Pisa

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Pisa

The northern Italian city of Pisa was an important commercial center in the Renaissance and home to one of Europe's leading universities. It also served as the seaport of Tuscany, the region around Florence. Pisa had been an independent commune during the Middle Ages, but it fell under the control of Florence in the early 1400s.

Before losing its independence, Pisa was ruled by a group of consuls elected by urban guilds* such as the wool workers and the order of merchants. The consuls appointed the members of the Senate, an assembly that had authority over political affairs, but they retained responsibility for legal matters. Both the consuls and the members of the Senate came from the city's noble and merchant classes. The common people were represented by a council of elders.

Since the 1200s the city had been split into two factions*—the merchants and the other major guilds. Pisa's merchants opposed the policy that allowed the textile merchants of Florence to use the port of Siena without paying taxes. However, the other guilds supported it. The dispute over this matter led to war with Florence from 1356 to 1364. When the war ended, Florence kept its tax exemption. By the end of the 1300s, Duke Gian Galeazzo Visconti of Milan had gained control of Pisa. However, he died suddenly in 1402, and four years later his son sold Pisa to Florence for 206,000 gold florins.

Florence ruled Pisa harshly until the time of Lorenzo de' Medici. The Medici family helped rebuild Pisa by replacing trade income with investments that improved Pisa's defenses and drained the marshes that surrounded the city. Lorenzo revived the university, which had closed in the early 1400s. He moved the University of Florence to Pisa and ordered his subjects to study there. With Medici support, the University of Pisa became a major center of learning. The influence of the Medici family ended in 1494, when Charles VIII, the king of France, invaded Italy. He expelled the Medici from Florence, and Pisa rose up in rebellion. Pisa suffered through three sieges* before surrendering to Florence in 1509.

In the 1530s Pisa became a favorite residence of Alessandro de' Medici, the first duke of Florence. The painter and writer Giorgio Vasari designed a palace and church for Pisa's Order of the Knights of St. Stephen. The Medici created this order to help Pisa recover some of its income from sea trade. In addition, the well-known scientist Galileo Galilei taught at the university during the late 1500s.

(See alsoFlorence; Universities. )

* guild: association of craft and trade owners and workers that set standards for and represented the interests of its members
* faction: party or interest group within a larger group