PIAZZA DEI MIRACOLI

The tower of Pisa is the bell tower of the Cathedral. Its construction began on August 1173 and continue ( with two long interruptions) for about two hundred years, in full fidelity to the original project, whose architect is still uncertain. In the past it was widely believed that the inclination of the Tower was part of the project ever since its beginning , but now we know that it is not so. The Tower was designed to be "vertical"(and even if it did not lean it would stile be one of the most remarkable bell towers in Europe), and started to incline during its construction. Both because of its inclination and its beauty from1173 up to the present the tower has been the object of very special attention. During its construction efforts were made to halt the incipient inclination through the use of special construction devices ; later columns and other damaged parts were substituted in more than one occasion today, interventions are being carried out within the sub soil in order to significantly reduce the inclination and to make sure that Tower will have a long life. In all this story it is possible to find a meaningful constant, the "genetic code" of the Tower: its continual interaction with the soil on which it was built. Today's works for the safeguard and the conservation of the Tower with very advanced methodologies are designed to fully respect this constant. Leaving to one side the celebrated inclination - that daring challenge to the laws of statics - the bell tower of the Cathedral is a unique building of its kind, both for its great art historical value and for its peculiar situation, in the context of the vast and similarly unique area known as Piazza dei Miracoli. The Tower occupies a site to one side of the Cathedral, between the apsidal area and the south-eastern portion of the transept of the latter. Though not an isolated case (similar spatial organisations can be found in some Pisan complexes and in other Italian buildings), this is an unusual collocation: normally, bell towers were built near to the façade or along one side of churches. Here, however, the Tower assumes an unusual value through its dislocation from the other monuments in the area of Piazza dei Miracoli. This road, which ran towards the apse and alongside the northern side of the Cathedral, continued beyond the city walls, through which it passed via the so-called porta de Leone - the Gate of the Lion. Furthermore, the contiguity between the Tower and the apsidal area of the Cathedral established a formal dialogue between the two buildings. The Tower, with its great height, was a visual fulcrum, visible from all areas of the Piazza, and, probably, from the river Arno. In this way the Tower assumed the function of both connection between the city and the piazza, sited in a decentralised area of the urban nucleus, and beacon: a reference point and look-out and, ultimately, an authoritative symbol of the civic and religious pride of the Pisan community.