Sunday, December 03, 2023

Italy’s other leaning tower cordoned off over fears it could collapse

Jorg Luyken
Sat, 2 December 2023

The centre of Bologna with the Asinelli tower and the Garisenda tower seen from above, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. - De Agostini Editorial

Authorities in the Italian city of Bologna have cordoned off a tilting 12th century tower over fears that it could collapse.

Work has started on a metal barrier around the Garisenda Tower, which leans at almost the same angle as the more famous tower of Pisa, after local authorities described the situation as “highly critical”.

The barrier will be made up of a 5m fence, as well as rock-fall nets designed to catch debris that could cascade down and damage other buildings or strike unwitting pedestrians.

People take a break sitting under the arcades near the 'Two Towers' - Michele Lapini


Authorities have said that the safety construction will be completed early next year, describing it as “the first phase” of making the building safe.

Experts who have been tasked with assessing the viability of the 900-year-old structure have struck a more pessimistic note on its long-term future, however.

A report that was finalised in November described the building as having been in an “inescapably critical condition for some time”.

The two towers (Asinelli and Garisenda), Bologna, Bologna, Emilia-Romagna, Italy - DeAgostini/Getty Images

The report also concluded that previous attempts to buttress the tower’s foundations with steel rods had made the situation worse.

The tower has been cordoned off since October, when the city mayor ordered closer examination of its safety. The report came to the worrying conclusion that the tower had begun to lean in a different direction.

A city spokesperson told US broadcaster CNN that no one can tell when the building will finally fall down.

“We’re acting as if it’s about to collapse, but nobody knows when that could be – it could be three months, 10 years, or 20 years,” he said.

Aerial view of Bologna and the Garisenda Tower at sunset - Moment RF

The Garisenda Tower – 154ft high – is the smaller of twin iconic turrets that dominate the skyline of Bologna’s mediaeval old town.

The taller Asinelli Tower is roughly double the height but leans less precipitously and is still open to tourists to climb.

At the time of construction in the 12th century, Bologna resembled a mediaeval Manhattan, in which wealthy families competed with one another to own the most prominent building.

While most of the turrets have since collapsed or been repurposed at a smaller scale, over a dozen still remain to this day.

Leaning tower in Bologna to be saved as city announces €4m repair project


Guardian staff and agency
Sat, 2 December 2023 a

Photograph: Michele Nucci/AP

Officials have announced plans to repair one of two 12th-century towers in the Italian city of Bologna after the area around it had to secured last month over fears its leaning could lead to collapse.

The city said the €4.3m (£3.7m) project to shore up the Garisenda tower – one of the Two Towers that look out over central Bologna, providing inspiration over the centuries to painters and poets and a lookout spot during conflicts – would proceed in January and February.

Italy’s civil protection agency has maintained a yellow alert on the site, denoting caution but not imminent danger. The Garisenda, the shorter of two towers built between 1109 and 1119, stands at 48 metres (157ft) in height to the Asinelli tower’s 97 metres (320ft).


The city’s mayor, Matteo Lepore, noted in a debate earlier this month that the Garisenda tower had leaned since it was built “and has been a concern ever since”. It sustained additional damage in the medieval era when ironwork and bakery ovens were built inside.

“We inherited a situation that over the centuries has caused this illness,” he said. The mayor has asked the government to petition to make the towers Unesco world heritage sites.

Work to reinforce both towers has been ongoing since the 1990s. Preliminary work on the Garisenda tower will include creating a containment area to prevent any damage to nearby structures or harm to passersby from a “possible collapse”, the city said in a statement. Video cameras will maintain surveillance of the site.

The Garisenda slants at 4 degrees, compared with 3.9 degrees for Italy’s more famous Leaning Tower of Pisa.

The Garisenda and Asinelli towers are named after the rival families who built them, believed to have been a way to compete over their power and wealth, and are located at what was the entrance to the city. The Garisenda was originally 60 metres’ tall but had to be lowered after it began to lean.

The tower is cited several times in Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy and Le Rime, and Charles Dickens wrote about it in his Pictures from Italy. The Garisenda was also referred to in Goethe’s Italian Journey.

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