Pisa, Italy

Pisa, The Land of Wonder. (Photo Gallery)

Who hasn't heard of the Leaning Tower of Pisa ? This is the monument that stirs the imagination of everybody and rightly so be named one of the 7 Wonders of the World.

The Journey~
In actual fact, Pisa is out of our way to Rome. We had to drive 2 hours to and fro Pisa to Florence to go to Rome but it's all worth it.

Fields of Miracle ~
As we made our way into Piazza Dei Miracoli, we were first greeted by an extended green lawn. As football avid, I can’t help but notice how level this green lawn is, perfect for football game I thought :) Ironically, this level lawn is the answer surrounding the mystery of the Leaning Tower of Pisa. It is well-named though, mainly for the reason that the Leaning Tower is still standing on what 10,000 years ago was a river estuary. The river had dried up by Roman times, but the sandy soil remained, providing a frighteningly unstable platform on which to build the tower, baptistery, cathedral, and other buildings. In fact, the Leaning Tower of Pisa isn't the only edifice that is no longer standing upright in the city. Although not so obvious, the baptistery lurches noticeably towards the north and also, when viewed at certain angles, Pisa's Duomo cathedral is far from straight. These have been nicknamed 'The Other Leaning Towers of Pisa!' .

Baptistery (Battistero) ~
This circular structure is the largest of its kind in the whole of Italy. Like many Italian baptisteries, it was built apart from the church, probably because originally only baptized persons could enter a church. The baptistery's greatest treasure is a marble pulpit carved by Nicola Pisano in the 13th century.

Duomo Cathedral ~
Built between 1063 and 1170, the Duomo Santa Maria is a melting pot of architectural styles. The cathedral's several architects borrowed its capacious dome and its exterior, black-and-white striped marble motif from 11th-century Moorish architecture. The mosaics inside are Byzantine, while the famous panels on the transept door facing the Leaning Tower are Romanesque.
The interior holds some 450 columns, some of them dating back to Roman times. A fire in 1595 destroyed much of the cathedral and its original artwork, though its exquisitely carved 14th-century pulpit designed by Giovanni Pisano survived.

The Leaning Tower of Pisa (Torre Pendente Di Pisa)~
The construction of this imposing mass was started in the year 1174 by Bonanno Pisano. When the tower had reached its third storey the works ceased because it had started sinking into the ground caused by a weak foundation of soil from a former estuary. The tower remained thus for 90 years. Work resumed, and in 1250 architects began trying to adjust the lean, which gave the tower a slight banana shape by the time they completed the eighth and final story. It was then crowned with the belfry which has 7 bells, each one corresponding to a note of the musical scale.

In the 1990's, at a time when 700,000 annual visitors were ascending the campanile, the lean increased by one-20th of an inch every year. Officials decided to control visits by public.
We did not climb up the tower....no, not because of the EUR 15 fee but because we did not want to contribute to the further lean of the tower :) (Somebody must believe me rite ??? hahaha)
Anyway, when I took a moment to gaze at it, I just felt like collapsing myself :)

more pix...