Editing Pisa (section)

==History==
{{For timeline}}{{More citations needed|section|date=June 2024}}

===Ancient times===
<!-- Portus Pisanus redirects here. See [[MOS:HIDDENLINKADVICE]]. -->
Most believe the hypothesis that the origin of the name Pisa comes from [[Etruscan language|Etruscan]] and means 'mouth', as Pisa is at the mouth of the Arno river.<ref>{{Cite web|date=May 11, 2018|title=STORIA DI PISA DALLA NASCITA AD OGGI|url=https://pisa.unicusano.it/studiare-a-pisa/storia-di-pisa/|access-date=January 21, 2022}}</ref>

Although throughout history there have been several uncertainties about the origin of the city of Pisa, excavations made in the 1980s and 1990s found numerous archaeological remains, including the fifth century BC tomb of an Etruscan prince, proving the [[Etruscan civilization|Etruscan]] origin of the city, and its role as a maritime city, showing that it also maintained trade relations with other Mediterranean civilizations.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Paribeni|first=Emanuela|title=La necropoli villanoviana di Pisa, Porta a Lucca/via Marche, in Cavalieri etruschi dalle valli al Po. Tra Reno e Panaro, la valle del Samoggia nell'VIII e VII secolo a.C.|publisher=Edizioni Aspasia|pages=258–263|language=it}}</ref>

[[Ancient Rome|Ancient Roman]] authors referred to Pisa as an old city. [[Virgil]], in his ''[[Aeneid]]'', states that Pisa was already a great center by the times described; and gives the epithet of ''Alphēae'' to the city because it was said to have been founded by colonists from [[Pisa, Greece|Pisa]] in [[Elis]], near which the [[Alfeios|Alpheius river]] flowed.<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0064:entry=alpheius-geo Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), alpheius] {{source-attribution}}</ref> The Virgilian commentator [[Maurus Servius Honoratus|Servius]] wrote that the Teuti founded the town 13 centuries before the start of the common era.

The maritime role of Pisa should have been already prominent if the ancient authorities ascribed to it the invention of the [[ram bow|naval ram]]. Pisa took advantage of being the only port along the western coast between [[Genoa]] (then a small village) and [[Ostia Antica (archaeological site)|Ostia]]. Pisa served as a base for Roman naval expeditions against [[Liguri]]ans and [[Gauls]]. In 180 BC, it became a Roman colony under Roman law, as {{lang|la|Portus Pisanus}}. In 89 BC, {{lang|la|Portus Pisanus}} became a ''[[municipium]]''. Emperor [[Caesar Augustus|Augustus]] fortified the colony into an important port and changed the name to {{lang|la|Colonia Iulia obsequens}}.

Pisa supposedly was founded on the shore, but due to the alluvial sediments from the Arno and the Serchio, whose mouth lies about {{convert|7|mi|km|order=flip|abbr=on}} north of the Arno's, the shore moved west. Strabo states that the city was {{convert|2.5|mi|km|order=flip|abbr=on}} away from the coast. Currently, it is located {{convert|6|mi|km|order=flip|abbr=on}} from the coast. However, it was a maritime city, with ships sailing up the Arno.<ref>{{cite book|last=William Heywood|title=A History of Pisa: Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries|year=2010|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9781108010139|page=1}}</ref> In the 90s AD, a [[Baths of Nero (Pisa)|baths complex]] was built in the city.

===Late Antiquity and Early Middle Ages===
[[File:Pisa Map V century a.C..jpg|thumb|right|300px|Hypothetical map of Pisa in the fifth century AD]]
During the last years of the [[Western Roman Empire]], Pisa did not decline as much as the other cities of Italy, probably due to the complexity of its river system and its consequent ease of defence. In the seventh century, Pisa helped [[Pope Gregory&nbsp;I]] by supplying numerous ships in his military expedition against the [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantines]] of [[Ravenna]] (what "military expedition by Pope Gregory against the Byzantine Empire"{{citation needed|date=May 2024}}): Pisa was the sole Byzantine centre of [[Toscana|Tuscia]] to fall peacefully in [[Lombards|Lombard]] hands, through assimilation with the neighbouring region where their trading interests were prevalent. Pisa began in this way its rise to the role of main port of the Upper Tyrrhenian Sea and became the main trading centre between Tuscany and [[Corsica]], [[Sardinia]], and the southern coasts of France and Spain.

