Italy’s most famous region, Tuscany conjures images of beautiful rolling hills, olive groves, vineyards and cypress trees. The many pleasures of Tuscany include tasting wine in Chianti.
In Italian the Leaning Tower of Pisa is Torre pendente di Pisa.
It was built as a freestanding bell tower for the cathedral in Pisa.
On the side where the tower is lower because of the lean it stands at 187.27 feet. On the high side of the tower it stands at 186 feet.
The tower weighs about 14,500 tons. That's a lot of weight for a building to have to support when it has been leaning since it was built.
There are approximately 294 steps on the north side and 296 steps on the south side of the tower.
The Leaning Tower of Pisa took 344 years to build, beginning in August 1173.
It began to lean in 1178 once construction on the second floor had begun. The lean was due to one side sinking into the soft ground.
The construction was stopped twice, the first time for 100 years, the second time in 1284. Both times it was due to wars.
If it hadn't been for the two pauses in construction it would have taken between 185 and 195 years to complete.
Inside the tower there are seven bells. Each bell represents one note of the musical major scale.
The first stones used to form the base of the Leaning Tower of Pisa were purchased with the money left to the Opera Campanilis petrarum Sancte Marie by Donna Berta di Bernardo in 1172.
Nobody seems to be able to pinpoint the identity of who the actual original architect really was.