Buy tickets & tours:GetYourGuide Camposanto Monumentale is a monumental cemetery in Pisa, located in Piazza dei Miracoli, near the Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta. SHORT HISTORY According to tradition, the Archbishop Ubaldo Lanfranchi filled the interior of Campo Santo (Holy Field) with soil from Golgotha, brought by Pisan ships returning from the fourth crusade. In reality, the cemetery was created to collect various burials and sarcophagi spread around the Cathedral. Camposanto Monumentale was built starting with 1277 by Giovanni di Simone. After the death of the architect and the crisis caused by the Pisan defeat in the battle of Meloria of 1284, the works were slowed down. Starting with 1360, the walls were decorated with frescoes with subjects related to the theme of life and death. During this period, Buonamico Buffalmacco painted the Triumph of Death, and Francesco Traini the Crucifixion. Shortly afterwards, Giovanni Scorcialupi painted the frescoes with the Stories of Christ, while Stefano da Firenze painted an Assumption above the eastern door. The cycle was continued a few decades later by Andrea Bonaiuti, Antonio Veneziano and Spinello Aretino. Near the end of the 14th century, Taddeo Gaddi painted Stories of Job, and Piero di Puccio painted Stories Read more [...]
All Cemeteries in Pisa
The Camposanto Monumentale is Pisa’s most important cemetery and the final monument of Piazza dei Miracoli. Founded in 1277, it was designed as a large, enclosed burial place for graves previously scattered around the Cathedral. Its Gothic cloister, Roman sarcophagi, frescoes, chapels, and marble architecture make it both a cemetery and a major artistic monument.
Another important burial site is the Jewish Cemetery of Pisa, located just outside the medieval walls, beside Piazza dei Miracoli and Porta del Leone. In use since 1674, it preserves tombs in different styles, from classical to Neo-Gothic and Liberty, together with older tombstones transferred from previous Jewish burial grounds.