The leaning tower of Pisa is now leaning less & # 39;

It is enough to give a monument a crisis of identity.

The Leaning Tower of Pisa is known around the world for its precarious inclination – but experts have now revealed that she was going straight ahead.

The Tower Watch Group, which oversees the restoration work, said the landmark is "stable and is slowly reducing its lean".

The 57-m (186-ft) medieval monument has been straightened 4 cm over the past two decades, the team said.

"It's as if two centuries have passed," said Professor Salvatore Settis.

Nunziante Squeglia, professor of geotechnics at the University of Pisa and working with the monitoring team, added: "What matters most is the stability of the bell tower, which is better than expected . "

In 1990, the favorite of tourists was closed to the public for the first time in 800 years, fearing that it was about to tip over. At the time, it stood 4.5 meters from the vertical.

An international committee led by Professor Michele Jamiolkowski, a Polish expert, worked to stabilize it between 1993 and 2001.

At the end, the inclination had been corrected by 45 cm for a cost of £ 200m.

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The skinny is as old as the tower itself, having slipped five years after the start of construction in 1173.

The layer of clay and sand on which the tower is built is softer on the south side than on the north side – so that by the time the builders arrived on the third floor, the changing foundations had upset the foundations.

And although engineers can finally take the credit to save the relic, visitors can rest assured that it is always available for mandatory photos …