Italy’s infamous leaning tower 'won't topple for 300 years'

The Leaning Tower of Pisa may look dangerously close to toppling, but it has been declared safe for another 300 years after a major engineering project.

Its trademark lean has attracted millions of visitors to the site at Pisa every year but in 1990 it was closed because of fears it would topple over completely. Work has been going on since then to prevent it from falling.

The 183-foot tower was nearly 15 feet off vertical and its structure was found to have been weakened by centuries of strain.

However the tower's impressive tilt has now been partially straightened and the column is no longer moving after the project.

‘All of our expectations have been confirmed. Now we can say that the tower can rest easy for at least 300 years,’ Professor Michele Jamiolkowski, an engineer and geologist told newspaper Corriere della Sera.

Prof Jamiolkowski also revealed a secret feature of the tower will reopen after being closed for more than 73 years.

From a side door it will be possible to walk into the tower and gaze upwards through to the sky through the seven stories - a sight that amazed Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei more than 400 years ago.

Engineer Nunziante Squeglia explained: ‘Until now the view was obstructed due to machinery that had been positioned on platforms to measure the lean.

‘However these platforms and machinery have been removed and now the tower will return to as it once was.’

The 14,000-tonne free-standing bell tower was built in several stages between 1174 and 1370. When it began to tilt, builders used stones to return it to vertical but the lean continued due to unstable ground.

It was shut to visitors for almost 12 years from 1990 when it was sinking about a millimetre a year - and reopened in December 2001 at the end of the biggest phase of the project.

During the stabilisation phase of the project which ended in 2001 the structure was anchored to cables while cement was injected to relieve pressure on the ground. Officials have said they have no intention of straightening the tower completely.

The work involved extracting around 70 tonnes of earth from the northern side to encourage the tower to right itself.

Although the project ended in 2001, the full effects can only now be assessed, because the tower continued to move towards a more upright position after the work finished.

The restoration of the tower has also included polishing its marble exterior, which had darkened over the years with pollution and grime. 

The finishing ceremony for the completed straightening and restoration project will take place in three months time, according to Giuseppe Bentivoglio, the head of the council department responsible for the care of monuments in Pisa's Field of Miracles.

The last attempt at straightening the tower was carried out under orders from Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini, who wanted it to be perfectly vertical. Concrete was poured into the foundations, but the result was that the tower sank further into the soil.