Leaning less

Pisa Tower: A new lean on life

June 17, 2000
Web posted at: 1:04 p.m. EDT (1704 GMT)

PISA, Italy (CNN) -- Italy's legendary Leaning Tower of Pisa reopened to tourists for the weekend, standing just a little straighter. The monument was closed to tourists 10 years ago after engineers judged it too fragile and unstable.

Over the years, engineers managed to straighten the tower slightly, yanking it back about six inches (15 centimeters). It's still tethered by cables that are slowly pulling it more upright, and engineers plan to move the earth underneath the tower to shore up its foundations.

A few VIPs and a group of school children will be able to tour the 800-year-old bell tower this weekend. Engineers expect it to be ready to reopen fully to tourists in exactly one year.

That's good news to the residents of Pisa, where the tower is the northern Italian city's claim to fame and a national symbol. One million tourists visit the site every year.

The lean never will be completely fixed. After all, who would visit the straight Tower of Pisa?

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