Pisa Attractions

Venue: Campo dei Miracoli    When: Daily

One of the most famous cases of architectural malpractice in the world, the leaning tower of Pisa still stands, defying both gravity and the efforts of high-tech structural rescue teams to stop its slow drift towards a horizontal position.

The tower forms part of the Pisan Duomo, as it was designed to be the bell-tower of the cathedral: it still houses a tremendous bell called the Pasquareccia on the top level. The tower consists of six beautiful levels of airy and elaborately adorned colonnades, and is 52 metres tall on the north side, 54 on the south side, with almost 300 steps leading to the top.

Building of the tower began in 1173 and continued for about two centuries. The gradual incline started during construction, and in the centuries since it has been the object of a number of both medium and high-tech rescue attempts. The tilt was caused by the softness of the soil on which the tower is built, and is very noticeable: today it deviates about 4.36 metres from the vertical axis and this gap widens by a matter of centimetres every year.

The tower reopened to visitors in December 2001 after being closed for almost ten years, but make sure you book before you go, as places are limited.