After [[Charlemagne]] had defeated the Lombards under the command of [[Desiderius]] in&nbsp;774, Pisa went through a crisis, but soon recovered. Politically, it became part of the duchy of [[Lucca]]. In 860, Pisa was captured by [[vikings]] led by [[Björn Ironside]]. In 930, Pisa became the county centre (status it maintained until the arrival of [[Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor|Otto I]]) within the mark of [[Tuscia]]. Lucca was the capital but Pisa was the most important city, as in the middle of tenth century [[Liutprand of Cremona]], bishop of [[Cremona]], called Pisa {{lang|la|Tusciae provinciae caput}} ("capital of the province of Tuscia"), and a century later, the marquis of Tuscia was commonly referred to as "marquis of Pisa". In 1003, Pisa was the protagonist of the first [[medieval commune|communal]] war in Italy, against Lucca. From the naval point of view, since the ninth century, the emergence of the [[Saracen]] pirates prompted the city to expand its fleet. In the following years, this fleet gave the town an opportunity for more expansion. In 828, Pisan ships assaulted the coast of [[North Africa]]. In 871, they took part in the defence of [[Salerno]] from the Saracens. In 970, they gave also strong support to [[Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor|Otto&nbsp;I]]'s expedition, defeating a Byzantine fleet in front of [[Calabria|Calabrese]] coasts.

===11th century===
{{Main article|Republic of Pisa}}
[[File:Pisa Map XI century b.C..jpg|thumb|left|300px|Hypothetical map of Pisa in the 11th century AD]]
The power of Pisa as a  maritime nation began to grow and reached its apex in the 11th century, when it acquired traditional fame as one of the four main historical [[maritime republics]] of Italy ({{lang|it|[[Repubbliche Marinare]]}}).

At that time, the city was a very important commercial centre and controlled a significant [[Mediterranean]] merchant fleet and navy. It expanded its powers in 1005 through the sack of {{lang|it|[[Reggio Calabria]]}} in the south of Italy. Pisa was in continuous conflict with some '[[Saracen]]s' - a medieval term to refer to Arab [[Muslim]]s - who had their bases in Corsica, for control of the Mediterranean. In 1017, [[Sardinia]]n [[Giudicati]] were militarily supported by Pisa, in alliance with Genoa, to defeat the Saracen King Mugahid, who had settled a logistic base in the north of Sardinia the year before. This victory gave Pisa supremacy in the [[Tyrrhenian Sea]]. When the Pisans subsequently ousted the Genoese from Sardinia, a new conflict and rivalry was born between these major marine republics. Between 1030 and 1035, Pisa went on to defeat several rival towns in Sicily and conquer [[Carthage]] in [[North Africa]]. In 1051–1052, the admiral Jacopo Ciurini conquered [[Corsica]], provoking more resentment from the Genoese. In 1063, Admiral Giovanni Orlandi, coming to the aid of the [[Normans|Norman]] [[Roger I of Sicily|Roger I]], took [[Palermo]] from the Saracen pirates. The gold treasure taken from the Saracens in Palermo allowed the Pisans to start the building of their cathedral and the other monuments which constitute the famous {{lang|it|[[Piazza del Duomo, Pisa|Piazza del Duomo]]}}.

