SUNDAY MEMORIES
Judy Wills
Another Italian city where we stopped was Pisa. I’ve written about Pisa in previous musings, but I want to talk about just Pisa today – not as part of other trips.
I think the most renown aspect of Pisa is the “Leaning Tower.” However, I was reading about Pisa in Wikipedia, and found that it has some very interesting facts that I didn’t know. For instance, Pisa was a major city by the sea. According to Wikipedia:
The maritime role of Pisa should have been already prominent if the ancient authorities ascribed to it the invention of the naval ram. It was the only port along the western coast between Genoa and Ostia (Rome). Also according to Wikipedia: 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. The Arno River played an important part in that.
The University of Pisa is located in Pisa, and, according to Wikipedia: is one of the oldest universities in Italy. It was formally founded on September 3, 1343 by an edict of Pope Clement VI, and The University has Europe’s oldest academic botanical garden… founded in 1544.
There are many churches and museums in Pisa. I guess we just didn’t know or realize all that when we visited, because we didn’t go to any. Our main emphasis was on the church (the Piazza del Miracoli) and the Leaning Tower – which is the bell tower of the city’s cathedral.
The Cathedral with the Leaning Tower (bell tower)
I’ve mentioned previously that we stopped in a shop in Pisa that specialized in marble, alabaster, and “composition” figurines. Here are pictures from a brochure from that very shop.
Last week I presented pictures of the marble lampstands we purchased, as well as the
composition tumbling angels, and the composition figures of Moses and the discus thrower. Here is a picture of some alabaster “fruit” they had.
We have enjoyed all these things, ever since 1968.
~~~~~~~~~~~To Be Continued~~~~~~~~~~
Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years .
Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.
After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins as well as a great-grandson. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.
Old Things R New 
lovely
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