While we stayed in the Tuscany area, we planned a day trip to Pisa to see the iconic Leaning Tower of Pisa.

Originally, we planned to stop off in Pisa on our way from La Spezia to our accommodation in Norcenni Girosole, which would have been a good option but we decided to dedicate a full day to the trip during our stay in Tuscany instead.

Even though I have visited Italy before, that trip didn’t include Pisa. And I must admit, I had pretty low expectations. I envisioned Pisa to be underwehelming and very touristy. But I was pleasantly surprised by how much we did enjoy visiting the Leaning Tower and the town of Pisa overall.

Yes, there were a lot of our tourists all attempting to get the perfect photos of themselves holding up the tower. And yes we did it ourselves, the girls were really excited about it. It was actually pretty fun in a silly sort of way! I think Farley’s photos turned out the best.

The tower is a part of the Piazza del Duomo which includes the Pisa Cathedral and the Pisa Baptistry. The photos don’t really do them justice; all the buildings have a stunning amount of detail, so ornate and beautiful.

We decided to forgo any of the ticketed experiences like climbing the tower or going inside the cathedral or baptistry. Interesting, children have to be over the age of 8 to climb to the top of the Leaning Tower so it would have only been Farley who was able to do it. It’s upwards of 25 euro per person to go inside the tower and the cathedral, so the cost would have added up quickly for all 5 of us. It’s totally free to walk around the Piazza Del Duomo and view the exteriors of all the buildings, that was sufficient for us.

Afterwards, we had lunch at a nearby restaurant on Via Santa Maria where we all chose a delicious traditional pasta dish. Via Santa Maria is the street that leads to the Piazza Del Duomo and has plenty of restaurant options. Being so close to a tourist destination, we were expecting to pay a premium, but we’re happy to report the prices seemed quite reasonable.

We parked our car a little bit outside the main area of town, near Ponte della Vittoria and we really enjoyed walking along the river and through the shopping area of Pisa to get to the Piazza del Duomo. It’s a really walkable city centre and it felt quite safe and authentic - not as touristy and crowded as I had imagined.