One of the highlights of our trip to Tuscany last year was to be our visit to Pisa. To be accurate, the main attraction was not so much the city of Pisa itself, charming though it undoubtedly is, but the Field of Miracles*. Well, to be punctiliously precise, it wasn't even the Field of Miracles that had our anticipatory juices flowing, but The Leaning Tower of Pisa in particular.
* The Field of Miracles is the area housing the Duomo, Tower, Baptistry ... ...discount the Field of Miracles, I'm not sure that much else in Pisa merits a visit although I expect some Pisaphile will soon put me straight on that count. However, it can't be denied that the seething masses that are constantly disgorged from the tourist buses usually have one thing in mind and that's to take one of those corny snaps of someone 'holding' up the famous tower (yes, of course I did).
We stayed in the Holiday Inn just outside town ...
proxam 13.01.2007 (15.02.2009)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of The Leaning Tower of Pisa
Advantages: One magnificent sight Disadvantages: Only one magnificent sight
...Pisa relies almost entirely on the bell tower for much of its fame. It may also boast that it was the birthplace of the great natural philosopher, Galileo Galilei but even he used the tower's fame to embark on his infamous falling bodies experiment.
I recently paid homage to this miracle (literally, the tower should have fallen over) by taking a trip to Pisa with my Civil Engineering department. As luck would have it, one of our lecturers is a consultant ... ...up a few levels of the tower.
Pisa is often used by many travellers as a cheap way to get to Florence (Firenze), which it is, but it is certainly worth stopping there for a few hours before running away to Florence. The bell tower, baptistery and graveyard are located to the north of the city just inside the city walls. We stayed in the hotel ‘Grinchy’, a one star hotel situated directly opposite the tower with a spectacular view at ...
jameshale 18.04.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of The Leaning Tower of Pisa
Advantages: Gives you something to do in Pisa Disadvantages: No safety fence.
...lovely few days in Pisa, the tilting to the Leaning Tower had been arrested, it is even said it is now being reversed, but for obvious tourist reasons I do not envisage that it will be bought back to a level state.
History says it was begun in 1173 and that it has always tilted, subsidence disrupted the foundations so that when they had only errected 3 of the 8 storeys they knew they had a problem, so for the next 180 years a succession of Architects ... ...1350 it was accepted that the angle would be accepted and the tower was completed, I imagine some far sighted business man had clocked onto its potential.
The tower was eventually closed to the Public in the 1990's with an overhang of 5 meters off the true.
Much work has been done in reversing the lean and it is open again to the public.
This is where I come in, a VERTIGO sufferer.
Perhaps I had been lulled into false security after appearing ...
poshtroika 30.03.2008
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of The Leaning Tower of Pisa
Advantages: Piazza dei Miracoli and Piazza dei Cavalieri are wonderful Disadvantages:
Pisa is the hometown of Galileo Galilei, the famous physician, who carried out his first experiments on the gravity of the Leaning Tower in Piazza dei Miracoli. In the square, world famous for its bell-tower, one can admire the Baptistery, the Cathedral and the Cemetery, monuments, which are a testimony to the different development phases from the Romanic Style of Pisa to the Gothic. Its internationally known University has its prestigious seat in ... ...Every year, on 16th June, the Luminara takes place. The Luminara is a festivity during which all the buildings as well as the palaces and the Tower are lit by candlelight as a tribute to St. Ranieri, the city patron. Not far from Pisa, one can admire St. Pietro a Grado Church, a fine example of Roman architecture and the Certosa, where the painting technique of 'trompe l'oeil' was first adopted. How to reach Pisa: ...
giannit 16.09.2000
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of The Leaning Tower of Pisa
Advantages: Visit to the one of the World Wonder Disadvantages: Careful with local thieves.
...towards Turin (Torino in Italian). The ticket will cost you around 80 euros per person. This was on a New year day. From the Pisa Central station, you can take a bus to the leaning tower of pisa its just 10 minutes away. The bus stops straight in front of the Pisa entrance. There are two more churches and a museum inside the grounds. One of the churches is free and you should buy tickets to visit all the other churches and to climb the tower. Its ... ...go inside you have to reach the top as there is no space to two way traffic. There is a seperate way to exit the tower. The ticket to the tower alone will cost you around 15 euros and between 5 - 10 euros to the other attractions per person. ...
seriousstuff 01.05.2006
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: somewhat helpful Review of The Leaning Tower of Pisa
Advantages: Leaning tower Disadvantages: Thats the only attraction
...and was a great place. The tourist information at the train station was very helpful and was obvious to the common attraction of the Leaning tower. The map took us their perfectly after a short walk. Enough lucky, lucky men to buy dodgy sunglasses off to make you feel really touristy. On arrival the tower seemed so-so as we had witnessed more than enough across europe. But on closer inspection after walking around the tower you become overwhelmed. ...
davysimpson 30.07.2000
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: somewhat helpful Review of The Leaning Tower of Pisa
Advantages: A leaning tower Disadvantages: Too much culture for me!
The leaning tower of Pisa must be one of the most popular tourist attractions in Italy. The builders all of those years ago probably wouldn’t have dreamed how their botched up job could create millions in tourist revenue.
Fortunately, you can go up it once more, but only the first couple of levels as it’s too dangerous. There’s nothing stopping you making funny poses in front of it though and there are other things to do as well. Next door are other ...
jonyee 09.07.2000
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: not helpful Review of The Leaning Tower of Pisa
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