Prime_Commercial_Property_Pisa

2 PRESTIGIOUS SHOPS IN PRIME LOCATION IN THE HEART OF THE HISTORIC CENTRE OF PISA-TUSCANY ARE NOW ON SALE DIRECTLY FROM THE OWNERS !!

The 2 shops can be combined in one, thus becoming an ideal solution for a bank branch, a luxury shop, an art gallery,....

Today's Pisa is one of the most vibrant cultural cities in Tuscany, and its service industry is flourishing. Main pillars of it are the enormous University harbouring approx 30,000 students againsta population of 100,000 only, and the main Ospedale (Hospital) renown for its advanced and top-of-the-rangeclinics. Obviously, the 3rd pillar is Tourism, which makes Pisa one of the MUST of any Italian itinerary.

The 3 elements mentioned above are the main engine of the Pisa economy, and act as driving force for consumer, property and industrial activities.

The Pisa property market reflects one one side the fact that Pisa is an old Tuscan city with an historic centre populated by protected period buildings that allow little room for new trades, and on the other side a demand for estate that can hardly be fullfilled. There is in fact in this period very little on offer in the "Centro Storico" in terms of commercial property to accomodate new branches from foreign banks or new luxury shops. New entrants are pushed to the outskirts of the city by the lack of available property in prime location.

This is why the 2 beautiful shops on sale now represent quite a tremendous and unique opportunity for companies or trades wishing to establish a branch or open an office in Pisa at the top of the property range.

If the most remote origins of Pisa and of its name are inevitably lost in myth and legend, the most recent historiographical acquisitions, abetted by archeological finds, testify to far distant Eneolithic settlements and the certain presence of the Etruscans between the 6^th and 3^rd centuries B.C. It is most likely that Ligurian colonists of Celtic origin settled here even earlier, anticipating Greek colonization. Moreover, even though the legend of Pelops, who left the shores of the Alfeo (a river

in the Peloponnesus) for those of the Arno to found a new Pisa, in perennial memory of his land of origin, is inirectly supported by Virgil himself in the 10^th book of the Aeneid, we know with certainty that Pisa was a port of call in trading with the Greeks. In the Etruscan period Pisa, situated near the extreme northern border of Etruria, was certainly influenced by Volterra but never became more than a modest village of fishers and skilful shipbuilders, which depended in a part on the instability of the coastline and the periodical floods of the Arno. As Etruria was romanized, Pisa grew in importance and was an ally of Rome in the long wars against the Ligurians and the Carthaginians. The port (Portus Pisanus), at the tima situated between the mouth of the river (in those times near where San Piero a Grado stands today) and that portion of the coast now occupied by Livorno, constituted an ideal naval base for the Roman fleet in the expeditions against the Ligurians and the Gauls, and in the operations aimed at subjugating Corsica, Sardinia and other coastal zones of Spain. Pisa, ally of Rome, then became a colonia, a municipium, and in the time of Octavianus Augustus (1^st cent. B.C.) was known as Colonia Julia Pisana Obsequens. In the meanwhile the growth in population, the development of shipbuilding and trade - fostered by the establishment of the Via Aurelia and the Via Aemilia Scaurii as well as by the harbor - meant an expansion of the inhabited area which was soon surrounded by a circle of walls.

One thousand years of history

Few towns in the world can boast of a past as splendid as the one of Pisa. In the course of more than ten centuries, its citizens have left a permanent mark on the history and the art of western civilization. The history of Pisa is marked by an impressive series of successes: the early fights against the Sarassins established Pisa’s dominant position in the Mediterranean; the active participation in the Crusades led to a great expansion of the marittime trade and opened Pisa to the culture of the Moslem world; the foundation of a powerful Republic and of one of the oldest European Universities where the famous scientist Galileo Galilei was a student and later a professor. All these important events have had a great influence on Italian and European history and give Pisa, a town which is still “á mesure d’homme” the right to be considered one of the capitals of the western world.

To summarize the history of Pisa from its distant and still poorly known origins to the present time is a difficult task, perhaps more difficult than for other Italian cities, owing to the many different influences that determined the developpement of its merchantile power of its art and of its culture.

Pisa’s geographical location, open both to the sea and to the fertile land that surrounds the town, has attracted since time immemorial different people from different civilizations which makes it extremely hard to reconstruct in detail the course of the town’s history.

