The Leaning Tower expresses the joys and sorrows of its earlier 800 years and waits for a happy end to its old-age convalescence with quiet wisdom. A widow, whose name was Berta of Bernardo, living in the house of dell'Opera di Santa Maria, the 5th of January 1172 left in her will “sixty coins to the Opera Campanilis petrarum Sancte Marie, to purchase some stones to build the Tower” (Shrady, 2005).
The Leaning Tower of Pisa “Italian: Torre di Pisa”
(Barter, 2001) is the campanile, or bell tower, for the Italian city of Pisa's cathedral, located in the Campo dei Miracoli. The tower was intended to stand vertically, but began leaning soon after construction started in August 1173. Since then, the Tower of Pisa has become a well-known Italian landmark and is generally recognized around the world. The height of the tower is 55 meters from the ground. Its weight is estimated at 14,453 tones. The current inclination is about ten percent. The tower has 296 steps.
The construction of the Tower of Pisa began on “August 9, 1173. After the third floor was built in 1178, the tower acquired a lean and construction ceased for a century” (Sobel, 2000). In 1272, another four floors were built at an angle to compensate for the tilt. Construction again stopped in 1301 and only in 1372 was the last floor built and the bell installed.
Galileo Galilei is said to have dropped two cannon balls of different masses from this tower to demonstrate their descending speed was independent of their mass. This story is widely considered to be apocryphal. Benito Mussolini ordered the tower returned to a vertical position so cement was poured into its foundation. The results were unexpected and sank the tower further into the soft soil.
During World War.........
