Tuscany · Pisa
Vicopisano
A medieval river port rebuilt by Brunelleschi in 1434 after Florence took the town from Pisa.
Picked by Peter Benei
Letter to come
Why Vicopisano is on our list
It holds Bandiera Arancione and Città dell'Olio.
The nearest town with a letter is Pontedera, No. 22, 6 km away.
Subscribe and you get Vicopisano's letter the day it comes out.
Visiting
- Best time
- Apr–Oct
- By car
- 34 min from Pisa
- Population
- 8,557
- J11°
- F14°
- M16°
- A19°
- M23°
- J28°
- J32°
- A32°
- S27°
- O22°
- N16°
- D12°
- Best
- Hot or crowded
- Quiet
- Mostly closed
Daytime air temperature, averages for 2020–2024. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com.
Why come
Vicopisano sits at the foot of Monte Pisano where the plain of the Arno meets the hills, twenty kilometers east of Pisa. The town was a Pisan river port on the old course of the Arno until the river shifted south in the sixteenth century, leaving the walls inland. Florence captured the town in 1407, which is what brought Brunelleschi and his engineering to a place that had until then belonged to Pisa's river trade rather than to Florentine territory.
The fortress and its covered passage sit above the older watchtower and the parish church, all reachable by the lanes that climb from the walls toward the ridge of Monte Pisano. The hills above carry the olive groves that earned the town its Città dell'Olio listing, so the same slope that gave Brunelleschi high ground to defend also gives the town its oil. What the plain lost when the Arno shifted, the hillside above supplied instead: first a port town, then a fortified inland one, and finally an agricultural one.
How to get there
From Pisa (PSA), about 41 min by car.
Bologna (BLQ) is about 1 h 57 min away.
By car from the center of Pisa 34 min, Florence 1 h 14 min or Siena 1 h 50 min.
Coming from Pisa, Florence or Bologna?
Coming by train into Livorno Centrale? Vicopisano is about 43 min away by road.
Every town within reach of Pisa airport.
First time driving in Italy? Read our complete manual.
What to see
Rocca del Brunelleschi
Restored fortress open to visitors, built on the slope where the walls back onto Monte Pisano.
Torre delle Quattro Porte
Twelfth-century watchtower with four arched gates, reinforced rather than built during the Brunelleschi works, the architectural symbol of the medieval town.
Pieve di Santa Maria
Eleventh-century Romanesque parish church holding a wooden Deposition group carved around 1200, the second oldest such carving in Italy.
Palazzo Pretorio
Medieval seat of the Florentine podestà, with coats of arms of the rectors set into the façade.
Centro storico
Walled town of stepped lanes climbing the slope of Monte Pisano, connecting the towers, the fortress and the parish church.
From the guides
Where to eat
Not our picks, but places the guides put their name to: a Michelin star, a Gambero Rosso fork, a Slow Food snail, a Michelin Key for the hotels. Worth a table, a counter, or a night when you pass through.
Osteria Vecchia NoceRistorante
Osteria Vecchia Noce holds a spot in the Michelin Guide.
Before you sit down: how to order at a restaurant, how to spot a tourist trap, what aperitivo is and how the Italian bar works.
Living here
Could you live here?
Vicopisano meets both of our rules for a small town.
- 8,557 people, inside our sweet spot of 5,000 to 20,000: a real town, still one community.
- Pisa, a city of 89,422, is 34 min by car. Inside our 30 to 60 minutes: close for the services, far enough to keep its own life.
The rules come from our series Where to Move in Italy, written from the places we have lived: Part 1, The End of the Road · Part 2, The Small Town · Part 3, The City · Part 4, The Postcard · Part 5, The Other Half. The towns we would pick are in Part 6, The Best Towns.
- Population 8,557, down 0.7% since 2015
- Nearest city Pisa, 34 min drive
- Nearest national health service hospital Pontedera, 8 km as the crow flies · how healthcare works in Italy
- Homes in the center: €1,150 to €1,750 per m² to buy, €4.20 to €5.60 per m² a month to rent
Weighing a move here? See the moving year.
All the numbers Common questions, designations, lists and sources.
More about living here
- Commuter belt
- Pharmacy in town
- High school within a 30-minute drive
- Full fibre reaches 56% of homes
- Primary school in the comune
- Earthquake zone 3, low hazard
- Pisa airport (PSA), 41 min drive, the nearest with scheduled flights
- Regional capital Florence, 1 h 14 min drive
If you are moving here
Who lives here
6% of residents are foreign citizens, most often from Albania, Romania and North Macedonia, against 9% across Italy. 20 of them come from English-speaking countries or western and northern Europe, mostly France. There are 222 people over 65 for every 100 children under 15, against 216 across Italy. 17% of homes have no resident, holiday homes and empty ones counted together, against 27% across Italy. Pisa province ranks 29th of 107 in Il Sole 24 Ore's quality of life ranking for 2025.
