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South of the river
The middle of the Ponte di Mezzo, the city's central bridge, is a perfect spot from which to admire the sweep of Pisa's palazzo-lined waterfront and the Logge di Banchi on the south side of the bridge. Formerly the city's silk and wool market, this is now the scene for student gatherings and assignations after dark; it stands at the head of the main Corso Italia, a street that gets progressively shabbier as it nears the train station. On the church of San Antonio, just off Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II, is the last work of US artist Keith Haring. Haring completed the vibrant, imaginative mural in a week in June 1989 while seriously ill; he died eight months later. His bendy, cartoonish figures radiate colour above what is now the bus station, tragically unregarded, and indeed, quite often obscured by parked buses.
A five-minute walk west of the Ponte di Mezzo is the turreted oratory of Santa Maria della Spina. The little church dates from 1230, but was rebuilt in 1323 in the finest flourish of Pisan Gothic by a merchant who had acquired a thorn (spina) of Christ's crown. The tiny single-naved interior has mullioned windows on the river side, but has lost most of its furnishings.
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