On Tuesday 25 March Pisa, according to tradiotion, enters the year 2026.
The beginning of the Pisan Year is marked by a 'sundial'. In Pisa Cathedral, a ray of sunlight entered through a window known as the 'Aurea', striking an area close to the high altar at midday on the dot. In time, this clock disappeared due to the heavy alterations made to the cathedral during the 17th century. The sun mechanism was later reinstated between the 19th and 20th centuries, using a different window and establishing as a target an egg-shaped shelf on the pillar next to where Giovanni Pisano's pulpit was reassembled in 1926.
The sunbeam ceremony was revived in the late 1980s.
The Municipality of Pisa organised numerous events on the occasion of the Pisan New Year, events that culminated in the ceremony of the sunbeam entering through a window of Pisa Cathedral in the presence of the city authorities.
In view of 25 March, the anniversary's symbolic day, the Municipality of Pisa has promoted a calendar of events and meetings devoted to the city's history and culture. Inaugurating the celebrations will be the two meetings ‘Waiting for the Pisan New Year’ scheduled for 14 and 15 March at the municipal premises of Palazzo Gambacorti and the SMS Biblio.
PROGRAMME
The first event, scheduled for Friday 14 March at 5 p.m. at Palazzo Gambacorti - sala Umberto Moschini, is the round table ‘From the rediscovery, the valorisation of a city recurrence’ with Alberto Zampieri and Serena Gianfaldoni. The event is organised by the Noble Parties of Mezzogiorno and Tramontana, with the patronage of the Amici del Gioco del Ponte Association, and represents a moment of in-depth study on the origins and revival of the tradition of New Year's Eve in the Pisan style.
The second appointment, scheduled for Saturday 15 March at 5 p.m. at the SMS Library, is the conference "The computation of time and sundials in the Pisa area", an opportunity to rediscover the relationship between the city and how time was measured through a historical journey. The conference will be presented by Tullio Della Togna.
THURSDAY 20 MARCH
5.30 p.m. - Sala delle Baleari (Palazzo Gambacorti) - presentation of the book ‘Il sogno - Cronaca pisana del 1679’ by Luigi Navarrette (ETS Edition). Speakers: Massimiliano Grava, Cristina Moro, the editor Manuel Rossi. Introduced by Filippo Bedini.
Due to the adverse weather conditions forecast for tomorrow, Saturday 22 March, some of the outdoor events scheduled between Saturday 22 and Sunday 23 March have been postponed with the same times and modalities to next weekend (29 and 30 March).
SATURDAY 22 MARCH
4 p.m. - streets of the centre - historical procession and performance by musicians and flag-wavers from the Crossbowmen Company of Pisa. Postponed to Saturday, 29 March at 4 p.m.
5 p.m. - SMS municipal library - presentation of the book ‘Sei pisano se... dialetto pisano e modi di dire pisani’ (You are a Pisan if... Pisan dialect and Pisan idioms), edited by the Felici publishing house;
5:30 p.m. - streets of the city centre - the BadaBimBumBand presents ‘Opus band’. Postponed to Saturday 29 March at 17:30.
9:15 p.m. - Piazza dei Cavalieri - Entertainment by ‘Giullar Cortese’, born Gianluca Foresi. Postponed to Saturday 29 March at 21.15.
9.45 p.m. - Piazza dei Cavalieri - I Mercenari d'Oriente present the show ‘Pandora’. Postponed to Saturday 29 March at 21.45.
SATURDAY 22 AND SUNDAY 23 MARCH
Pisan-style menus: On Saturday 22 and Sunday 23 March, citizens and tourists will be able to enjoy thematic ‘Pisan-style’ menus in the city's participating restaurants. The event, promoted in collaboration with Confcommercio Pisa, Confesercenti Pisa and CNA Pisa, is part of the programme of the New Year's Eve in Pisa 2026. More than 20 restaurants in the city will offer typical dishes of Pisan cuisine to celebrate the start of the New Year, offering a special menu accompanied by a special price list that also includes an explanation of the Pisan New Year and the events scheduled.
Confcommercio Pisa member restaurants: Ristorante La Pergoletta, Ristorante L'Artilafo, Ristorante La Tortuga, Osteria In Domo, Ristorante La Clessidra, Ristorante Poldino, Osteria Sottosella, Ristorante New Trinchetto, Spaghetteria Ir Tegame, Ristorante L'Europeo, Osteria I Santi, Ristorante Squisitia.
Confesercenti Pisa member restaurants: Osteria La Mescita, Ristorante La buca di San Ranieri, Anita Osteria, Osteria San Paolo.
CNA Pisa member restaurants: La Buca Restaurant, La Sosta Restaurant, Santa Maria Restaurant, Erbaluigia Osteria Contemporanea, Porto Franco L'Enoteca.
