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Pisa
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As it turns out, Pisa is a college town, with residents who are weary of tour
buses trucking foreigners in to gawk at their leaning tower. So the buses must
park a mile away, and the tourists follow legitimate and spray-painted graffiti
signs directing them to the "torre pendente."
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Also as it turns out, the tower is not alone. The leaning tower, built on silt
too wet to hold it up, was meant to serve as the bell tower for the beautiful
cathedral and baptistry. These three sisters stand on a rectangular field of
bright green grass, which is littered with tourists posing for silly photos
holding the tower up, and college students catching a nap and a bit of Tuscan
sun between classes. Entrepreneurs sell trinkets on three sides of the square,
known as the Field of Miracles for its improbable tower. The fourth side is an
old cemetery behind a fence, where the graves have been sprinkled with soil from
the Holy Land.
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Italy is trying to save its landmark tower: the bells no longer ring, it is
being held up with wires, and tubes are siphoning moisture from its base. Even
with these efforts, one can't help but think that the tower might one day be a
memory, and the view is something truly special.
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