Pisa’s Leaning Tower is to Italy what the Eiffel Tower is to France – a landmark as recognisable as it is popular, and one that the country seems to know how to exploit best to serve its tourism. So, Pisa – does it hold any attraction more than the tower itself?

These days Pisa is a fairly quiet university town, and in general has the calm studenty air that you’d expect. It’s a pretty small place – it’s nice and easy to walk from the train station to anywhere in Pisa. The trouble is, because all the tourists flock to the Tower, the main part of the town seems to have become less hospitable as a result. When we visited, the area around the train station (unfortunately where our hotel was) was crowded by rowdy, abusive drunks, and in general there’s quite a lot of litter around.

Walking from the train station into the centre, things start to improve. The buildings are occasionally beautiful, and thanks to the lack of chain stores and big brands, the town seems to retain a kind of retro feeling. When we visited there was a glorious little food market going on. However, these joys are often diamonds in the rough. As you cross the Arno, you’ll see what I mean. Whereas Florence is able to turn this mucky, green river into something beautiful thanks to the architecture around it, things are very different in Pisa. The bridges are not beautifully sculpted masterpieces like in Florence, they simply seem to serve as a means to cross the river, for pedestrians and cars alike. The difference is massive, and this attitude seems to be reflected in many other places in town, lots of dirty buildings and ill-kept roads.

The Piazza dei Miracoli is where everyone ends up as they walk across the town – this is the ‘square’ that hosts the infamous Leaning Tower and also the lovely cathedral. The cathedral is well worth popping into, with a massive and extremely intricate interior. The square itself is extremely elegant, the grassed areas are peaceful and well maintained. The biggest issue, as you might imagine, is that it’s become so touristy. The square is edged, just outside its grounds, by numerous kiosks selling souvenirs, foods and so on, and there’s usually a handful of more aggressive sellers walking around the grounds of the square offering to take photos or sell you photos.

Apart from the cathedral, the obvious attraction is the Leaning Tower. Aside from these two buildings there’s not much else to do here (or in the whole of Pisa). So, the tower – it leans. As I opened this experience by saying, it’s one of the most recognisable landmarks ever, and as such the ugly head of disappointment is likely to rear up. It doesn’t lean as much as you’d like to imagine or your childhood imagination had led you to believe. You really have to catch it from the right angle if you’re desperate for some lean. It’s also not as tall as you’d have thought. Still, bearing all that in mind, it’s just one of those things that needs to be seen, if only once. Unfortunately if you want to go up the tower you can’t just pay an entrance fee, tours are organised in groups (about 20-30 people) so you don’t get to enjoy it in your own time, and you’re also likely to have to wait for a while before the next group is scheduled to ascend. In fact, when we were there it wasn’t open to visits at all; there was an architectural surveillance team taking photos.

Visit Pisa by all means – but don’t even bother staying a single night. It’s so easy to get to as a day trip from Florence, and offers so little to do that there’s no need to have to start questioning the atmosphere and occasionally hostile upkeep. Just get in, check out the Campo dei Miracoli and the Tower, and get out again. Job done.