Travel Icon: Leaning Tower Of Pisa, Italy

Pisa’s wonky wonder had head-scratching architects captivated for centuries, but nearly 850 years since it was first built, it still casts travellers under its spell.

Get orientated

Like it or not, the Leaning Tower of Pisa is famous for one simple geometrical reason. But it was never intended to be that way. Its foundations were laid on 9 August 1173, and for a while it stayed true. But by the time builders came to add a third storey five years later, things were already awry.

Some would call it destiny. The tower’s shallow foundations were built on clay soil, which was a recipe for disaster. Inter-city conflicts then stalled its completion for nearly a century, by which point architects were vying to correct it in ever grander ways, from making newer floors taller on one side to, more recently, adding lead weights to balance it out. However, Pisans learned to love their folly.