Pisa Museo Aperto

Location(s)

During the Middle Ages this square was called Piazza dei Porci, the Pigs’ Square. It was located to the west of Via dei Notari (the notaries’ street), next to the Taberne Maggiori. The square was in the heart of the city centre, very close to the river and the bridge called Ponte Vecchio (today Ponte di Mezzo), but we lack information about its shape and extension.
In 1493 the institution administering the cathedral complex, the Opera del Duomo, got the permission to construct on that site a corn market. Indeed the previous location of the corn market had been assigned to the University, the so-called Studio Pisano or Sapienza, and therefore a new site for the market was needed. So in 1494 the Opera del Duomo, which enjoyed exclusive fiscal rights on the sale of grain, started buying the buildings around the square. Some of these were demolished as for instance the houses and towers owned by the Erizi family, the “Corona” Inn and, in front of it, the church of San Bartolomeo degli Erizi, which was patronized by that family. The building of the arcades around the square began in 1544 and went on until 1565 under the direction of Bastiano della Seta. So the square came to assume the shape of an irregular quadrangle with double arcades. The thin sandstone columns reproduce a 15th century type already made in the courtyard of La Sapienza (the old University building) and in the cloister of the Franciscan church. It is a Florentine Renaissance type, referrable to Brunelleschi and exported to Pisa at the time of the first Florentine domination.

On the square a fountain was soon built, taking water from the aqueduct coming from the near Monti Pisani. The market was held twice a week on Wednesday and Saturday.

Besides grain, people sold olive oil, cheese, salted meat, salami and other foodstuff. So between the new Corn Market Square and Piazza dei Cavoli (another market square), grew up a wide commercial area and a direct connection through the many tiny medieval alleys.

In the last years the municipality of Pisa has promoted a series of renovation works in Piazza delle Vettovaglie, restoring the vaults of the arcades, strenghtening public illumination and repaving the whole square. Still today, every morning the square is occupied by multicoloured stalls, while under the arcades there are many shops which continue an old tradition: butcheries and fishmongers, bakeries, delicatessen, greengroceries, inns, wine-shops and restaurants.