When the Roman Empire fell to the barbarians, what is now Italy (and then the heart of the Roman Empire), shattered into Feudal city states. Some of these city states, such as Genoa, Venice and Florence grew to be very powerful, with trade routes stretching across the Mediterranean. This brought in vast amounts of wealth for the cities. These grew and flourished. Another way these city-states grew in wealth was to prey on those less fortunate.

   One of those city-states was Pisa. Pisa was able to build a thriving trading empire during the middle ages. Like other cities with gold flowing in, Pisa undertook several great building projects. These projects can be see all over the city in for form of various medieval houses, Romanesque cathedrals and even in Plaza del Cavalieri. In fact the style of Romanesque architecture used is known as Pisa Romanesque. However, the most spectacular building project took place in the heart of the city in an area that is now known as the Plaza of Miracles (Campo dei Miracoli). Most of the major city-states had a Duomo (cathedral) and baptistery. So it was here that Pisa decided to build theirs. In addition to the standard Duomo and Baptistery, the town's folk decided to build a campanile or bell tower.

  Construction of the Duomo Began in 1064 on what appeared to be solid ground. Built in the Pisan Romanesque style, it uses a stubble pattern of dark and light overlay. No expense was spared on the use of marble sculpture and patterns inside, or on fabulous murals. In 1173 construction on the tower began. One thing was overlooked when construction started. That was the makeup of the soil. The tower was built partially on a sandy soil with a lot of water in it. This is not a very good base for any building, let alone an eight-story bell tower made of marble. The tower began sagging by the time the third floor was started and construction was halted. The third carefully placed building to off set the Duomo and tower is the Baptistery. It boasts being one of the largest baptisteries in all of Italy.

  Before construction was begun on the tower again, something happened to change the future of Pisa for good. The rich and powerful city-states did not get along. They were in competition for the same trade routes and the same gold. Or they were envious of something the city produced like fabrics. In the case of Pisa, they had made enemies because of sea trade routes. Their entire fleet clashed with rival Genoa and was sunk. Every last boat. This was devastating for the city because they had no means of trade. And with out a means of trade, the money stopped flowing in. Their harbor silted up and they became land locked. This would have doomed the city to utter obscurity if not for their half-completed tower.

  Between 1200 and 1350 various people attempted to rectify the tower. This often was in the form of tilting the tower in the opposite direction to make it appear that there was no slant. The tower was finally completed in 1350 with its famous tip by Tomasso di Andrea dea Pontedera.

  There was one still problem. The tower was still sinking and shifting, at the rate of 1 mm per decade. This provided beneficial for the town because word got around about the tower and it drew curious people to see and everything snowballed from there. However, as of 1990 the tower had shifted 5 m from upright. It is worried that if it tilts any more, the weight of the top will cause it to fall over. Currently scientists are attempting to dry out the soil and have huge cables holding it up. In the last year or so, they attempted to make these countermeasures as non-obtrusive as possible though.

  Pisa is also known for being a college town. When the tourist season is over (though there are always tourists coming through) the college students get the quiet little town mostly to themselves.

Sources

• Steves', Rick"Rick Steves' Italy 2000" John Muir Publications, Santa Fe, NM
  
• Ros Belford, Martin Dunford & Celia Wooolfrey"The Rough Guide:Italy" Rough Guides ltd, London England 1998
  

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