What legend surrounds Campo Santo's soil?

Crusaders brought it from Golgotha

Piazza dei Miracoli Quiz: Pisa's Baptistery and Campo Santo

This Piazza dei Miracoli quiz walks the green lawn of Pisa's Square of Miracles. Play 10 interactive questions on the cathedral begun in 1064, the huge round baptistery and its echo, pulpits by Nicola and Giovanni Pisano, the Campo Santo cemetery, crusaders' soil, the 1944 fire, Galileo's lamp legend, D'Annunzio's name for the square and UNESCO.

Start Piazza dei Miracoli Quiz

🎯 Daily Trivia Challenge • 🧠 10 Questions • ⏱️ 150 Seconds

Question 1 / 10 Time: 150s

City
Which city is the Piazza dei Miracoli in?
Name
What does Piazza dei Miracoli mean?
Poet
Which writer gave the square its nickname?
Cathedral
When was Pisa Cathedral begun?
Baptistery
What is special about the baptistery?
Echo
What do guards demonstrate inside the baptistery?
Pulpit
Which father and son carved famous pulpits there?
Cemetery
What is the Campo Santo?
Soil
What legend surrounds Campo Santo's soil?
Galileo
What is Galileo said to have watched swinging in the cathedral?

Explanations: answer key for all 10 questions

Q1: Which city is the Piazza dei Miracoli in?
Answer: Pisa
It is in Tuscany.
Q2: What does Piazza dei Miracoli mean?
Answer: Square of Miracles
A poet popularized the name.
Q3: Which writer gave the square its nickname?
Answer: Gabriele D'Annunzio
He wrote it in a novel.
Q4: When was Pisa Cathedral begun?
Answer: 1064
Sea trade paid for it.
Q5: What is special about the baptistery?
Answer: It is the largest in Italy
Its round form is huge.
Q6: What do guards demonstrate inside the baptistery?
Answer: Its echo by singing
Notes linger and overlap.
Q7: Which father and son carved famous pulpits there?
Answer: Nicola and Giovanni Pisano
Their carvings are detailed.
Q8: What is the Campo Santo?
Answer: A monumental cemetery
Its cloister holds frescoes.
Q9: What legend surrounds Campo Santo's soil?
Answer: Crusaders brought it from Golgotha
Bodies were said to decay quickly.
Q10: What is Galileo said to have watched swinging in the cathedral?
Answer: A lamp
It inspired ideas about pendulums.

Cathedral, Baptistery and Campo Santo Beyond the Tower

The Piazza dei Miracoli in Pisa, Tuscany, is a green lawn holding four great white marble buildings: the cathedral, the baptistery, the Campo Santo cemetery and the famous leaning bell tower. Writer Gabriele D'Annunzio popularized its name, the Square of Miracles. It became a UNESCO site in 1987.

The cathedral was begun in 1064, paid for by Pisa's wealth from sea trade. A legend says young Galileo watched a lamp swinging there and began thinking about pendulums. Both the cathedral and the baptistery hold carved pulpits by father and son Nicola and Giovanni Pisano.

The round baptistery is the largest in Italy, and guards sing short notes to show off its long echo. The Campo Santo is a monumental cemetery said to hold soil brought from Golgotha by crusaders. A fire in 1944 damaged its frescoes, which have been painstakingly restored.

What This Quiz Teaches

Architecture fans will enjoy these questions.

What stands in the square
When the cathedral began
What makes the baptistery special
Which artists worked there
Which legends surround it

Did You Know?

Visitors pose to hold up the leaning tower in photos.
The cathedral's bronze doors show biblical scenes.
Tickets for the tower are timed.
The buildings lean slightly too, not just the tower.
Pisa's medieval walls border the square.