Breakfast in Pisa :)

What can I say about the leaning tower...other than it leans :D Fascinating & simply splendid to see even if just for a few minutes while enjoying breakfast & en route to more adventures.

Why it leans is a bit of a mystery, to some. Hmmm, my best guess; Well in the language of Old Prussia, Pisa means "swamp". While there are the mountains on one side & the Tyrrhenian Sea on the other, there is little doubt this massive feat of engineering, weighing in @ +/- 14,500 metric tons, had one HUGE disadvantage. Newton had yet to discover the Law of Gravity (we won't get into Kepler's basic behavior of gravity :)
So here we have an enormous 8 story structure made from granite, every variety of marble in every style of architecture-Composite, Ionic, Grecian, Corinthian, Doric..... built on swampland & no clue as to the Law of Gravity :D WoW, a REAL brain teaser THERE!
I've heard some people try to put forth the assertion it was built to lean deliberately.... I wonder why the stairs lean as well if that was the case. Not to mention the stories do not lean equally.

It was thought for some time Bonanno Pisano was the architect for the tower. However, Diotisalvi deserves some consideration & as Vasari put forth it was Nicola & his son Giovanni Pisano who were the masterminds. No one is sure as all mentioned here had a hand in the architecture of the cathedral here on the Piazza dei Miracoli.

Built as a showpiece, after conquering many country's around the world, to be a bell tower. That's it, nothing else :D Massive expense, hundreds of years in the making, to ring a bell from :D LoL! Strikes me as ever so funny! Oh wait there's more! It was designed to fly in the face of their greatest arch rival, the people of Florence. Their on-again off-again war halted work on the tower several times. Florence enslaved the Pizan's, deep seeded disdain for one another, only to be forced into selling the tower to Florence! Bummer :/

If you're ever in the neighborhood of Pisa, stop in for @ least a meal, with a view you will never forget!
Time well spent!

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