Like many other Tuscan towns, Pisa was founded by the Etruscan.

This mysterious people that - probably - came from Lydia (today`s Turkey) settled in the area where lies the town of the Leaning Tower between the 8th and the 6th centuries BC.

A visible evidence thereof is the "tomb of the Etruscan prince", located in Gagno, in proximity to the walls that mark the town`s historic centre on the north, among the one-or-two-storey villas that characterise this corner of Pisa.

Some people who were sinking a well accidentally discovered the tomb in 1967 (although about 20 tombs dating back to the Iron Age had already been unearthed in this area in the 19th century). The tumulus has a diameter of about 30 metres, and is surrounded by rectangular stones and monoliths.

Probably it is a cenotaph, that is, a sepulchral monument dedicated to someone who died in a different place and whose body has never been brought back to Pisa. Due to the find of some particular objects and the presence of a number of smaller tombs, experts believe that the tomb belonged to a noble man or to an important person... that is why it is called the "tomb of the Etruscan prince".

The tomb is not the only Etruscan find present in the town of the Leaning Tower, so if during your holidays in Tuscany you would like to dedicate to archaeology... why do not you rent a villa in the province of Pisa, near Volterra?