A city of western Italy on the Arno River near the Tyrrhenian Sea. An important Etruscan town, it developed into a powerful maritime republic in the 9th to 11th centuries but was crushed by Genoa in 1284. Florence controlled the city from 1406 to 1509. The campanile of its cathedral, built 1174-c. 1350, is the famed Leaning Tower of Pisa. Population: 87,200.
Pisan Pi'san adj. & n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
