Italy boasts many tourist attractions, and this diagonal tower is one of the most popular, drawing over a million tourists annually. Constructed of white marble, it is a freestanding bell tower for the adjacent medieval Roman Catholic cathedral, in Pisa's Campo dei Miracoli, or Field of Miracles.
Tower construction began in 1173, and due to engineering design flaws that did not account for the weakness of the subsoil, began sinking during the first five years of construction. Which, unsurprisingly when you consider the fact that we’re talking about Italians, caused work to be halted for 96 years. Construction resumed in 1272, after the political and economic climate recovered from long military actions, and continued until the building's completion 100 years later.
Bad ideas during the construction must have been popular, as upper floors were engineered to be taller on the downward-leaning side than on the opposite. The structure therefore leans in one direction and curves back in the other, as if trying to compensate for its disability. Other remedies have included the attachment of over 1.7 million pounds of lead weights to the base on the upraised side. Twice engineers have attempted to halt the leaning and straighten the tower, but not straighten it entirely, since the leaning is deemed an important tourism feature. The last such attempt entailed the removal of earth below the raised side, and was completed in 2001. Effectively halting the progressive inclination, and the tower was declared fully stationary for the first time in its history.
Today, the top of the 183-foot tower leans almost 13 feet, and contains seven massive bells, one for each whole note in the Western musical scale. Twin stairways ascend the structure with one of them composed of two additional steps to accommodate the greater distance to the top on that side. Once you’ve gotten the obligatory forced perspective picture of you supporting the leaning tower, try to tour all three structures in the plaza, including the cathedral's separate baptistery.
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