Pisa’s greatest treasures: a literary guide for the curious wayfarer. A book that will surprise all its readers, native pisani, foreigners and tourists alike. Because Pisa, so the thinking goes, is all about the leaning tower. But in actual fact there are three leaning towers: the one that needs no introduction, the bell tower of the Cathedral and the one that leans least of all.

“Whoever you are come with me. Trust me. There is more than one way to explore the city.”

Marco Malvaldi, a native pisano, became accustomed from an early age to bumping into hordes of tourists in pursuit of the decisive object: the tower! Not Piazza dei Miracoli, mind you, which would already be too much to hope for: no, the leaning Tower. The Tower and only the Tower. In Pisa, some people like to think, there is nothing else. At times, visitors pause at the head of the bridge, map in hand, trying to figure out if they are on the right path; at other times, they walk briskly onwards, shepherded along by a tour guide in a straw hat holding a flag aloft, or supported by a smart phone with satellite images that confirms they are moving in the right direction. Not one of them stops to turn right. And that’s a shame. Because if they did they would spy on the shore of the river, at about thirty metres distance from the bridge, a wonderful little church…