From Our Reporter Giovanni Caprara
Corriere della Sera, Firenze
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"At the End of the Work, The Monument will be out of Danger for Three Centuries" "50 Thousand Lire for a Visit to the Tower" The Superintendent: Limited Access and Expensive Tickets to Guarantee Safety PISA- 50,000 lire ($25 US) to climb the 293 steps of the Tower of Pisa. It is the price, in the future, to scramble up the most famous tower in the world. An announcement that, despite the problems, has not ruined the festive air that is breathed in Pisa these days. The Tower, grand patient of the city, begin to feel well after the care initiated last February. By now it has been raised 14.5 centimeters, and each day earns something more while the drills extract earth from under the foundation of the North side. Along the Arno fireworks the illuminate the city for the patron St. Ranieri that today is celebrated symbolically by sending a group of students on the Tower. And it is a way to announce that the progress toward the reopening of the monument has gone off well with the cautious oversight of the experts who are still busy in their attention. "We are at one third of the objective to reach a reduction in inclination of 42 centimeters, "says Michele Jamiolkowski, coordinator of the international committee of experts, " and, thank goodness, everything is coming along well. But they are not ever able to exclude surprises". Nobody has forgotten the scare of September 1995 when, during the technical testing the Tower, that had been stopped, for an instant restarted to yield. But now the simple and gentle method (invented 40 years ago by an Italian engineer) has shown his effectiveness. And if everything continues without obstacles, June 17 2001, with a big musical event, the most famous bell tower in the world will reopen its closed door after 10 years, when the worst was feared potential of a collapse frightened all. But as we are able to climb again the 293 steps of tormented history started 9 centuries ago, the regulations are still not completed. Certainly we won't see the same assaults by tourists and scholars on tour. "Access to all the great monuments in each nation come under regulation now", explains Pierfrancesco Pacini, Pisan president of the Work of the Primaziale, who is superintendent of the Tower, "Only small groups will be allowed and ticket prices of about at 50,000 lire are being considered. The need to account for safety and security problems forces us to face responsibilities that we didn't have before". Nobody dares say that the Tower after its improvement must be closed definitely like some would want for artistic reasons and to better guarantee the future of one of the seven wonder of the world. However the moderation seems to weaken after the danger passes, despite the extremists that demand access without limits. "It is splendid architecture born to be admired from the lower part, from the Piazza dei Miracoli", says Pacini diplomatically. "However that is for the experts and the local officials to decide. The main point is to guarantee a certain future for the work for which we are responsible in front of Italy and the whole world", Minister of the Public Works Nerio Nesi emphasizes. "In fact our first concern is its safeguard", mayor Paolo Fontanelli adds, "we then will take on the question of the opening". The "Operation Salvation" will last 11 years will and cost 54 billion liras (US$ 26.7 million) but it will guarantee the stability for at least three centuries. Few believed that after decades of problems and plans the results would arrive successfully. But the future of the Pisan Tower, challenged by nature, that was completed despite the fact that it began to lean even as it was built, will no longer be regulated to the past. Its maintenance will always require, the experts remind us, open eyes, continuous controls and perhaps other intervention, if they reveal themselves necessary. |
Translated by Gary
Feuerstein, 7 July 2000, from the Corriere della Sera article
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