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Stemma di Vicopisano

Tuscany · Pisa

Vicopisano

A medieval river port rebuilt by Brunelleschi in 1434 after Florence took the town from Pisa.

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.

When to visit

Best · Apr–Oct

  • J
  • F
  • M
  • A
  • M
  • J
  • J
  • A
  • S
  • O
  • N
  • D
  • Best
  • Hot or crowded
  • Quiet
  • Mostly closed

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.

The Sunday letter

We haven’t written Vicopisano’s letter yet.

One town every Sunday, with the photo, the food, the festa. Be there when this one comes up. Free, by Peter & Sophia from Pietrasanta.

Vicopisano — photo 1
Vicopisano — photo 2

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.

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We recommend

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.

Through the year

What happens here

Feasts and festivals that come back year after year. We give the month rather than the date, because the date moves and the month rarely does. Check with the source before you plan a journey around one.

Living here

  • Population 8,563
  • Commuter belti
  • Pharmacy in town
  • High school within a 30-minute drive
  • Train station in the comune
  • Nearest airport Florence / Pisa, 41 min drive
  • Regional capital Firenze, 1 h 14 min drive
Tags & datadesignations · numbers · sources

The numbers

  • Elevation: 12 m
  • Population: 8,563
  • Surface area: 26.85 km²

These figures were compiled from public directories — ISTAT, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata — and from the official listings of the guides named on this page. Town details change; verify with official sources before you travel.

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