Salt, Simeone and Inzaghi - Pisa's fall and rise

A Pisa banner was unfurled over the Leaning Tower following their promotion

The Italian city of Pisa has waited so long for Serie A football that the tilt of its Leaning Tower has changed in the meantime.

Thanks to restoration work that began in the early 1990s, the famous landmark is now straighter than it used to be.

And the city's football team are on the rise too.

Led by the legendary former Italy forward Filippo Inzaghi, Pisa won promotion last season to end a 34-year Serie A exile.

In less than 12 months at the helm, Inzaghi revived a club who had finished in the bottom half of Serie B just before his arrival.

But they could not convince him to stay. In June, the 51-year-old left to take on another challenge in Italy's second division, with Palermo, part of the City Football Group.

Even so, Pisa have ambitions to thrive in Serie A, backed by billionaire financier Alexander Knaster.

Pisa's Leaning Tower is just a short distance from the football club's home

From a rise, to a fall, then rising again

For long-time Pisa fans, the return to the top flight will prompt welcome memories of their last spell in Serie A.

That was back in 1990, when they got promoted to the Italian top flight with some impressive names on their books.

Those included the current Atletico Madrid manager Diego Simeone, and his Argentina compatriot Jose Chamot, who would go on to play for Lazio, Atletico and Milan.

Success was achieved thanks to the backing of Romeo Anconetani, the club's popular and charismatic president at the time.

Under him, Pisa went from Serie C to Serie A and reached the semi-finals of the Coppa Italia in 1987, where they were beaten by Diego Maradona's Napoli.

Anconetani was also deeply superstitious and before every home game he would perform an unusual ritual.

"He would scatter kilos and kilos of coarse salt around the pitch to ward off bad luck," Pisa-based sports journalist Andrea Martino told BBC Sport.

"He often followed the matches with the fingers of both hands crossed, while he forced his players to repeat gestures and movements if they had been performed for the first time during a victory."

He may have briefly thought his superstitious actions had paid off as at one point Pisa sat atop Serie A, but a poor run of form led to relegation.

The financial cost of going down was significant and just three years later, they were back in Serie C and declared bankrupt.

Decades in the doldrums followed, with more financial troubles that led to them being expelled from the Italian football league in 2009, but from their lowest point would begin their rise - albeit slow - back to Serie A.

Inzaghi inspires Pisa to promotion

Filippo Inzaghi led Pisa back into the top flight but left shortly afterwards to join Palermo

Their fortunes truly started to turn when they were bought by the Corrado family in 2018.

Promotion back to Serie B was achieved a year later, before the Russian-American billionaire Knaster became majority owner in 2021, with an ambition to take the club back to the top flight.

Pisa fans had to be patient for that vision to be realised, with the catalyst for success being the appointment of Inzaghi in 2024.

A prolific striker as a player, Inzaghi's management style also brought goals. Last season, they were the second-highest scorers in Serie B - with 64 goals in 38 games.

"Since his arrival last summer, Inzaghi brought a breath of fresh air compared to the coaches who had previously led Pisa," added Martino.

"He achieved his goal of restoring the fans' pride in supporting a combative team, capable of giving even the best-equipped opponents a run for their money.

"However, he chose to leave at the end of the season, preferring instead to accept the challenge of trying to win his third Serie B title at the helm of Palermo.

"He's building a career as a Serie B wizard, whereas in Serie A he would have had everything to prove."

Pisa hoping long preparations will pay off

After so long outside of the top flight, Pisa have every intention of hanging around in Serie A this time.

They have brought in several new players, including the 37-year-old former Chelsea winger Juan Cuadrado, a six-time Serie A winner.

With Inzaghi leaving in the summer, they are now managed by former Italy striker Alberto Gilardino, who led Genoa to promotion from Serie B two years ago.

"The first step is to stay in Serie A at all costs," added Martino.

"They aim to achieved this through a mix of players from the Serie B triumph plus valuable, high-quality additions."

But the work to ensure they were equipped to survive in Serie A had begun many years before promotion was finally secured, with the club's scouting system and infrastructure significantly improved.

"From our very first steps in the club, we had a clear idea," Pisa president Giuseppe Corrado told Calcio e Finanza.

"That was that Pisa's survival couldn't depend solely on results on the pitch. Indeed, these could only be the direct result of all the efforts made off the pitch."

Pisa's long wait for Serie A football ends on Sunday, when they travel to Atalanta.

Six days later, Pisa will host Roma, in the shadow of the Leaning Tower - a backdrop they hope will be part of Italy's top flight for years to come.