Somewhere for the weekend... Pisa

WHY GO NOW?

WHY GO NOW?

This Friday sees the opening of Pisa's third annual "Anima Mundi" festival, a celebration of sacred music that runs until Thursday 16 October. The venue is the stunning Duomo, one of the largest Romanesque cathedrals in the world. It is located on the city's Campo dei Miracoli, the open space that is home to the Leaning Tower and a host of other beautiful sacred buildings. The first performance features Franz Schmidt's The Book with Seven Seals, with the Salzburg Mozart Orchestra and the Wiener Singverein concert choir. Next Monday, works by Schubert will be performed, while other concerts feature Gregorian chants and works by Purcell, Vivaldi and Handel. The festival closes with Verdi's Requiem.

All concerts take place after dark. The Campo, whose daytime atmosphere is suffocated by thousands of day-tripping tourists, is transformed at night into a haunting and beautifully illuminated showcase of Pisan architecture, making it an idyllic setting for such a festival.

For further information, contact the festival organisers on 00 39 050 835029; or visit www.opapisa.it/duomo/animamundi. Tickets can be bought from the auditorium of the Opera Primaziale Pisana in Piazza del Duomo, and cost from €6 (£4) to €70 (£49), though discounts apply if you attend three or more performances.

For information on Pisa, you would be well advised to contact the Italian Tourist Board at 1 Princes Street, London W1B 2AY (020-7408 1254; www.enit.it), because the city's tourist office at Pietro Nenni 24 (00 39 050 929777) keeps strange opening hours: 9am-1pm from Monday to Friday, and 3-5pm on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, Online, try www.pisa.turismo.toscana.it or www.pisaonline.it.

DOWN PAYMENT

You can fly to Pisa from Birmingham on MyTravelLite (08701 564 564; www.mytravellite.com); from East Midlands on Bmibaby (0870 264 2229; www.bmibaby. com); from Gatwick and Manchester on British Airways (0870 850 9 850; www.ba.com), and from Stansted on Ryanair (0871 246 0000; www.ryanair.com). Fares this weekend - travelling out on Friday 26 September, back on Monday 29 September - cost £115 from Birmingham; £215 from East Midlands; £260 from Gatwick; £400 from Manchester; and £163 from Stansted.

Pisa's Galileo Galilei airport is so close to the town centre that you can walk it in about 40 minutes; just aim for the Leaning Tower. Bus 3 costs 60p and takes 10 minutes to reach the main railway station; a train from the airport's own station runs every hour or so, and takes about six minutes. A taxi costs around €8 (£5.50).

INSTANT BRIEFING

Pisa is a small university town that just happens to have at its heart one of the world's classic tourist attractions. The stalls around the Leaning Tower constitute an impressive monument to tat (a Leaning Tower cigarette-lighter, anyone?), but only a small number of visitors stay on to investigate further. Those that do usually end up feeling pretty pleased with themselves: Pisa will surprise you with its charming ordinariness. If you want some utilitarian household goods to take home, then you'll find plenty of supplies in Pisa; you can enjoy an unhurried coffee without the blatant mark-up you'd expect in such a tourist trap; and you will happen upon pleasant streets and shady squares, with perhaps a church to pop into, or a family-run trattoria offering that all-important long, leisurely lunch.

REST ASSURED

The Jolly Hotel Cavalieri, Piazza Stazione 2 (00 39 050 43290; www.jollyhotels.it) is Pisa's top-notch resting-place, with smart, well-furnished rooms from €168 (£119), including breakfast. But to capture the atmosphere of the 19th-century Grand Tour, head for the Royal Victoria, lungano Pacinotti 12 (00 39 050 940111; www.royalvictoria.it). This is the city version of your Tuscan villa-hotel idyll, with shutters overlooking the river Arno and ever-so-slightly creaky plumbing. Doubles with a bath cost €115 (£80), including breakfast. The Hotel di Stefano, via San Apollonia 35-37 (00 39 050 553559; www.hoteldistefano.pisa.it) has a lovely location in the heart of the old town. Rooms from €60 (£42); breakfast is another €7 (£5) per person. There is a large terrace with views of the tower, less than 10 minutes' walk away.

MUST SEE

The Leaning Tower's clichéd status does it a disservice, for it is a remarkable piece of architecture, with its white marble, blind arches, colonnaded loggias and crowning cornice. The tower reopened in 2001 and is well worth climbing up, unless, of course, you suffer from vertigo. Also on the Piazza dei Miracoli is the Duomo (cathedral). Check out its pulpit, a masterpiece by Pisano, the banded white marble, and the religious scenes on the huge bronze doorways (open 10am-7.30pm Monday to Saturday, 1pm-7.30pm Sunday).

You will doubtless be swept into the Duomo on a tsunami of tour groups: dig your heels in and be prepared to use your elbows. Nearby stand the exquisite Baptistery and the Camposanto (both open daily, 8am-7.30pm), a cemetery that houses stolid Roman marble sarcophagi and some vivid religious frescoes. A ticket for all the sites, excluding the tower, costs €10.50 (£7.50). This includes the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo (open daily, 8am-7.20pm), a gem of a museum, with a splendid garden located at the point where the tower's tilt is most accented. Note that opening hours for these sites will shorten slightly from 1 October. The tower (open daily, 8.30am-8.30pm) must be paid for separately and costs €15 (£10.50). Tours are popular, so it is worth pre-booking (for an extra €2) at www.opapisa.it.

One of Pisa's least-visited gems is the church of Santa Maria della Spina, to be found beside the river on lungarno Gambacorti, which claims to own a thorn from Christ's "crown". Also make time, if you can, for the atmospheric Museo Nazionale di San Matteo, Piazza San Matteo, lungarno Mediceo, set in the cloisters of an old Benedictine monastery and housing a great collection of 12th-century paintings and 15th-century sculpture (00 39 050 541 865; closed on Mondays; admission €4.50/£3).

MUST BUY

You can buy beautiful Tuscan pottery in Pisa at lower prices than in Siena or Florence. MammaRo, Borgo Largo 54, has a wide selection in all the traditional hues. On the wine front, the helpful staff at La Cantinetta wine store, via Cavalca 52, will help you to stock up on a wide range of local and regional tipples. There is a sprawling antique market on the second full weekend of the month around Piazza dei Cavalieri.

MUST EAT

Skip the overpriced restaurants that lurk around the Leaning Tower. Instead, head for the quieter streets south of the Campo. You'll struggle to beat the wonderful Osteria dei Cavalieri, via San Frediano 16 (00 39 050 580858). Seafood is its strong point, with a dish of spaghetti and clams costing €15 (£10), it has a selection of quality wines. For good Tuscan cuisine, head for Osteria del Tinti, Vicola del Tinti 26 (00 39 050 58 02 40) down a tiny street signposted off Borgo Stretto. It offers a three-course meal with fish stew and a bottle of chianti for €25 (£18). The best place to watch the world go by over a coffee is Pasticceria Salza, Borgo Stretto 46, which also serves tasty nibbles, chocolates, and more substantial dishes.

INTO THE NIGHT

You could start with an Italian lager from Bar Macchi on the corner of Piazza Dante and via 29 Maggio, a student watering-hole. A fashionable crowd gathers to see and be seen at the Almatea, a bar close to the river on Piazza Cairoli; on a mild night you can sit on the terrace. And, if you've overdosed on sacred music during the festival, there are a number of jazz bars in town - one of the best is the Borderline Club on via Giuseppe Vernaccini (00 39 050 58 05 77).

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