In 1060, Pisa engaged in its first battle with [[Genoa]]. The Pisan victory helped to consolidate its position in the Mediterranean. [[Pope Gregory VII]] recognised in 1077 the new "Laws and customs of the sea" instituted by the Pisans, and emperor [[Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor|Henry IV]] granted them the right to name their own consuls, advised by a council of elders. This was simply a confirmation of the present situation, because in those years, the marquis had already been excluded from power. In 1092, [[Pope Urban II]] awarded Pisa the supremacy over Corsica and Sardinia, and at the same time raising the town to the rank of archbishopric.

Pisa sacked the [[Tunisia]]n city of [[Mahdia]] in 1088. Four years later, Pisan and Genoese ships helped [[Alfonso VI of Castilla]] to push [[El Cid]] out of [[Kingdom of Valencia|Valencia]]. A Pisan fleet of 120 ships also took part in the [[First Crusade]], and the Pisans were instrumental in the taking of [[Jerusalem]] in 1099.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Dietz |first=Frederick C. |date=1914 |title=Industry in Pisa in the Early Fourteenth Century |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1883626 |journal=The Quarterly Journal of Economics |volume=28 |issue=2 |pages=338–359 |doi=10.2307/1883626 |jstor=1883626 |issn=0033-5533}}</ref> On their way to the [[Holy Land]], the ships did not miss the occasion to sack some Byzantine islands; the Pisan crusaders were led by their archbishop [[Daibert]], the future [[Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem|patriarch of Jerusalem]]. Pisa and the other {{lang|it|Repubbliche Marinare}} took advantage of the crusade to establish trading posts and colonies in the Eastern coastal cities of the [[Levant]]. In particular, the Pisans founded colonies in [[Antioch]]ia, Acre, [[Jaffa]], [[Tripoli, Lebanon|Tripoli]], [[Tyre (Lebanon)|Tyre]], [[Latakia]], and Accone. They also had other possessions in [[Jerusalem]] and [[Caesarea Maritima|Caesarea]], plus smaller colonies (with lesser autonomy) in [[Cairo]], [[Alexandria]], and of course [[Constantinople]], where the [[Byzantine Emperor]] [[Alexius I Comnenus]] granted them special mooring and trading rights. In all these cities, the Pisans were granted privileges and immunity from taxation, but had to contribute to the defence in case of attack. In the 12th century, the Pisan quarter in the eastern part of Constantinople had grown to 1,000 people. For some years of that century, Pisa was the most prominent commercial and military ally of the Byzantine Empire, overcoming [[Venice]] itself.

===12th century===
In 1113, Pisa and [[Pope Paschal II]] set up, together with the count of [[Barcelona]] and other contingents from [[Provence]] and Italy (Genoese excluded), [[1113-1115 Balearic Islands expedition|a war to free the Balearic Islands]] from the [[Moors]]; the queen and the king of [[Mallorca]] were brought in chains to Tuscany. Though the [[Almoravides]] soon reconquered the island, the booty taken helped the Pisans in their magnificent programme of buildings, especially the [[Piazza del Duomo, Pisa|cathedral]], and Pisa gained a role of pre-eminence in the [[Western Mediterranean]].

In the following years, the powerful Pisan fleet, led by archbishop [[Pietro Moriconi]], drove away the Saracens after ferocious battles. Though short-lived, this Pisan success in Spain increased the rivalry with Genoa. Pisa's trade with [[Languedoc]], [[Provence]] ([[Noli]], [[Savona]], [[Fréjus]], and [[Montpellier]]) were an obstacle to Genoese interests in cities such as [[Hyères]], [[Fos-sur-Mer|Fos]], [[Antibes]], and [[Marseille]].

The war began in 1119 when the Genoese attacked several galleys on their way home to the motherland, and lasted until 1133. The two cities fought each other on land and at sea, but hostilities were limited to raids and pirate-like assaults.

