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ROME – The famous Italian leaning tower of Pisa is a little less eccentric.
Nearly two decades after the engineers completed the consolidation work to prevent the tower from tipping over, site officials monitoring the monument recently announced that its tilt had been further reduced by 4 centimeters.
The tower "continues to recover," said Nunziante Squeglia, professor of engineering at the University of Pisa and consultant to the tower's monitoring committee.
The correction results from measures taken just before the turn of the century to prevent the tower from collapsing.
"We knew that these measures would have prolonged consequences," Squeglia added, but engineers could not predict that the tower would reverse its trend, he said.
The tower, one of the most famous monuments in Italy, is also one of the most fragile.
Built as a bell tower for the cathedral and baptistery of Pisa, it began to sink five years after the start of construction work, in 1173. It took nearly 200 years for the construction of the pillar, which included various unsuccessful attempts slope correction.
Over the centuries, its perilous slope has made the tower – listed as 58.36 meters (or about 190 feet high) – a must-see attraction for visitors to Italy.
"The locals thought it was an architectural failure, so it was considered a boon to the city," said Gianluca De Felice, secretary general of the Pisana Primate Opera, who said it was an architectural failure. non-profit organization responsible for the monuments of the so-called Pisa Square. of miracles, where is the tower.
In January 1990, the tower was closed to visitors – about 800,000 a year – when officials worried about its long-term stability. It reopened 11 years later, after various methods of countering the incline were able to reduce it by 15.95 inches.
"We have rejuvenated the tower for about 200 years," said Salvatore Settis, one of the committee members who oversaw the consolidation of the monument. "The good news is that the tower continues to recover, even slightly," he said.
Today, Professor Settis is leading a three-person committee to oversee the tower and report on his "state of health," which is currently "very good," he said at a meeting. ;a telephone interview.
The tower, he added, was "the most watched monument in the world", with over 100 sensors reading hourly on a multitude of elements, from outside and inside temperatures to wind speed in passing through microcracks in materials and ground motion.
The authorities in Pisa have also halved the number of visitors allowed to climb to the top of the tower for a breathtaking view of the Tuscan countryside.
"The climb must be controlled" so that visitors can go on a group tour and book a trip in advance, De Felice said. Only about 400,000 visitors climb the tower each year, while almost three million visit the site, which includes the cathedral, the baptistery, two museums and a cemetery.
The Leaning Tower of Pisa, however, remains by far the most photographed attraction, although the renovations have earned it its status as the most leaning tower in the world. Now, tours in Switzerland and Germany are fighting for this title.
Although the tower of Pisa is on an inverted trajectory, it does not mean that it can never recover completely.
"At the current rate, the tower would take about 4000 years," said Professor Squeglia.
