Friday – May 15, 2026 – Livorno
I’m sure you’ve all seen a photo like today’s featured photo – someone appearing to do something to a building, person, animal, etc. that really isn’t happening. In this case, the “isn’t happening” thing is Kelsey is NOT holding up the Leaning Tower of Pisa. I took the photo for a friend who was not able to make the excursion to Pisa but wanted a photo like this.
Today is our last day on MSC Magnifica. One of the couples we have eaten with at breakfast has already disembarked. This morning we won’t see the other couples at breakfast because we have an early excursion and they won’t arrive to eat before we have left. We need to finish packing and to do so, we must purchase another full-sized suitcase. And it is raining! We’re going to make the most of this last day and are looking forward to seeing Pisa.
The time lapse of our arrival in the gallery should give you an idea of the weather – not optimal. We had a nice breakfast and saw Gustavo again for our last packet of chocolate mix. Our excursion was running on time so we boarded our bus and headed for Pisa. The guide for our trip is a native of Livorno. Her name is Antonella. She told us that all her female friends from Pisa are named Eileen!
The trip from Livorno to Pisa is short – around 30 minutes. Along the way we saw some of the scenery for which the Tuscan area of Italy is famous. As we reached Pisa, we could see the tops of the Baptistry and Tower. Parking is not available for buses at the Piazza del Duomo, so we parked and walked 15 minutes to reach the plaza. It was raining and there were vendors selling umbrellas for $5. One of the passengers only had a $10 so he bought 2 and gave us 1 of them. As we walked, we kept an eye out for stores that might sell suitcases – Antonella had told us there should be plenty of opportunities to find one while in Pisa. As we walked past vendors with stalls at the wall surrounding the plaza, we saw several that carried luggage – so we felt at ease we would find a suitcase after touring the plaza.
The first building we visited was the Cattedrale di Pisa. White and dark marble was used extensively in the construction. With the rain, the marble was slick so we watched ourselves as we walked. The interior was awesome as you can see from the photos in the gallery. We were told that some of the columns were brought back to Italy from lands conquered by the Romans. The pulpit is a work of art unto itself with intricate sculpture. A portion of the sculpture depicts the slaughter of the innocents commanded by Herod. As you leave the cathedral you can view a coat of arms for the House of Medici – it is placed over the main entrance/exit door.
Antonella encouraged us to walk to the Battistero di San Giovanni because there was to be a demonstration of the acoustics in that building. We made our way out of the cathedral and into the baptistry, found places along the walls and waited for the attendant to close the doors and begin the demonstration. There is a minute and a half video of the demonstration in today’s gallery.
Following the demonstration in the baptistry, we made our way to the star of the show – the Leaning Tower of Pisa. This tower is actually a bell tower with 7 bells at the top – 1 for each of the notes of the major scale – A, B, C, D, E, F and G. There are stairs leading to the top – we did not opt to do that but did see people at the top who obviously made that choice. You can read about the tower and the reason it leans by clicking on the link earlier in this paragraph. Work has been done to lessen the deviation from vertical from 5.5 degrees to under 4 degrees. The tower has been stabilized so that its pitch should not increase. As you can see in the gallery, Kelsey held the tower for some time to steady it as well.
By the time we finished photographing the tower the rain had nearly finished. We left the plaza and began looking for a suitcase and souvenir t-shirts. We found a suitcase very quickly – bright yellow in color – and purchased it. A shop not far from there had a wide variety of t-shirts we liked so we each added to our collection of clothing with shirts from Pisa.
After completing our shopping, we walked the half block to our assembly area to wait for the rest of our group and our guide. At noon we trekked to the bus parking lot, boarded our bus and returned to the ship. We grabbed a snack at the buffet and returned to our cabins to pack. Following dinner, we stopped at the EFFY store so Kelsey could say “Goodbye” to Kelly – the salesperson she had befriended during the cruise. Then it was back to our cabins to complete the packing. All 8 of our checked luggage were packed and set outside our cabins so they could be picked up at 11:00 pm. There is a photo in the gallery of the 6 set outside our cabin on deck 12. We went to sleep anxious about what would happen tomorrow. I dozed off recounting our journey beginning with our boarding in Genoa 130 days ago.
Photos and video from today are here.
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