Leaning Tower of Pisa


by Douglas Scott - Date: 2007-03-20 - Word Count: 459 Share This!

Pisa is a city in Tuscany, central Italy. It is situated on the right bank of the mouth of the Arno River on the Ligurian Sea. It is located in the west.

The Galileo Galilei Airport is in Pisa. The centre can be reached in ten minutes by city bus or five minutes by train.

The Leaning Tower of Pisa stands in the Piazza dei Miracoli Miracle Square in the town of Pisa, Italy.
There are 296 steps to the top of the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Soon after building started in 1173, the foundation of the Pisa tower settled unevenly. Construction was stopped, and was continued only one hundred years later. It then became visibly clear that the Tower of Pisa is leaning, tilting to the south. Since regular measuring of the tower began in 1911, the top of the tower has moved 1,2 millimetres per year. Today the top of the Tower of Pisa is some 5,3m off centre.

After the bell tower of the Cathedral of Pavia collapsed in 1989, the Consorzio Progetto Torre di Pisa commissioned engineers to stabilise the Leaning Tower because the Tower tilted in different directions in its first years, it is slightly curved, like a banana. Engineers are working on the footing of the Tower rather than the structure, hoping to ease the top back about 20 cm It means that the eight hundred year old tower will remain leaning.

The city is known throughout the world for its famous Leaning Tower, but there is so much more to Pisa than just this striking landmark. The ecclesiastical city of Pisa began life as a seaside settlement around three thousand years ago and was first laid out in the mid eleventh century. It is crammed full of wonderful, historical monuments and buildings dating back many hundreds of years and much of Pisa has retained its medieval appearance. It is also known for its excellent university, which was established in 1343 and has become one of Italys top schools. There are a couple of tourism and tourist information offices in and around the city centre of Pisa and these provide the latest information about Pisa tourist attractions, museums, events, Pisa festivals, Pisa travel, Pisa sightseeing and general Pisa tourism and tourist information.

Italys has many festivals, some of religious and historic significance, others of music and the arts. Events in the Roman Catholic calendar are of central importance, notably Easter and Christmas. Holy Week is celebrated in the week before Easter across the country, but with particular enthusiasm in Sicily. The Venice Carnevale, which takes place in the period leading up to Ash Wednesday, is a colourful event, featuring the famous masked balls. Elsewhere, Il Palio is an extraordinary horse race, staged in Siena in the summer.


Related Tags: festivals, tower

Douglas Scott works and writes for Car Rentals The Car Hire Specialist. and is a free lance writer for The Villa Rental Site

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