Engineers announced that in 20 years, the iconic bell tower’s lean has reduced by a further four centimetres and is in better structural health than predicted.
The recovery is good news, as the Tuscan tower’s lean was becoming worrisome and dangerous.
Roberto Cela, from the Opera della Primaziale Pisana, the organisation responsible for maintenance of the square where the Tuscan tower is located, said his team “positioned a series of pipes with drills which took away soil from the opposite side of the leaning side of the tower”.
“With the missing soil under its base, the tower has reacted by straightening up, recovering the tilt and thus rejuvenating after all the years that caused it to lean and to reach a critical position,” he added.
A steel cerclage was also added to the tower’s lower level to keep the main two stone blocks together in order to stabilise the structure.
The 12th-century bell tower reopened to the public in 2001 after being closed for more than a decade to allow workers to reduce its tilt.
By using hundreds of tonnes of lead counterweights at the base and extracting soil from under the foundations, engineers initially cut 43.1 centimetres off the lean.
