The Leaning Tower of Pisa

Table of Con­tents Show

Overview:

Sit­u­at­ed in the apt­ly named square of dreams the titling lean­ing tow­er of Pisa stands as an archi­tec­tur­al, albeit acci­den­tal, won­der of the world – with the splen­did 192 unique­ly carved columns that make up the sev­en-sto­ry tall free­stand­ing bell tow­er known the world over for its almost four degree lean, it’s majes­tic beau­ty and of course the mul­ti­ple posed pho­to shots that accom­pa­ny any explore who vis­its it.

Designed in the 12th cen­tu­ry by Bonan­no Pisano, the 57 meter tow­er sits on unsta­ble land – hence its famous tilt – and is sit­u­at­ed behind the like­wise famous cathe­dral and bap­tistry that make up the majes­tic Piaz­za dei Mira­coli, with the tow­er esti­mat­ed to retain its tilt for at least the next two hun­dred years – hav­ing sur­vived some ill con­ceived con­struc­tion projects in the 1990’s.

A trip to the won­der is not com­plete with­out ascend­ing the 300 steep steps with­in it to reach the top – only allowed in groups of 30 and with a 30 minute time lim­it – with the ascent to the top allow­ing an indi­vid­ual to look out over the beau­ty of Pisa and all its charm­ing archi­tec­ture and appre­ci­ate the unique beau­ty and won­der of the Tow­er itself, with the hun­dreds of unique details carved into the tow­er, the mag­ic inspir­ing panoram­ic views it offers and of course its famous tilt mak­ing the lean­ing tow­er of Pisa a tru­ly unique won­der of the world.

Where:

The lean­ing tow­er is found in the beau­ti­ful town of Pisa, with the tow­er found in the incred­i­ble grassy field of “Piaz­za dei Mira­coli” – lit­er­al­ly the square of mir­a­cles. For those trav­el­ing in by Train and using google maps the address to look for is Piaz­za del Duo­mo, Pisa.

Getting there:

Pisa is a small city – so find­ing the tow­er and the “Piaz­za dei Mira­coli” shouldn’t be too dif­fi­cult, the best option if arriv­ing by train or if you’re stay­ing inside the city is to stroll through the ear­ly morn­ing sun­rise reflect­ing on the streets of pisa to the Piaz­za dei Mira­coli (about 20 min­utes from the train sta­tion) and head towards the bell tow­er – or for those who don’t fan­cy a walk grab shut­tle bus A which will drop you off at the entrance to the square of dreams.

Best time to Visit:

Giv­en its sta­tus as a unique won­der of the world, the lean­ing tow­er of Pisa is pre­dictably crowd­ed – so get­ting a spot to climb the tow­er can be tricky as can a clean pho­to shot.

There­fore the best time to vis­it is ear­ly morn­ing – with the month of April – May or Sep­tem­ber to Octo­ber being the best months to vis­it – with off peak tourism and decent sun­ny weath­er more like­ly.

 

Explore:

The beau­ty of the Tow­er is undoubt­ed­ly in both its 3.9 degree tilt and the unique 192 columns and archi­tec­ture that dot the 7 floors to its sum­mit – with the tow­er being free and its unique tilt vis­i­ble from every area of the grassy and stun­ning Piaz­za dei Mira­coli in which it sits.

From here you can take the famous lean­ing against the tow­er – or even kick­ing or sup­port­ing the tow­er if you can get the angles, as well as tak­ing in and explor­ing the 55 meter high 12th cen­tu­ry Pisa Bap­tistry – the largest in Italy, the Cathe­dral of San­ta of San­ta Maria Assun­ta and the grave site of Cam­posan­to – all of which dot the Piaz­za dei Mira­coli and are them­selves stun­ning exam­ples of the cen­turies old archi­tec­ture that adorn Pisa.

The high­light of any vis­it to the lean­ing tow­er is the 30-minute ascent up the 300 or so steps to the sum­mit on the sev­enth floor and which only 30 peo­ple are allowed to climb at a time. This ascent take you to the best view point in all of Pisa, from which you can get a panoram­ic view of the whole of the beau­ti­ful city and tru­ly stand atop a unique won­der of the world.

How long to stay: You should allow at least 3 hours to explore the lean­ing tow­er and the sur­round­ing Piaz­za dei Mira­coli and Cat­te­drale di Pisa – with trips to the top of the tow­er time lim­it­ed at 30 min­utes – and an hour or so need­ed to take in and appre­ci­ate the unique won­der and tilt of the lean­ing tow­er of Pisa.

Top Tip:

Unfor­tu­nate­ly, Pisa and Italy as a whole has become known for pick­pock­ets – so be on your guard around the tow­er – espe­cial­ly if some­one offers to take your pho­to pos­ing by the won­der.

Along­side this, the best way to explore Pisa and the Lean­ing Tow­er is as a long day trip on your way to or from Flo­rence – arriv­ing by Train stor­ing your essen­tials or suit­cas­es in a lock­er and walk­ing 20 min­utes through the streets of Pisa to the Piaz­za dei Mira­coli and spend­ing 3 hours at the won­der before trav­el­ing on.

Cost:

To see and wit­ness the lean­ing tow­er from the grassy verge of the Piaz­za dei Mira­coli is com­plete­ly free – although some­what crowd­ed.

But to tru­ly expe­ri­ence, explore and under­stand the Tow­er of Pisa – you must ven­ture with­in it and make the almost 300 stair climb to the top of the tow­er, with tick­ets to enter the tow­er cost­ing €18 and allow­ing you a 30-minute slot where you and 29 oth­er peo­ple can jour­ney up to the top of the tow­er – be warned though tick­ets should be bought online (at https://www.opapisa.it/) – as they are both cheap­er and also sell out on the day.

Fun Fact:

While the Tow­er of Pisa held the record for the worlds slant­ed build­ing – it now stands a dis­tant third, behind the Suurhusen Tow­er in Ger­many and the Cap­i­tal gate in Abu Dhabi — which has an impres­sive and prob­a­bly unbeat­able 18 degree slope – although nei­ther can claim to be the most rec­og­niz­able or the most beau­ti­ful slant­ed build­ing in the world.

Best photo spot:

The clas­sic tourist pho­to (lean­ing against, kick­ing, sup­port­ing the tow­er etc) are always take on the grass around the Tow­er of Pisa called the Piaz­za dei Mira­coli – you may have to be patient giv­en the crowds but even­tu­al­ly you’ll get your shot.

It’s also worth jour­ney­ing up to the top of the tow­er and tak­ing in the city of Pisa from the icon­ic bell tow­er itself for a panoram­ic view of a tru­ly beau­ti­ful city.

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