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Pisa
PISA
Everyone
knows the Tower of Pisa, the city of Pisa is not just the Tower, nor the
marvellous Piazza dei Miracoli where it stands, with its Cathedral,
Baptistery and Monumental Cemetery. Pisa is many other things as well.
It is the city of the ancient Etruscan and Roman Port at San Rossore,
one of the most recent and important archaeological discoveries made yet.
It
is the city where the art of modern sculpture was born, and these
valuable works can be admired in the National Museum of San Matteo. Il
is the city of the Maritime Republic, thanks to the trading activities
of which Leonardo Fibonacci brought the Arabic number system to Italy
and Europe, and it is the city of medieval walls surrounding a historic
centre rich in monuments and works of art of extraordinary value,
starting from Piazza dei Cavalieri. Pisa is one of most famous
university cities in the world, whit its ancient University, the Normal
High School , the School of Sant’Anna, the CNR laboratories.
It
is the city of the lungarni (the banks of the river Arno), much loved by
romantics poets for its climate and traditions of tolerance: from Byron
to Shelley, from Giacomo Leopardi to Alessandro Manzoni.
The Tower of Pisa
The Tower of Pisa is the bell tower of the Cathedral. Its construction
began in the august of 1173 and continued (with two long interruptions)
for about two hundred years, in full fidelity to the original project,
whose architect is still uncertain.
In the past it was widely believed that the inclination of the Tower was
part of the project ever since its beginning, but now we know that it is
not so. The Tower was designed to be "vertical" (and even if it
did not lean it would still be one of the most remarkable bell towers in
Europe), and started to incline during its construction.
Both because of its inclination, and its beauty, from 1173 up to the
present the Tower has been the object of very special attention. During
its construction efforts were made to halt the incipient inclination
through the use of special construction devices; later colums and other
damaged parts were substituted in more than one occasion; today,
interventions are being carried out within the sub-soil in order to
significantly reduce the inclination and to make sure that Tower will have
a long life.
In all this story it is possible to find a meaningful constant, the "genetic
code" of the Tower: its continual interaction with the soil on which
it was built. Today's (1999) works for the safeguard and the conservation
of the Tower with very advanced methodologies are designed to fully
respect this constant.
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