Pisa'd off

This site charges 2 seuro an hour for internet access - and its not that quick.
Still yesterday (Saturday) we went local just down the road to Pisa but after a convoluted route. We tried to get to Gombo, which lovers of literature will know is the place Shelley was cremated after he drowned while sailing from Livorno. We have seen the picture in the Walker and decided to go and see the site. After driving around US base Camp Derby (vast but not very secret as its on the road signs) and finding a monastery (ruined) allegedly set up by St Peter we were stopped as the Italian president has a secure house near Gombo. So we went into Pisa, Which in my humble opinion is dire. The area around the Duomo and tower is drowned in tatty stalls selling total rubbish - that's the polite version - and if I saw anyone else doing the original "I'm pushing the Tower" pose I could scream. (Apologies to anyone with that photo).
So we skipped past the Baptistery, Duomo and Tower and went to Campsanto. Now why anyone would in the twelfth century bring a load of earth from Jerusalem just to provide holy ground for the rich and famous is beyond me. But that is what they allegedly did. The cloisters are a tribute to the destructive power of man not his creativity. Fire bombed by the "good guys" in WW II the place is virtually bare.
But walk to the two surviving frescoes and wow.. . called the Triumph of Death and the Last Judgement they are masterpieces for the medieval Catholic vision. Death, retribution and suffering in large doses yet done with style and a vivid imagination. I can see it frightening the masses back into their place.
Shame the same is not true of the rest of Pisa. The place seems tired and tatty with graffiti all over - even if some is witty and political. The town is unable to capitalise on its fame and use it for good. Overall a sad picture - sort of Blackpool with religious overtones!