Home of the Leaning Tower

The Field of Miracles is a large grassy area containing the tower, a cathedral, and a large and ornate baptistry, plus some other buildings that are now museums. The subterranean soil was not very cooperative, as the baptistry also leans — not as much, and in a different direction. The tower was a bell tower for the church. It was already leaning not too long after construction started in the 1300s. It has sunk about five or six feet, in addition to tilting. Of course, it contains an estimated 14,000 tons of stone, that could stress a lot of soils.

The lower part of the tower is concentric cylinders with the stairway in between; you can feel the direction of lean changing as you negotiate the 300 or so steps winding upward.

We toured the other structures to while away time until our timed tickets allowed a tower visit. (Little did we know Easter Monday is a BIG holiday in Italy.)

In August 2007, acquisition of a 35mm scanner was celebrated by updating this gallery with more and better scans.