Handpicked experience · Pisa
Pisa, Italy
Four of the nine hours are driving; the rest buys a square where Dante's count was starved and a statue cut from marble two sculptors had rejected.
Your own vehicle and driver for the whole day, direct from the ship
Two Tuscan cities without changing trains or watching a clock alone
An itinerary you can reweigh as the day goes
Up to eight people travelling together, with water on board
A private shore excursion from La Spezia that puts Pisa and Florence into one nine-hour day, with your own vehicle and driver and a route you can rearrange as you go. Built for cruise passengers, which means it is built around a fixed return time.
Collection at the port, then south to Pisa, across to Florence, and back. The car is yours for the day, so the balance between the two cities is a decision rather than a timetable — more time in one is taken straight out of the other, and the driver will tell you plainly what still fits.
Roughly an hour from the port to Pisa, and another hour and a quarter from Pisa to Florence, with the same distance to undo at the end. That is about four hours of driving out of nine, which leaves something close to two hours in each city if you want to stand still at all. Knowing that in advance is the difference between a good day and a rushed one.
Pisa's second square is the one the crowds miss. It was the political centre of the medieval republic, remodelled in the sixteenth century with sgraffito facades, and one of its towers held Count Ugolino, locked in with his sons and left there until they died. Dante put him in the ninth circle of the Inferno, gnawing at the skull of the archbishop who turned the key. The building is now part of one of Italy's most selective universities.
The marble that became the David sat in the cathedral works in Florence for decades, half-worked and abandoned by two previous sculptors who judged it too narrow and too flawed. Michelangelo was twenty-six when he took it on. The finished figure stood outdoors in the main civic square for three hundred and sixty-nine years before being moved indoors in 1873, which is why the one in the square today is a copy and the original is in a gallery with a queue.
Transport, driver and water are included. Entry to the gallery holding the David is not, and it needs booking ahead — turning up on the day rarely works in season. A walking guide for Florence can be added to the arrangement if you want the city explained rather than pointed at.
The return time is set by the ship, and the day is planned backwards from it. Both cities are cobbled and mostly walked. Cancellation is free up to a day ahead.
Open it to pick a date and work out the price.
What the fare covers, and what to budget for separately.
The practical detail, and the answers people actually ask for.
About four hours of the nine. Roughly an hour from the port to Pisa, an hour and a quarter on to Florence, and the same distance back at the end.
Something close to two hours apiece if you want to stop and look at anything. Weighting the day towards one city is entirely possible, but it comes out of the other.
The second square, which most visitors never reach. It was the political heart of the medieval republic, and one of its towers is where Count Ugolino was locked in with his sons and left to starve — the episode Dante puts in the ninth circle.
No, it is a stand-in. The original was brought inside in 1873 after centuries in the weather, and the replica went up in its place so the square would not look empty.
Two sculptors had already worked it and abandoned it as too narrow and too flawed. It sat in the cathedral works for decades before Michelangelo, then twenty-six, took the commission.
No — entry to the gallery holding the David is arranged separately and needs booking in advance, since walk-up entry rarely works in season.
Yes. A walking guide can be arranged for the Florence portion if you would rather have the city explained than pointed at.