In June 1135, [[Bernard of Clairvaux]] took a leading part in the [[Council of Pisa (1135)|Council of Pisa]], asserting the claims of Pope [[Innocent II]] against those of Pope [[Anacletus II]], who had been elected pope in 1130 with [[Normans|Norman]] support, but was not recognised outside Rome. Innocent II resolved the conflict with Genoa, establishing Pisan and Genoese spheres of influence. Pisa could then, unhindered by Genoa, participate in the conflict of Innocent II against king [[Roger II of Sicily]]. [[Amalfi]], one of the maritime republics (though already declining under Norman rule), was conquered on August 6, 1136; the Pisans destroyed the ships in the port, assaulted the castles in the surrounding areas, and drove back an army sent by Roger from [[Aversa]]. This victory brought Pisa to the peak of its power and to a standing equal to Venice. Two years later, its soldiers sacked [[Salerno]].
[[File:Pisa.Campo.wall.jpg|thumb|right|New city walls, erected in 1156 by Consul Cocco Griffi]]
In the following years, Pisa was one of the staunchest supporters of the [[Ghibelline]] party. This was much appreciated by [[Frederick Barbarossa|Frederick I]]. He issued in 1162 and 1165 two important documents, with these grants: Apart from the jurisdiction over the Pisan countryside, the Pisans were granted freedom of trade in the whole empire, the coast from [[Civitavecchia]] to [[Portovenere]], a half of [[Palermo]], [[Messina]], [[Salerno]] and [[Naples]], the whole of [[Gaeta]], [[Mazara del Vallo|Mazara]], and [[Trapani]], and a street with houses for its merchants in every city of the [[Kingdom of Sicily]]. Some of these grants were later confirmed by [[Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor|Henry VI]], [[Otto IV]], and [[Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor|Frederick II]]. They marked the apex of Pisa's power, but also spurred the resentment of other cities such as [[Lucca]], [[Massa, Tuscany|Massa]], [[Volterra]], and [[Florence]], thwarting their aim to expand towards the sea. The clash with Lucca also concerned the possession of the castle of [[Montignoso]] and mainly the control of the {{lang|it|[[Via Francigena]]}}, the main trade route between Rome and France. Last, but not least, such a sudden and large increase of power by Pisa could only lead to another war with Genoa.

Genoa had acquired a dominant position in the markets of southern France. The war began in 1165 on the [[Rhône]], when an attack on a convoy, directed to some Pisan trade centres on the river, by the Genoese and their ally, the count of [[Toulouse]], failed. Pisa, though, was allied to Provence. The war continued until 1175 without significant victories. Another point of attrition was [[Sicily]], where both the cities had privileges granted by [[Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor|Henry VI]]. In 1192, Pisa managed to conquer Messina. This episode was followed by a series of battles culminating in the Genoese conquest of [[Syracuse, Italy|Syracuse]] in 1204. Later, the trading posts in Sicily were lost when the new [[Pope Innocent III]], though removing the [[excommunication]] cast over Pisa by his predecessor [[Pope Celestine III|Celestine III]], allied himself with the [[Guelphs and Ghibellines|Guelph League]] of Tuscany, led by Florence. Soon, he stipulated{{what|reason=Wrong word?|date=August 2023}} a pact with Genoa, too, further weakening the Pisan presence in southern Italy.

To counter the Genoese predominance in the southern Tyrrhenian Sea, Pisa strengthened its relationship with its traditional Spanish and French bases (Marseille, [[Narbonne]], [[Barcelona]], etc.) and tried to defy the [[Republic of Venice|Venetian]] rule of the [[Adriatic Sea]]. In 1180, the two cities agreed to a nonaggression treaty in the Tyrrhenian and the Adriatic, but the death of Emperor [[Manuel Comnenus]] in Constantinople changed the situation. Soon, attacks on Venetian convoys were made. Pisa signed trade and political pacts with [[Ancona]], [[Pula]], [[Zadar|Zara]], [[Split, Croatia|Split]], and [[Brindisi]]; in 1195, a Pisan fleet reached Pola to defend its independence from Venice, but the Serenissima soon reconquered the rebel sea town.

