Explore Pisa & surroundings
Experience a sensory journey in the art culinary and artisan traditions. Be part of the culture
Tour > Pisa and surroundings
Pisa guided Tour
Pisa narrates its ‘marriage’ with the sea. Pisa, a city fascinated by the charm of the sea, that sea of glory and defeat. The tour sets sail from San Piero a Grado, from the Basilica where, according to tradition, St Peter disembarked while on his way from the Aegean Sea to Rome. We will sail in these waters through art, the “salt” of history.
Our tour starts in San Piero a Grado, just a few kilometres away from Pisa and the sea, it includes the visit of the church and continues with a visit to the monuments in Piazza dei Miracoli. We recommend the following churches museums: The Catthedral of Santa Maria Assunta, The Baptistery, the Monumental Cemetery,the leaning tower and the “new” Museum of the Opera del Duomo. We will decide together how to plan our tour….
Volterra guided Tour
Volterra, perched on an Etruscan hill, preserves the allure of its millenary past and traditions. The tour starts with the visit of the historic centre of this town, still enclosed within its medieval walls, offers visitors an unrivalled heritage of culture and craftsmanship. Strolling through the alleyways of the town you can admire the oldest architectural remains, dating back to the Etruscan period: the Acropolis in the Parco dei Fiumi, the Porta all’Arco and the Guarnacci Museum. The museum houses an extraordinary quantity of precious artefacts, including a rich collection of alabaster urns, an excellent example of local Etruscan craftsmanship.
Long forgotten, alabaster, the so-called ‘soft stone’, symbol of Volterra, was ‘rediscovered’ from the 1500s onwards, and during the 19th century was exported all over the world thanks to Giuseppe Viti, a Volterran trader and great traveller.
Even today, the adventures of this extraordinary character can be retraced through the rooms of Palazzo Viti, a prestigious historical residence in the heart of town. Experience with us the alabaster and its artisans in the town’s workshops.
Of the Romans in Volterra, the theatre, the baths and not far away the “coliseum” of Volterra, currently being excavated, are preserved in Vallebuona. And it is again a resource of the sea, the salt, the purest in Italy, the great protagonist of the Middle Ages, when Volterra built the Palazzo dei Priori, the Cattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta, and the Baptistery. And it is just outside the centre, a town within a town, that the memory of Fernando Oreste Nannetti, aka NFO4, Italian graffiti painter, is preserved in the village of the former Volterra asylum.
The visit to the town can be combined with a visit to the mines of Montecatini Val di Cecina: ‘a journey to the underworld’,
to the Saline di Volterra, ‘Oh how pure is the salt of our sea’!
Etruscans by the sea’: itineraries on the Etruscan coast
Vicopisano guided Tour
Vicopisano is located at the centre of a network of fortresses along the Pisan mountains is Vicopisano, where the Serchio and the Arno rivers meet. A castle with changing fortunes, an ally of Pisa, preserves the Florentine fortress “Soccorso” “out of the water”.
You will enjoy the story of Filippo Brunelleschi, the architect of the dome of the Florentine cathedral, who was employed as a military engineer in the fortification of Vicopisano, a fundamental step in the Florentine Republic project to achieve its longed-for access to the sea.
Brunelleschi’s fortress is part of the Monumental Complex in Vicopisano, which includes the Palazzo Pretorio and the Vicarial Prisons. During the guided tour you will discover the castle, its unique towers and the beautiful parish church made of Verrucana stone, which comes from the nearby Monte alla Verruca in Monte Pisano.
These monuments have fully maintained the pride of a once glorious past. The tour of Vicopisano can be combined with a visit to the Certosa di Pisa in Calci.
The Certosa di Pisa, located in Calci, is a vast monumental complex on the slopes of Monte Pisano, a few kilometres from the city of Pisa. Founded in 1366 by a family of Carthusian monks, the complex was enlarged between the 17th and 18th centuries and it is now a splendid Baroque monument set in a highly evocative landscape. Originally known as the ‘dark valley’, the Calci valley was renamed Val Graziosa (full of grace) after the foundation of the monastic complex.
In 1972 the Certosa, having been abandoned by the few remaining monks, became a National Museum, while in 1979 the western part of the complex was granted in perpetual use at no charge to the University of Pisa, which founded the Museum of Natural History, subsequently enlarged, enriched and renovated.
Lari, Pasta in the castle.
In the the heart of the Pisan hills. The orange flag town of Lari, you can visit the Castello dei Vicari, which for centuries housed the Florentine vicars, and book a visit to the Pastificio Martelli, the pasta craftsman. Since 1926, the Martelli family has been personally producing only durum wheat semolina pasta in their pasta factory in Lari.
Private tour rates
to 3 hours half day tour Euro 150. The rate is per tour not per person.
Friendly pets tour
Welcome to walking tours
TailorMade tour
Please share your wishes with us, we will offer you the experience that best suits you
Information request
Please choose your tour, and send your request, we will contact you asap
FAQ
- Are your tour accessible?
Yes, they are. Let’s contact us and design together your experience without limits
- What languages are you tours in?
Our tours are in German, English, French, Spanish
- How can I book museum tickets?
Our tours are with a skip the line access, so please contact us.
- Private Tour rates ?
3 hour tour Euro 140. The rate is per tour not per person. Museum tickets are not
- Are your tours pets friendly?
Yes, they are welcomed on walking tours.