Bologna looks to the Tower of Pisa for advice to stop the Garisenda tilt
Leaning for centuries with a worrying inclination, the Garisenda Tower in Bologna has suffered insults and traumas. Dickens called it “sufficiently unpleasant,” if extraordinary, while Goethe said it was “a disgusting sight.” And then there were the earthquakes, the Allied bombing of the city during the Second World War and the urbanization that destroyed other towers.The Garisenda has resisted all this, a beloved symbol of this medieval city, a reminder of a past when important families or communities erected towers to remind others of their status and for defense.But now Garisenda is in trouble.After sensors attached to the monument, which hangs at a 3.6-degree angle, detected “anomalous movements” last year, alarmed experts issued what was called a “technical code red.”In October, the...