Leopardi arrived in Pisa on 9^th November 1827, in order to escape the rigours of the Florentine winter, and stayed there (in via della Faggiuola) till 10^th June 1828.

His impact with the city was extraordinarily positive: between 12^th and 14^th November he wrote several letters expressing great satisfaction; for example to his sister:

Sono rimasto incantato di Pisa per il clima: se dura così, sarà una beatitudine. ... L’aspetto di Pisa mi piace assai più di quel di Firenze. Questo lung’Arno è uno spettacolo così bello, così ampio, così magnifico, così gaio, così ridente, che innamora: non ho veduto niente di simile né a Firenze né a Milano né a Roma ... in certe ore del giorno quella contrada è piena di mondo, piena di carrozze e di pedoni; vi si sentono parlare dieci o venti lingue, vi brilla un sole bellissimo tra le dorature dei caffè, delle botteghe piene di galanterie, e nelle invetriate dei palazzi e delle case, tutte di bella architettura. Nel resto poi, Pisa è un misto di città grande e città piccola, di cittadino e di villereccio, un misto così romantico, che non ho mai veduto altrettanto. A tutte le altre bellezze, si aggiunge la bella lingua. E poi vi si aggiunge che io, grazie a Dio, sto bene; che mangio con appetito ... (12 novembre ’27)

I am charmed by Pisa for its climate: if its lasts on like this it will be beatitude. ... The look of Pisa I much prefer to that of Florence. This lung’Arno is such a beautiful sight, so ample, so magnificent, so joyful, so mirthful, that it makes you love it: I have never seen the like, be it in Florence or Milan or Rome ... at certain times of day that road is full of people, full of coaches and pedestrians; one can hear speak ten or twenty languages, the sun shines brightly there among the gildings of the coffee bars, on the shops full of fine things, and in the palace windows and those of the houses, all of a fine architecture. For the rest, Pisa is a mixture of big city and small city, of city and country folk, such a romantic mixture that I have never seen the like of. To all its other beauties is to be added the fine tongue. And to this add that I, thank God, am well; that I eat with appetite ... (12^th November 1827)

In Pisa Leopardi worked at the Crestomazia poetica, frequented the home of Sofia Vaccà, of Lauretta Cipriani Parra and of Isabel and Margaret Mason, and spent a lot of time with his friend Giovanni Rosini, a professor of Italian eloquence at the local university, submitting to his judgement the historic novel he was writing: La Monaca di Monza. Storia del secolo XVII /The nun of Monza, a XVII century story (later published by Capurro, Pisa 1829).

But above all, in Pisa Leopardi felt a rebirth of his poetic vane. He wrote about it to Paolina on 2^nd May 1828: “I have finished by now the Crestomazia poetica: and after two years have written two verses this April; but verses truly in the antique style, and with the heart I once had”: these were Il risorgimento and A Silvia.