Saturday 23 and Sunday 24 September sees the return of the GEP - European Heritage Days, Europe's largest and most popular cultural event.

Over the two days, guided tours, special initiatives and extraordinary openings will be organised in Italian museums and cultural venues on the theme: 'Patrimonio InVita'.
In addition, extraordinary evening openings in state museums are planned on Saturday.

NATIONAL MUSEUM OF SAN MATTEO:

Saturday 23:

• The National Museum of San Matteo will be extraordinarily open from 8 pm to 11 pm with admission at a symbolic cost of 1 € + 1 € to face the emergency of areas affected by floods.
• At 9 pm, in collaboration with UniCoopFirenze (Pisa members section), "Talking ceramics: the story of colors in the Islamic basins of Pisa", speaker Abuhashish Mohammad, scholar of ancient Arabic calligraphy, teacher of Arabic language and calligraphy at the intercultural language center ALIF, Pisa.
  The medieval Islamic ceramics of the National Museum of San Matteo have been studied from various points of view, but little is known about the meanings of their "decorations". The conversation aims to penetrate the secrets that images and colors contain, real encrypted messages, understandable only in the epochs of their production.

Sunday 24:

• The National Museum of San Matteo will be exceptionally open from 9 am to 6 pm (last admission at 5:30 pm). Ticket at the usual cost of 5 € + 1 € to face the emergency of areas affected by floods.
• At 3:30 pm guided tour of the collection of paintings of the museum by the director Pierluigi Nieri.
  The impressive and rare collection of paintings in the museum allows you to retrace the evolution of figurative representation and painting techniques from the Middle Ages to the early Renaissance, passing by the collection of dossals, icons and crosses of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, the richest that is known, the collection of the polyptychs of the fourteenth century, among which the precious polyptych by Simone Martini stands out, to the square or rectangular tables of the early fifteenth century.

NATIONAL MUSEUM OF PALAZZO REALE:

saturday 23: 

• The National Museum of Palazzo Reale will be exceptionally open from 8 pm to 10:30 pm  (last admission at 10 pm) with admission at a symbolic cost of 1 € + 1 € to face the emergency of areas affected by floods.
• At 9 pm guided tour of the museum's permanent collection.

Sunday 24:

• The National Museum of Palazzo Reale from from 2 pm to 5:30 pm (last admission at 5 pm). Ticket at the usual cost of 5 € + 1 € to face the emergency of areas affected by floods.
• At 3:30 pm sguided tour of the museum's permanent collection. 

STATE ARCHIVE:

The State Archives opens its doors with guided tours of Palazzo Toscanelli and the Logge di Banchi. With the guidance of the Institute's staff, the public will be accompanied to discover two of the most prestigious and significant buildings in the city!

Sunday 24 September at Palazzo Toscanelli, guided tours in shifts at: 3.30 pm, 4.30 pm and 5.30 pm.

Guided visit to the Stucco Hall and the Music Hall, the Diplomatic Hall and the wall decorations which celebrate the figures of Galileo, Byron and Michelangelo.

Sunday 8 October will be the turn of the Logge di Banchi, with a guided tour of the first floor which has recently undergone interventions which have made it accessible to the public. Departure in shifts: 3.00 pm, 3.30 pm, 4.00 pm, 4.30 pm and 5.00 pm.

Guided tours are subject to reservations to be made at as-pi.eventi@cultura.gov.it.

TUMULUS OF THE ETRUSCAN PRINCE:

It will be possible to visit for free the archaeological area of the tumulus of San Iacopo, the monumental Etruscan princely tomb, Saturday 23 September from 10 am to 2 pm and Sunday 24 September from 10 am to 6 pm.

Following, at 18 will take place the now traditional concert "All from the prince Sunday evening!" with soprano Annarita Dallamarca and pianist Angelica Di Taranto. Before the concert Professor Stefano Bruni, Etruscan of the University of Ferrara, will illustrate the archaeological site, telling the story and the secrets of the mound. The initiative is organized by the association The Mosaic, under the patronage of the Municipality of Pisa.

THE THEME 

The Italian theme of GEP 2023 'InVita Heritage' takes up the European slogan 'Living Heritage', chosen by the Council of Europe and shared by the event's member countries, and invites us to reflect on intangible cultural heritage as a synonym for 'living' heritage.

Cultural values, traditions, practices and ways of living, the various forms of knowledge inherited from past generations and still used today to understand the present and shape the future, will be the central elements on which to build the narrative of the events of the Days. 

The theme aims to draw connections between recognising, safeguarding and promoting intangible cultural heritage assets in order to share them and pass them on to future generations. Within the framework of their historical-artistic peculiarities, the institutes will, for example, be able to propose in-depth studies based on the contents of the collections and works, connecting them to the transmission of practices, knowledge and traditions, and on the new forms of intangible transmission such as the digital one; organise workshops and meetings focusing on craftsmanship, dances and music, also seeking to represent the components contributed by all the communities present at the local level.

The evening opening will, as usual, be an opportunity to discover and visit places of culture in a way that, thanks to artistic performances or other multidisciplinary events, will allow people to look at them with different eyes, also appealing to emotions, suggestions, the pleasure of sharing a cultural experience and coming together.

In holding the Days, maximum attention will be paid to hospitality and accessibility, understood in their broadest and most inclusive sense and in keeping with the very concept of sustainability.