{{wide image| File:Piazza del Duomo Pisa 7.jpg|540px|align-cap=center|''View of the [[Piazza dei Miracoli]]''}}

One year later, the two cities signed a peace treaty, which resulted in favourable conditions for Pisa, but in 1199, the Pisans violated it by blockading the [[port of Brindisi]] in [[Apulia]]. In the following naval battle, they were defeated by the Venetians. The war that followed ended in 1206 with a treaty in which Pisa gave up all its hopes to expand in the Adriatic, though it maintained the trading posts it had established in the area. From that point on, the two cities were united against the rising power of Genoa and sometimes collaborated to increase the trading benefits in Constantinople.

===13th century===
In 1209 in [[Lerici]], two councils for a final resolution of the rivalry with Genoa were held. A 20-year peace treaty was signed, but when in 1220, the emperor [[Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor|Frederick II]] confirmed his supremacy over the [[Tyrrhenian Sea|Tyrrhenian]] coast from [[Civitavecchia]] to [[Portovenere]], the Genoese and Tuscan resentment against Pisa grew again. In the following years, Pisa clashed with Lucca in [[Garfagnana]] and was defeated by the [[Florence|Florentines]] at Castel del Bosco. The strong [[Ghibelline]] position of Pisa brought this town diametrically against the Pope, who was in a dispute with the [[Holy Roman Empire]], and indeed the pope tried to deprive Pisa of its dominions in northern [[Sardinia]].

In 1238, [[Pope Gregory IX]] formed an alliance between Genoa and Venice against the empire, and consequently against Pisa, too. One year later, he excommunicated Frederick II and called for an anti-Empire council to be held in Rome in 1241. On May 3, 1241, a combined fleet of Pisan and Sicilian ships, led by the emperor's son [[Enzio of Sardinia|Enzo]], attacked a Genoese convoy carrying prelates from northern Italy and France, next to the isle of [[Isola del Giglio|Giglio]] ([[Battle of Giglio (1241)|Battle of Giglio]]), in front of [[Tuscany]]; the Genoese lost 25 ships, while about a thousand sailors, two cardinals, and one bishop were taken prisoner. After this major victory, the council in Rome failed, but Pisa was excommunicated. This extreme measure was only removed in 1257. Anyway, the Tuscan city tried to take advantage of the favourable situation to conquer the Corsican city of [[Aleria, Corsica|Aleria]] and even lay siege to Genoa itself in 1243.

The [[Liguria]]n republic of Genoa, however, recovered fast from this blow and won back [[Lerici]], conquered by the Pisans some years earlier, in 1256.

The great expansion in the Mediterranean and the prominence of the merchant class urged a modification in the city's institutes. The system with consuls was abandoned, and in 1230, the new city rulers named a ''capitano del popolo'' ("people's chieftain") as civil and military leader. Despite these reforms, the conquered lands and the city itself were harassed by the rivalry between the two families of [[Della Gherardesca]] and [[Visconti of Pisa|Visconti]]. In 1237 the archbishop and the Emperor Frederick II intervened to reconcile the two rivals, but the strains continued. In 1254, the people rebelled and imposed 12 {{lang|it|Anziani del Popolo}} ("People's Elders") as their political representatives in the commune. They also supplemented the legislative councils, formed of noblemen, with new People's Councils, composed by the main guilds and by the chiefs of the People's Companies. These had the power to ratify the laws of the Major General Council and the Senate.

