Pisa in the context of "Jerzy Grotowski"

Galileo di Vincenzo Bonaiuti de' Galilei (15 February 1564 – 8 January 1642), commonly referred to as Galileo Galilei (/ˌɡælɪˈleɪoʊ ˌɡælɪˈleɪ/ GAL-il-AY-oh GAL-il-AY, US also /ˌɡælɪˈliːoʊ -/ GAL-il-EE-oh -⁠, Italian: [ɡaliˈlɛːo ɡaliˈlɛi]) or mononymously as Galileo, was an Italian astronomer, physicist, and engineer, sometimes described as a polymath. He was born in the city of Pisa, then part of the Duchy of Florence. Galileo has been called the father of observational astronomy, modern-era classical physics, the scientific method, and modern science.

Galileo studied speed and velocity, gravity and free fall, the principle of relativity, inertia, projectile motion, and also worked in applied science and technology, describing the properties of the pendulum and "hydrostatic balances". He was one of the earliest Renaissance developers of the thermoscope and the inventor of various military compasses. With an improved telescope he built, he observed the stars of the Milky Way, the phases of Venus, the four largest satellites of Jupiter, Saturn's rings, lunar craters, and sunspots. He also built an early microscope.

Sassari (US: /ˈsɑːsəri, ˈsɑːsɑːri/ SAH-sər-ee, SAH-sar-ee; Italian: [ˈsassari] ; Sassarese: Sàssari [ˈsasːari]; Sardinian: Tàtari [ˈtataɾi]) is the second-largest city in the autonomous region of Sardinia in Italy, as well as the capital and largest of its metropolitan city with 120,497 inhabitants as of 2025, and a functional urban area of about 260,000 inhabitants. One of the oldest cities on the island, it contains a considerable collection of art.

Since its origins at the turn of the 12th century, Sassari has been ruled by the Giudicato of Torres, the Pisans, as an independent republic in alliance with Genoa, by the Aragonese and the Spanish, all of whom have contributed to Sassari's historical and artistic heritage. Sassari is a city rich in art, culture and history, and is well known for its palazzi, the Fountain of the Rosello, and its elegant neoclassical architecture, such as Piazza d'Italia (Italy Square) and the Teatro Civico (Civic Theatre).

Alessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi (c. 1445 – May 17, 1510), better known as Sandro Botticelli (/ˌbɒtɪˈtʃɛli/ BOT-ih-CHEL-ee; Italian: [ˈsandro bottiˈtʃɛlli]) or simply Botticelli, was an Italian painter of the Early Renaissance. Botticelli's posthumous reputation suffered until the late 19th century, when he was rediscovered by the Pre-Raphaelites who stimulated a reappraisal of his work. Since then, his paintings have been seen to represent the linear grace of late Italian Gothic and some Early Renaissance painting, even though they date from the latter half of the Italian Renaissance period.

In addition to the mythological subjects for which he is best known today, Botticelli painted a wide range of religious subjects (including dozens of renditions of the Madonna and Child, many in the round tondo shape) and also some portraits. His best-known works are The Birth of Venus and Primavera, both in the Uffizi in Florence, which holds many of Botticelli's works. Botticelli lived all his life in the same neighbourhood of Florence; his only significant times elsewhere were the months he spent painting in Pisa in 1474 and the Sistine Chapel in Rome in 1481–82.

The Western Schism, also known as the Great Divide, the Great Occidental Schism, the Schism of 1378, or the Great Western Schism (Latin: Magnum schisma occidentale, Ecclesiae occidentalis schisma), was a split within the Catholic Church lasting from 20 September 1378 to 11 November 1417, in which bishops residing in Rome and Avignon simultaneously claimed to be the true pope, and were eventually joined by a line of Pisan claimants in 1409. The event was driven by international rivalries, personalities and political allegiances, with the Avignon Papacy in particular being closely tied to the French monarchy.

The papacy had resided in Avignon since 1309, but Pope Gregory XI returned to Rome in 1377. The Catholic Church split in September 1378, when, following Gregory XI's death and Urban VI's subsequent election, a group of French cardinals declared his election invalid due to intimidation and violence and, in the presence of three Italian cardinals, elected Clement VII, who claimed to be the true pope. As Roman claimant, Urban VI was succeeded by Boniface IX, Innocent VII and Gregory XII. Clement VII was succeeded as Avignon claimant by Benedict XIII.

Prince Leopold of the Two Sicilies (22 May 1813, in Palermo – 4 December 1860, in Pisa) was a prince of the Two Sicilies and was known as the Count of Syracuse.

George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824), was an English poet. He is one of the major figures of the Romantic movement, and is regarded as being among the greatest British poets. Among his best-known works are the lengthy narratives Don Juan and Childe Harold's Pilgrimage; many of his shorter lyrics in Hebrew Melodies also became popular.

Byron was educated at Trinity College at the University of Cambridge. Following graduation, he travelled extensively in Europe, living for seven years in Italy, in Venice, Ravenna, Pisa, and Genoa, and then was forced to flee to England after receiving threats of lynching. During his stay in Italy, he would frequently visit his friend and fellow poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. Later in life, Byron joined the Greek War of Independence to fight the Ottoman Empire, for which Greeks revere him as a folk hero. He died leading a campaign in 1824, at the age of 36, from a fever contracted after the first and second sieges of Missolonghi.

The Republic of Pisa (Italian: Repubblica di Pisa) was an independent state existing from the 11th to the 15th century centered on the Tuscan city of Pisa. It rose to become an economic powerhouse, a commercial center whose merchants dominated Mediterranean and Italian trade for a century, before being surpassed and superseded by the Republic of Genoa.

The republic's participation in the Crusades secured valuable commercial positions for Pisan traders, leading to increased wealth and power. Pisa was a historical rival to Genoa at sea and to Florence and Lucca on land. It lost its independence to Florence in 1406.