The building on the Lungarno known as Palazzo Mosca is a combination of several towers. The oldest, dating from the end of the 12th century is the one with free-standing pilasters built on the façade entirely of stone, coupled at the top by a pointed arch. Between the end of the 12th and the beginning of the 13th centuries, a second similar building was attached to it, with the only difference that bricks were used for the topmost part. Tower houses built attached to another were a development of the 1200s. The pilasters are not completely free-standing, being joined at the base by continuous stone masonry. The attention to detail in the construction, visible in the arches and the mouldings, often in marble, suggests refined clients.
In 1302 Mosca di Ventura, merchant and banker, moved from S. Gimignano to Pisa and commissioned Master Gerardo da Firenze to build him a well-appointed residence in these buildings, the details of their agreement are carefully outlinedin an act that has reached us.
Documents also reveal that Mosca’s descendants attemptedto annex other nearby buildings both on Lungarno and on carraia maiore (now via Toselli). After some difficulties, the Del Mosca family succeeded not only in recovering their ancient inheritance in the 17th century but increasing it to the point that, perhaps already in the 1600s, the palazzo achieved its present size and appearance, with the insertion of three rows of windows in sandstone on the main facades.
Along the stairway in Palazzo Mosca is a permanent exhibition of a selection from the 300 works by French post-impressionist artists, a donation by the Art merchant Bruno Bassano to the city of Pisa in 1975.