Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
TOWER & COMBO TICKETS
Buy tickets for the Leaning Tower from one of two well-signposted ticket offices: the main
ticket of-
fice
behind the tower or the smaller
office
(
www.opapisa.it
; Piazza dei Miracoli; 8am-8pm sum-
mer, 10am-5pm winter) inside Museo delle Sinópie. To guarantee your visit to the tower and to save
the long queue in high season, buy tickets in advance online, but note that tickets can only be bought
between 20 and 12 days before visiting.
Ticket offices in Pisa also sell combination tickets covering admission to the Baptistry, Cam-
posanto, Museo dell'Opera del Duomo and Museo delle Sinópie: buy a ticket covering one/two/three/
four sights costing €5/7/8/9 (reduced €3/4/5/6). Admission to the cathedral is free, but you need to
show a ticket - either for one of the other sights or a cathedral coupon distributed at ticket offices.
Combination tickets covering four sights are valid two days.
TOP OF CHAPTER
1
Piazza dei Miracoli
No Tuscan sight is more immortalised in kitsch souvenirs than the iconic tower teetering
on the edge of this gargantuan piazza, also known as the
Campo dei Miracoli
(Field of Mir-
acles) or Piazza del Duomo (Cathedral Sq). With two million visitors every year, crowds
are the norm, many arriving by tour bus from Florence for a whirlwind visit.
Each year from 16 June until the last Sunday in August or first in September, the Lean-
ing Tower and Camposanta open their doors to visitors until 11pm - a magical experience
not to be missed.
Leaning Tower
MAP
LANDMARK
GOOGLE MAP
(Torre Pendente;
www.opapisa.it
; Piazza dei Miracoli; incl admission to cathedral €18; 8am-8pm sum-
mer, 10am-5pm winter)
Yes, it's true: the Leaning Tower leans. Construction started in 1173
but stopped a decade later when the structure's first three tiers started tilting. In 1272 work
started again, with artisans and masons attempting to bolster the foundations but failing
miserably. Despite this, they kept going, compensating for the lean by gradually building
straight up from the lower storeys.
Over the centuries, the tower has tilted an extra 1mm each year. By 1993 it was 4.47m
out of plumb, more than five degrees from the vertical. The most recent solution saw steel
braces slung around the third storey that were then joined to steel cables attached to neigh-
