Pisa

In the 11th century Pisa was a very important commercial center and controlled a significant Mediterranean merchant fleet and navy.

The Diocese of Pisa was elevated to the rank of metropolitan archdiocese by Pope Urban II on April 21, 1092.

Construction of the campanile of the Cathedral of Pisa (now known as the Leaning Tower of Pisa) begun on August 9, 1173. It would take two centuries to complete.

The cathedral with the leaning tower. Wikipedia Commons

Galilei Galileo was born in Pisa (then part of the Duchy of Florence), in 1564.

During his student days, Galileo's observation of a swinging lamp in Pisa Cathedral led him to discover the uniformity of the Pendulum.

In 1934, Benito Mussolini—embarrassed that Italy’s famous architectural symbol leaned—ordered the Tower of Pisa to be corrected and returned to a perfectly vertical position. His reasoning was partly national pride: he saw the lean as a “flaw” that made Italy look weak.

Engineers, following the dictator’s directive, drilled 361 holes into the tower’s base and pumped in about 90 cubic meters of cement grout to stabilize and straighten it. Unfortunately, the opposite happened. The injections increased the soil pressure unevenly, causing the tower to lean even more — by several extra centimeters. The ground beneath the northern side compacted, and the tower sank slightly deeper into the soft subsoil.

The blunder was quietly covered up at the time, and it wasn’t until much later that restoration experts openly discussed how Mussolini’s attempt to “fix” the Leaning Tower nearly made it collapse.

On April 1, 1960, a Dutch TV station ran an report announcing that The Leaning Tower of Pisa had fallen over.

The Leaning Tower of Pisa reopened on December 15, 2001 after an extensive 11-year renovation project that cost $27 million. The aim of the restoration was to stabilize the tower and prevent it from further tilting, not to straighten it completely. The tower's unique lean, which has become its iconic feature, is due to the soft ground upon which it was built. 

The Leaning Tower of Pisa. By Saffron Blaze - Wikipedia Commons

The restored Tower of Pisa leans at a 3.97 degree angle.

The Leaning Tower of Pisa has two spiral staircases but because of the way it tilts, one has 294 steps and the other has 296 — an extra two are needed to compensate for the height difference on that side of the building.

The soft soil that causes the Leaning Tower of Pisa to tilt has protected it from at least four strong earthquakes.

Although Pisa is known worldwide for its leaning tower, the city contains more than 20 other historic churches, several medieval palaces and various bridges across the River Arno.