The Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II is but a short walk north of Pisa Central Station. It is considered one of the city’s most important traffic hubs. It is at this square that the main street Corso Italia begins. Sights are the Palazzo delle Poste and the Sant’Antonio Abate Church.
Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II Pisa
History and description
The Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II is dedicated to the first king of Italy. The statue of the man was placed in the centre of the square by Cesare Zocchi in 1892. According to the inhabitants of Pisa, the plume was placed on the helmet in order to make the king look a little slimmer.
In the Middle Ages, walls ran through the present square. Excavations for the benefit of a car park uncovered the foundation of the Porta San Gilio and some elements of a drawbridge dating back to the 12th century. Here, in Roman times, was the beginning of the Carrais Pontis Veteris (today’s Corso Italia).
The building at the beginning of the Corso Italia, was constructed by Lamberto Bartolucci in 1952, and houses the Chamber of Commerce.
The two neo-Gothic buildings on the station side of the square were both designed by Federigo Severini. The Palazzo delle Poste was constructed in 1929 and the somewhat more sober former provincial building in 1935.
Between these two buildings, one can see the Pisa Centrale station, built in 1871.
What one can also see is the back of the Sant’Antonio Abate Church. It is on one of the walls of this church that Keith Haring painted his Tuttomondo.