SATURDAY 22 MARCH TO TUESDAY 25 MARCH
from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. - Church of Santa Maria della Spina - Infiorata dell'Annunciazione, organised by Pro Loco Fucecchio aps;
SATURDAY 22, SUNDAY 23 AND TUESDAY 25 MARCH
3.30 p.m. to 5.30 p.m. - Chapel of Sant'Agata, Via San Paolo - free opening by the cultural association ‘Il Mosaico’;
SATURDAY 22 AND SUNDAY 23 MARCH
From 3.30 p.m. to 7.30 p.m. - Palazzo Gambacorti - Exhibition of armour and crossbows and guided tours of the Permanent Exhibition of Historical Traditions, organised by the Crossbowmen of Porta San Marco;
Piazza La Pera, Il Capodanno della terra - Market of ancient flavours with workshops for children, organised by Slow food Pisa and the Pisan hills, in collaboration with the Alma Pisarum association. Postponed to Saturday 29 and Sunday 30 March.
NB. It will not be possible to recover the event Il Capodanno della terra - Mercatino degli antichi sapori with workshops for children, organised by Slow food Pisa and the Pisan hills, in collaboration with the Alma Pisarum association initially scheduled for Saturday 22 and Sunday 23 March and postponed due to bad weather.
5.00 p.m. - Piazza La Pera - Storie di Toscana - puppet show organised by Habanera Teatro. Postponed to Saturday 29 and Sunday 30 March at 5 p.m.
10 a.m. to 7 p.m. - Fortilizio della Cittadella - Exhibition of Pisan ceramics, in collaboration with Il distretto delle ceramiche del ‘900 di San Giovanni alla Vena.
SUNDAY 23RD MARCH
5:00 p.m. - in front of the Church of Santa Maria della Spina - Gospel Concert of the Annunciation for the New Year of Pisa 2026 s. p. - with Voices of Heaven Choir (in case of rain, the concert will take place in the Church of San Michele in Borgo)
MONDAY 24 MARCH
from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. - Giardino Scotto in the stretch of city walls - Bastione san Gallo. Historical re-enactment event, with an account of the history of the walls and the bastion, entertainment, medieval musical instruments and falconry, organised by Balestrieri di Porta san Marco, Associazione Il cavallo di san Martino, Musikantika and Falconeria Sunrise. Guided tours for middle school classes;
5 p.m. - Palazzo Gambacorti, Sala Moschini - ‘From the rediscovery, the valorisation of a city recurrence’ - round table discussion with Alberto Zampieri and Stefano Gianfaldoni promoted by the Noble Parties of Mezzogiorno and Tramontana in collaboration with the Associazione Amici del Gioco del Ponte;
7 p.m. - Conad Le Mura (Via Emanuele Filiberto, 9) - ‘Fuori Le Mura’, in collaboration with Pisa Jazz and the Municipality of Pisa, presents the concert by Dimitri Grechi Espinoza entitled ‘Oreb - The Spiritual Meaning of Sound’.
TUESDAY 25 MARCH
11 a.m. - Piazza XX Settembre - Historical procession of the Pisan New Year, with representatives of the city's parades, from Palazzo Gambacorti to the Cathedral;
11:45 a.m. - Cathedral - Liturgy of the Annunciation
noon - Cathedral - Sunbeam Ceremony and gift of candles.
On 25 March the municipal buildings will be decorated as usual with the historic banners of Pisa. On Saturday 22, Sunday 23 and Tuesday 25 March, the Church of Santa Maria della Spina, the Chapel of Sant'Agata and the Fortress and Citadel with access to the Guelph Tower will be open free of charge.
Historical notes
New Year’s Eve in Pisan Style. From the 10th century the Pisans made the beginning of the year coincide with the Annunciation (and then the Incarnation of Jesus), that is 9 months before December 25. Thus the Pisan Year ab Incarnatione Domini (or Christi) was obtained. The first document dated in Pisan Style that attests it dates back to 985. This year’s start date remained in force for centuries also in the lands belonging to the Republic of Pisa: the coast between Portovenere and Civitavecchia, Gorgona, Capraia, Elba, Pianosa, Corsica, Sardinia, Balearic Islands, Gaeta, Reggio Calabria, Tropea, Lipari, Trapani, Mazara, Tunisia, Algeria, Egypt, Palestine, Syria, the city of Azov (in the Sea of the same name, at the mouth of the Don River) and Constantinople, where the Pisans were the only Westerners to be able to settle, along with the Venetians.
Ceremony of the sunbeam. Different, compared to the traditional, is then the moment of the transition to the New Year that does not correspond to Midnight but to the South, when from a window of the central nave of the Duomo a ray of sun illuminates the shelf shaped like an egg placed on the pillar next to the famous pergamum by Giovanni Pisano.
Revival of tradition. New Year's Eve in the Pisan Style lasted until 20 November 1749, when the Grand Duke of Tuscany, Francis I of Lorraine, ordered that the year 1750 should begin in all Tuscan states on the first day of the following January. Therefore, Pisa too had to conform to the use of the Gregorian calendar. It wasn't until the 1980s that this recurrence was resumed, and since then New Year's Day has once again been celebrated with cultural initiatives in advance of the rest of the world. Credit for the modern revival of the Pisan New Year is due in particular to two recently deceased Pisans: Umberto Moschini and Paolo Gianfaldoni.
