"Pisa" Pisa by JohnniOmani

Welcome to the world's greatest archtitectural messup. Its creator, Bonanno Pisan, was in trouble when the tower began to lean badly to the south. Things went from bad to worse at the rate of about 1mm a year, but at least it gave Galileo a chance to throw rocks from the bell tower to test his theory of gravity. The tower is not the only reason to visit this lively city and Campo dei Miracoli is a serious rival to Venice's Piazza San Marco. Pisa has university town and today it is swamped with students. Pisa has a long history and in the 9th century it became an independant martime republic. Most of the citys finest buildings date from this period. The downfall of Pisa came when Genoa's fleet inflicted a devasting defeat on Pisa in the late 1200s. After the city fell, The Medici encouraged great artistic and academic endeavours and re established Pisas university. The citys most famous son was Galileo Galilei who later taught at the university.

The cathedrals bell tower was in trouble from the start. Its architect, Bonanno Pisano, managed to complete only three tiers before the tower started to lean on the south side. Shifting soil is the most favoured explanation and the leaning tower continued to lean by an average of a mm a year. In 1998 cables were wrapped around the 3rd storey to keep it in place and it worked. The famous lean has lost 40cm and experts think that the tower is safe for at least the next 300 years. Overall, it is a bizarre but striking tower.