Pisa returns to commemorate the historic anniversary of the 742° anniversary of the Battle of Meloria and its fallen, with two days of celebrations.
On Wednesday, August 5th, the ceremony will take place in Campopisano, Genoa, organized by the cultural association “Il Mosaico” and other associations with the Municipality of Pisa and under the patronage of the Municipality of Genoa.
Thursday, August 6th, at the Secche della Meloria “a tribute to the fallen Pisans of all wars”.
Commemorations at Campopisano (Genoa)
The ceremony on Wednesday, August 5th in Genoa was born in 2019 and over time has also found its place in the Genoese calendar. On that day, the Municipality of Genoa is organizing three guided tours of the Civic Museum of Sant'Agostino (starting at 3:45 PM, 3:55 PM, and 4:05 PM). The route will take visitors to discover works and testimonies that tell the story of the relationship between Genoa and Pisa and the role of cities in the history of the medieval Mediterranean. Visits are free, with reservations required until all available seats are filled. At 5:00 pm, a historical commemoration will take place at Campopisano.
The program includes an introduction by Riccardo Buscemi, president of the Pisan cultural association “Il Mosaico” and councilor of the Municipality of Pisa; institutional greetings from representatives of the Municipalities of Genoa and Pisa; prayers and the laying of the laurel wreath at the commemorative plaque; and an inaugural address by Professor Maria Luisa Ceccarelli Lemut. Representations of the Historical Groups of Genoa and Pisa will take part in the commemoration, helping to recall the historical context of the battle. The Pisan delegation will be led by the mayor of Pisa, Michele Conti.
Ceremony at the Secche della Meloria
The ceremonies on Thursday, August 6th, instead include a boat excursion in the morning to the Secche delle Meloria, in front of Livorno, to throw a wreath into the sea. The program includes a meeting at 10.00 am at the Port of Pisa and, following, the introduction of representatives of the associations and greetings from the civil and military authorities. At 11:30 a.m., the arrival at the Secche della Meloria and the prayer for the fallen, with the blessing and throwing of a wreath into the sea.
History
The Battle of Meloria takes its name from the Secche of the same name where, on 6 August 1284, the fleets of Genoa and Pisa faced each other in a bloody naval clash that smiled on the Superba, forever changing the balance of power between the two cities, along with their history.
Despite the heavy defeat suffered by Genoa in the stretch of sea off present-day Livorno, the Pisan Republic continued to be a protagonist in the Mediterranean as a military and commercial power for many more years.
The long period of imprisonment was characterised by intense prisoner exchange activity between the two republics, also in exchange for large sums, and prisoners who failed to survive or return to their homeland were buried in Genoa near the church of San Marco, or that of the Franciscans and that of the Dominicans. Among the Pisans taken prisoner, the most famous is certainly Rustichello da Pisa who, under the dictation of Marco Polo, also a prisoner of Superba, wrote “Il Milione”.
Today, many years after that tragic war event, the reenactment of Meloria and the commemoration of the fallen represent, for the ancient Maritime Republics of Genoa and Pisa, a symbolic way of reaching out and shaking hands with each other.
The Genoese reenactment of the historic naval battle is set against the backdrop of the splendid Campopisano risseu, a typical Genoese mosaic made of pebbles depicting a black galley on a white field, in memory of the Pisan sailors defeated and imprisoned in Campopisano, where most died and were buried.