A ONE DAY ADVENTURE

I know that its hard to believe, but you can see everything that you need to see in Pisa in one day and have time left over for a pizza. However, seeing it in person IS A MUST! The difference between pictures of the tower leaning and pondering, in person, why it hasn't fallen is like the difference between watching a boxing match and being in the ring.

Pisa's church and tower complex. The front of the church is covered in scaffolding as are most churches in Italy (Summer of '99). The Pope (Il Papa) has decreed that all the major churches be restored before the Millennium.
I didn't photograph the huge baptistery building out of the picture to the left, because it was covered beyond recognition in scaffolding. (And the tower was the object of the visit after all!)

Why, you ask, would I include a scan of a post card when I take such good pictures myself. Good question. This photo shows that the powers that be, in this case the church hierarchy, continued to add to the tower even after it started leaning. You can clearly see that the piece on the top is at a different angle than the rest of the structure. Their architects must have been sipping the communion wine. Possibly they thought that they could disguise their earlier mistake with a straight top. Failing to rectify the underlying cause, a sand foundation on one side, the addition merely increased the lean. In 1999, the government pledged to allocate enough money to right the tower to its 1961 (I think) tilt and stabilize it.

The cables leading off to the left are attached to a support structure behind the church on left end and the metal cable bracket (highlighted) on the right.

The efforts taken to halt the tilt of the tower are more clearly shown here. You can see the main cable attached to the metal bracket. It, in turn, collects all the cables which have been run around the circumference of the tower. Not shown are the efforts on the ground. Huge lead weights have been used to counter weight the tower and efforts are being made to drill under the structure to stabilize the foundation.

The Pisa Catherial is one of the most beautiful churches in Italy. It is not ornate or complex, just simple with wonderful use of colored marble. Not like the Duomo in Florence which is overdone, but a nice place to sit and contemplate on a warm day.
(Cold days are not good days in Italian churches. You have just come in from the cold, your fingers to your toes are frozen and you want to warm up. Not here, baby! The stone sucks out what little heat you brought in. Stay for long and you feel like lighting a bunch of those little votive candles and throwing yourself on the flames. If you ever see a burning person running out of a church, you now know why.)

The tour is over. You've seen it all. You can click back or look at the sunflower fields surrounding Pisa.

SUNflowers