A piece of Pisa

Travelling through Europe on our recent honeymoon, my husband and I had the change to investigate Pisa and it’s leaning tower. It was fantastic to be able to experience one of the world’s most famous architectural mishaps!

Laying at the convergence of two rivers the Arno & the Serchio, Pisa is the capital of the Province of Pisa in the Tuscany region of Italy, with a population of around 200,000 in the metropolitan area. The city contains more than 20 historic churches as well as palaces and bridges.

Did you know the leaning tower is actually the bell tower of the city’s Cathedral? You never see it photographed alongside the Cathedral but on it’s own as if it is a unique individual structure.

Yes, my husband just had to do the typical tourist pose!

After the Cathedral itself and the Baptistery the tower is the third oldest structure in Pisa’s Cathedral Square and began to tilt during construction caused by inadequate foundations with soft ground on one side – the tilt increased whilst it was being built, only stopping in the 20th Century with efforts to stabilise the structure, stopping at 5.5 degrees.

The tower is 183.26 feet tall on the lowest side and 186.02 feet on the higher side with just over 290 steps up to the top and houses 7 bells (L’Assunta, Il Crocifisso, San Ranieri, La Terza , La Pasquereccia or La Giustizia, Il Vespruccio, Dal Pozzo.)

All the structures in Pisa’s Cathedral Square were incredibly beautiful, the marble giving them a real sense of grandeur and specticle. If we had had more time in Pisa we would have liked to have explored the Duomo (Cathedral) as I love exploring inside such magnificent buildings.

Overall I would say that if you want to experience the splendour of Pisa I would recommend doing it as part of a larger tour of the region – although stunning there was not much more to do in Pisa but would be a lovely stop while visiting Tuscany.