The most underrated museum in Tuscany, on the river east of the centre, holds the largest collection of Pisan and Tuscan panel painting from the 12th to the 15th century in existence. The rooms move chronologically through painted crucifixes, polyptychs, and gold-ground altarpieces — and because Pisan painters were often as good as their Sienese and Florentine contemporaries, the masterpieces come thick and fast. Look out for Masaccio's Saint Paul (1426), Simone Martini's polyptych, and a series of stunning carved crucifixes whose pain expression evolves dramatically over two centuries.
The building itself is a converted medieval convent on the river, and the cloister at the centre is a quiet pleasure. Most visitors to Pisa never come here, which is part of the appeal — even in August you can have whole rooms to yourself.