===Decline===
[[File:Nuremberg chronicles f 45v 1.png|thumb|Idealized depiction of Pisa from the 1493 ''[[Nuremberg Chronicle]]''.]]
The decline is said to have begun on August 6, 1284, when the numerically superior fleet of Pisa, under the command of [[Albertino Morosini]], was defeated by the brilliant tactics of the Genoese fleet, under the command of [[Benedetto I Zaccaria|Benedetto Zaccaria]] and [[Oberto Doria]], in the dramatic naval [[Battle of Meloria (1284)|Battle of Meloria]]. This defeat ended the maritime power of Pisa and the town never fully recovered;<ref name=":0" /> in 1290, the Genoese destroyed forever the Porto Pisano (Pisa's port), and [[salting the earth|covered the land with salt]]. The region around Pisa did not permit the city to recover from the loss of thousands of sailors from the Meloria, while Liguria guaranteed enough sailors to Genoa. Goods, however, continued to be traded, albeit in reduced quantity, but the end came when the Arno started to change course, preventing the galleys from reaching the city's port up the river. The nearby area also likely became infested with [[malaria]]. The true end came in 1324, when Sardinia was entirely lost to the [[Aragon]]ese.

Always Ghibelline, Pisa tried to build up its power in the course of the 14th century, and even managed to defeat [[Republic of Florence|Florence]] in the [[Battle of Montecatini]] (1315), under the command of [[Uguccione della Faggiuola]]. Eventually, however, after a long siege, Pisa was occupied by Florentines in 1405.<ref name=bantam/> Florentines corrupted the ''capitano del popolo'' ("people's chieftain"), Giovanni Gambacorta, who at night opened the city gate of San Marco. Pisa was never conquered by an army. In 1409, Pisa was the seat of a [[Council of Pisa|council]] trying to set the question of the [[Western Schism|Great Schism]]. In the 15th century, access to the sea became more difficult, as the port was silting up and was cut off from the sea. When in 1494, [[Charles VIII of France]] invaded the Italian states to claim the [[Kingdom of Naples]],<ref name=bantam>{{cite book |last1=Machiavelli |first1=Niccolò |title=The Prince and Selected Discourses |year=1981 |publisher=Bantam Books |location=New York |isbn=0-553-21227-3 |edition=Bantam Classic |pages=128–29}}</ref> Pisa reclaimed its independence as the Second Pisan Republic.

[[File:Comune di Pisa 1875.jpg|thumb|Bonus certificate of Pisa, issued July 19, 1875]]

The new freedom did not last long; 15 years of battles and sieges by the Florentine troops led by [[Antonio da Filicaja]], [[Averardo Salviati]] and [[Niccolò Capponi]] were made, but they failed to conquer the city. [[Vitellozzo Vitelli]] with his brother [[Paolo Vitelli (condottiero)|Paolo]] were the only ones who actually managed to break the strong defences of Pisa and make a breach in the Stampace bastion in the southern west part of the walls, but he did not enter the city. For that, they were suspected of treachery and Paolo was put to death. However, the resources of Pisa were getting low, and at the end, the city was sold to the Visconti family from Milan and eventually to Florence again. [[Livorno]] took over the role of the main port of Tuscany. Pisa acquired a mainly cultural role spurred by the presence of the [[University of Pisa]], created in 1343, and later reinforced by the [[Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa]] (1810) and [[Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies]] (1987).

Pisa was the birthplace of the important early physicist [[Galileo Galilei]]. It is still the seat of an [[archbishopric]]. Besides its educational institutions, it has become a light industrial centre and a railway hub. It suffered repeated destruction during [[World War II]].

Since the early 1950s, the US Army has maintained [[Camp Darby]] just outside Pisa, which is used by many US military personnel as a base for vacations in the area.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.wiesbaden.army.mil/hunion/Travel/CampDarby.htm |title=A traveler's oasis in Italy |publisher=Wiesbaden.army.mil |access-date=March 12, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130219055854/http://www.wiesbaden.army.mil/hunion/Travel/CampDarby.htm |archive-date=February 19, 2013  }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.usag.livorno.army.mil/OutAbout.asp |title=Darby Military Community, Camp Darby, Italy, Top Picks |publisher=Usag.livorno.army.mil |date=April 30, 1945 |access-date=March 12, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130202055352/http://www.usag.livorno.army.mil/OutAbout.asp |archive-date=February 2, 2013  }}</ref>