Health and schools
The nearest emergency room is in Pontedera, 8 km as the crow flies. The nearest major one is in Pisa, 19 km away. The nearest children's emergency room is in Camaiore, 33 km away. The nearest IB school is International School of Florence, 55 km as the crow flies. The nearest school listed as international is Bilingual School Lucca, 17 km away.
Information, not medical advice. Confirm with a professional.
Taxes
A home that is not your main one pays 1.06% a year in property tax, charged on the cadastral value rather than the price. A main home pays none unless it is in a luxury category. The town adds 0.8% to your income tax. 7% pensioner tax: this town is not in a qualifying area.
Information, not tax advice. Confirm with a professional.
What it costs
The average household in Tuscany spends about €2,410 a month, €540 of it on food, against about €2,170 across Italy. A family of three pays about €770 a year for water, on the Tuscany average.
Climate and risk
It is in climate zone D, on a scale from A, the warmest, to F, the coldest, and heating may run from November 1 to April 15, up to 12 hours a day, unless the mayor changes it. 3% of residents live in a zone the national maps rate high for floods, 54% in a high or medium one. 3% live in a zone rated high or very high for landslides.
These shares cover the whole comune, not any one street. Check an address on IdroGEO.
Moving from abroad? Which visa you need. Sources: ISTAT, the Ministry of Health, ISPRA, the Finance Ministry, the Ministry of Enterprise, Poste Italiane, the comuni, the IB, International Schools Database, Il Sole 24 Ore, Cittadinanzattiva.
Known for
BRUNELLESCHI
The Florentine architect spent six years rebuilding the fortress and connecting passage, his only completed military commission.
EIGHT TOWERS
More surviving medieval towers than any other Tuscan commune of comparable size, including the Torre delle Quattro Porte.
OLIVE OIL
Monte Pisano slopes produce DOP extra virgin oil, with the harvest celebrated each November at the Festa dell'Olio Nuovo.
Common questions
- What is Vicopisano known for?
- Vicopisano is a medieval river port rebuilt by Brunelleschi in 1434 after Florence took the town from Pisa.
- Where is Vicopisano?
- Vicopisano is a comune in the province of Pisa, in Tuscany, at 12 meters above sea level.
- What is the nearest airport to Vicopisano?
- The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Pisa (PSA), about 41 min by car.
- How long is the drive from Pisa to Vicopisano?
- About 34 min by car.
- When is the best time to visit Vicopisano?
- Best in Apr–Oct. August is the warmest month, averaging 32 degrees, and December the wettest, with about 16 rain days.
- Which other towns are like Vicopisano?
- Peccioli, Montecarlo and Cormons.
- How many people live in Vicopisano?
- 8,557 residents, by ISTAT's count on 1 January 2025.
- Is Vicopisano a good place to live?
- By the rules in our Where to Move in Italy series, Vicopisano is a small town that meets both of our rules. The nearest city, Pisa, is 34 min away by car. The nearest national health service hospital is in Pontedera, 8 km as the crow flies. Full fibre reaches 56% of homes.
Tags & data designations · numbers · sources
Recognized as
The numbers
- Elevation: 12 m
- Population: 8,557
- Surface area: 26.85 km²
These figures were compiled from public directories: ISTAT, OpenStreetMap and Wikidata, and from the official listings of the guides named on this page. Town details change; verify with official sources before you travel.
The ranked lists
Lists Vicopisano appears in
- The best towns with a serious restaurant in the province of PisaPisa provinceserious restaurant6 towns · smallest 2,192 residents
- The best hill towns in the province of PisaPisa provincehill town7 towns · smallest 1,073 residents
- The best hill towns within 90 minutes of PisaNear Pisahill townwithin 90 min8 towns · smallest 2,892 residents · closest 33 min away
Near here, with a letter
- Written about. No. 22.
Pontedera
Province: Pisa
The Valdera's working capital on the Pisa–Florence line, where Piaggio turned a bombed aircraft plant into the birthplace of the Vespa in 1946.
6 km away
- Written about. No. 12.
Lucca
Province: Lucca
The provincial capital ringed by four kilometers of intact sixteenth-century walls, birthplace of Puccini and the only fully walled Italian city of its scale.
17 km away
- Written about. No. 13.
Pisa
Province: Pisa
Maritime republic on the Arno, twelve kilometers from the Ligurian Sea, with the leaning bell tower at the center of a single UNESCO-listed walled compound.
36 min by car
Our guide
Our nearest guide, 21 km away
Arno Corridor: the towns, when to go, how to get there
The Arno Corridor guide came out of the letter. Letters from the towns we visit. Free.
Read the guide: The working road from Florence to the sea. 8 towns, the drive and train times, the months, where to eat and sleep.
Paid plans, the moving year and the books are on the membership page.