A Gothic cloister built around earth brought from the Holy Land
The fourth monument of Piazza dei Miracoli is the least known and perhaps the most fascinating. The Camposanto is a long Gothic cloister of white marble, begun in 1277 around a lawn which, legend says, was filled with earth brought back from Golgotha by the Pisan crusaders.
For centuries the city's notables were buried here, and its walls were covered with fourteenth and fifteenth century frescoes, including the famous Triumph of Death attributed to Buonamico Buffalmacco, with elegant knights coming upon three open coffins. In July 1944 an Allied shell set the roof on fire and the molten lead ruined the paintings. A restoration lasting decades brought the great frescoes back to the walls, an extraordinary story of recovery.
Tip: the Camposanto, the Sinopie Museum, with the preparatory drawings found under the frescoes, and the Opera del Duomo Museum are included in a single combined ticket.
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