The original inhabitants were Liguri and Etruscans: their history and developments are poorly known but are slowly and patiently and competently being reconstructed by archeologists. Rather early Pisa fell under the influence of Rome and already in 89 B.C. the town was granted Roman citizenship: the commercial importance of Pisa began to increase rapidly and its future destiny as a maritime power began to take shape. Even after the fall of the Roman Empire, during the difficult centuries when the Barbarians were raiding and sacking the whole of Italy, Pisa managed to increase her economic and military power by developping her fleet, opening up new markets and fighting the Saracen Corsairs. Pisa could then be considered as the queen of the Mediterranean sea, and after the victories in Palermo, in Corsica, Sardinia and the Balearic Islands she became, in the XIth and XIIth century, the most active commercial centre of the Mediterranean. Pisa was probably one of the largest western towns of that period: those were the years when the monuments of the Piazza del Duomo were being built as a permanent memorial to the christian faith and to the political power of the Pisans.

However in the XIIIth century one could notice the first signs of a crisis which was soon to imperil the economic and military power of the Pisan Republic. After several decades of internal fights between the various political factions, of battles with the neighbouring towns, of naval battles with enemies that were becoming more and more numerous, the Pisan navy was finally destroyed by the Genoese at the battle of the Meloria on August 6 1284, the day of Saint Sisto, Pisa’s patron saint. That marked the end of Pisa’s maritime power: trade rapidly declined, the harbour began slowly to be buried under the sand brought by the river Arno. The coup de grace came on October 9 1409 when Pisa was obliged to surrender to Florence, the new “capital” of Tuscany. In spite of a short period of freedom (1495-1506), that was the beginning of a long period of economic depression and political oppression: Pisa became a small, poor provincial town and almost forgot the memory of her splendid past.

Only in the second half of the XVIth century the Medici, the rulers of Florence, began to take some interest in Pisa: new buildings were raised, old ones were restored, the University was expanded. In spite of this, until the unification of Italy in 1865, Pisa only lived in the shadow of Florence. With the annexetion of the Grandukedom of Tuscany to the kingdom of Italy, a period of economical and demographic expansion began for Pisa: small industries were created, the town began to expand outside of the old city walls, the university went trough a period of rapide quantitative and qualitative development which in turn helped the expansion of the service oriented economy. The period of prosperity that still continues today was interrupted by the destructions caused by the air raides and the fighting in the years 1943-1944 which caused the death of more than three thousand people and the destruction of part of the art treasures of the town.

The imperial was noted for the magnificence of its public and private buildings: although at present traces of 'Roman life' in Pisa are scarse (Baths of Hadrian, improperly called the 'Baths of Nero', capitals from the age of Severus, 3^rd cent. A.D.) there seems to be little doubt as to the existence of a Forum and a Palatium as well as an Anphitheatre, a Piscina, a Naval Circus and numerous temple structures, replaced by churches in Christian times. Recently (June 1991) axcavations carried out near the Arena Garibaldi have revealed the presence of an Etruscan necropolis on

which a domus augustea was laid out in Roman times. The first Christian ferments were introduced into the area of Pisa by Saint Peter himself, who landed 'ad Gradus' in 47 A.D. So goes the legend, so deeply rooted however that a basilica was subsequently built here.With the fall of the Roman Empire, Pisa passed first under the Lombards and then under the Franks. In the early Middle Ages the city's maritime vocation burgeoned and soon contrasted with the Saracens, who were aiming at full supremacy of the Mediterranean. With bases in Corsica and Sardinia, they frequently threatened the lands controlled by the Church itself. The story of Kinzica de' Sismondi is well known. This young pisan heroine is said to have saved the city from a Saracen incursion while most of the Pisan army and fleet were out driving the infields of Reggio Calabria (1005). Between 1016 and 1046 the Pisans conquered Sardinia, hand Corsica too in the end (1052), thus laying the bases for an effective control of the Tyrrhenian Sea as opposed to the Saracens. After these successes the city, with Papal consent, sent the fleet to Sicily to support the struggle of the Norman Roger I and Robert against the Saracens. After breaking the chains of the harbor of Palermo, the ships hoisting the Pisan Cross in a field of red (the city's standard since the exploit of Sardinia) defeated the enemy (1062) returning home with such rich booty that they were able to begin the construction of the Cathedral.

"Pisa Cathedral with Baptistery, Campanile and Campo Santo, together form one of the most famous building groups in the world. The cathedral is one of the finest of the Romanesque period and has a strongly marked individuality. It resembles other early basilican churches in plan, with long rows of columns connected by arches, double aisles, and a nave which has the usual timber roof. The exterior has bands of red and white marble, and the ground storey is faced with wall relief by tiers of wall passages which rise one above another right into the gable. The transepts, each with an apse at the end, were an advance on the simple basilican plan. The elliptical dome over the crossing is of later date. The building depends for its interest on its general proportions and on the delicacy of its ornamental features, rather than on any new structural development, such as may be seen in northern Italy."