It can be done very quickly. Alex and I took about an hour or so because we examined some of the frescoes closely, but if you just browse about, you can be done in under an hour. All these museums are included with your purchased ticket to go into the tower. If you buy online that is. I am not sure how it works if you are to get your tickets while you are there. As far as museums go, after you've been to so many amazing ones in the larger cities, this one doesn't seem to be all that great, but it is still worth seeing it, there is always something interesting to learn. Also some of the paintings and drawings in the upper levels are great.

Such a ripoff! I wanted the permanent exhibit, which I asked for, and they charged for the seasonal…read moreone which was only two rooms and 12 euros. However, the permanent exhibit was 3 euros, which what I originally asked for and they didn't refund. After that, they wanted to charge me another 3 euros for the one. Not worth it.

I wanted to review the Certosa di Pisa because it doesn't seem to be very well known but its a…read moregreat place to visit if you have a few hours to spare on your way to or from Pisa. It's a charterhouse (type of monastery) in Calci near Pisa. You have to join a guided tour but it doesn't matter if its not in your language, you will see it just the same! This place is good for the unusual colourscheme of the frescoes in the many chapels, all fluffy pinks and baby blues, not at all austere, not what you'd expect. Also you will see the rooms where the monks spent their time alone, each with a little garden for contemplation and a workshop, and in contrast are the very grand palatial suites of rooms were visiting nobility would stay. Next door there is a natural history museum which is good if you're into bones, fossils, minerals etc.

I had the fortunate luck to be part of an organized blog tour for the 4 day internet festival and…read moreto see the city of Pisa, which to be honest I had never really 'gotten to know' besides the leaning tower and train station. I thought the festival itself was organized really good. They had markers ( red balloons, blue paint and huge cartoons like 'googleo galilei' to indiciate where the events were taking place. The conferences that I attended like "twitter & journalism" and "mad in Italy" were interesting and informative. All of the events were located in close walkign distance and it was a great opportunity to explore the university of pisa and various palazzo's like 'palazzo reale'. They took over the 'ponte a mezzo' bridge with a cool (and strange) exhibit called Digital human where you could see large interactive murals hanging from the ceiling. We were lucky that the weather was good which made going from event to event a lot easier. I would definitely return if they decide to do this again in 2013. :-) brava lavoro davvero!

Italians really know how to do formal gardens and when you are in Lucca the gardens of the Palazzo…read morePfanner are not to be missed. We were there on a sunny fall afternoon the weather was beautiful- sunny skies and perfect temperature. Everything was green and the roses were still in bloom. The plants made a beautiful backdrop for the fountains and statuary. The gardens were not crowded, in fact they were almost deserted, and were very peaceful. Our visit was very unhurried and relaxing. Gardens such as these always make me appreciate Italy. We have so few gardens like these in the U S while every historic town in Northern Italy seems to have at least one great garden. I am envious! The gardens of the Palazzo Pfanner are something you should find time for when you are in Lucca.

This was one of my favorite stops in Lucca! The garden is small but beautiful, and there is space…read moreto sit and read, have a picnic, or relax. The museum inside the house was very interesting to walk through as well. Pfanner was a surgeon and eventually the mayor of Lucca- the house and garden is a beautiful tribute.