The “leaning” tower of Garisenda and its taller neighbor, Asinelli, are located in the heart of Bologna (Photo above: Francesco Riccardo Iacomino/Moment RF/Getty Images)
Dante Alighieri was so fascinated that he wrote about it twice: in the Divine Comedy and in another sonnet. Charles Dickens was impressed by her while traveling in Italy. And now the medieval “leaning” tower of Garisenda in Bologna is attracting very modern publicity, with concerns that it could give way.
The streets around Garisenda one of Bologna’s “twin towers” in the city center have been cordoned off while scientists monitor the monument for signs that the structure is cracking and moving.
The 48metertall tower was built in the 12th century, when Bologna was a “miniManhattan,” with dozens of towers reaching into the sky, each built by local families trying to make their own taller than the others build. But it leans at a fourdegree angle just slightly more vertical than the Leaning Tower of Pisa, which stands at a fivedegree angle. It was already inclined at the beginning of the 14th century, when Dante wrote “Inferno”, in which he describes the dizziness that occurs when looking at the inclined side of the Garisenda. Today a memorial plaque on the tower commemorates the verse dedicated to him.
Shortened in later years, it is located in the city center next to the Asinelli a tower twice as high that tourists can climb.
Mayor Matteo Lepore cordoned off the area around the towers over the weekend after meeting with the city’s monument protection officer and the commission of scientists who have been monitoring the two towers since 2018 to “carry out more monitoring and install sensors…” We have definitive information about Garisenda’s health,” he announced at a city council meeting on Monday in a speech shared with CNN.
Acoustic sensors were placed around the tower to monitor any tension noises such as cracking or creaking, and a pendulum was installed to monitor movement.
Visitor access to Asinelli has also been interrupted and a pendulum will be installed in the tallest tower.
Converting the area into a pedestrian zone has less to do with immediate safety concerns and more to do with instruments being able to collect more accurate data, the mayor explained.
Testing will continue through the rest of the week to see if the tower does more than just “shake… as it has more or less since it was built,” Lepore said, adding that all towers and skyscrapers the sky move up to a certain limit.
Lepore said the tower “has been leaning for several centuries and has been the subject of several interventions over the decades.”
The Garisenda, seen next to the taller Asinelli Tower, slopes down at an angle of four degrees. DeAgostini/Getty Images
A semiannual report will be presented, due at the end of November. The city council has already hired a company to carry out all the necessary work a company that worked on the Morandi Bridge, which collapsed in Genoa. A communityled committee will also be formed for the restoration project.
The roads will remain closed until Friday, but according to local media, buses will no longer be allowed to drive around the towers.
Lepore called it the “symbol of our city, along with the Asinelli Tower” and vowed to “protect Garisenda as a monument” and told the council: “We are working to do everything that needs to be done.”
The work comes after Lucia Borgonzoni, undersecretary of Italy’s culture ministry and representative of the rightwing Northern League, raised the alarm about the tower’s safety. Borgonzoni, a politician from EmiliaRomagna, the region whose capital is Bologna, previously unsuccessfully ran for city council president in 2016 and for regional president in 2019. Lepore represents the centerleft Democratic Party and its opposition on the council accused him of failing to protect the tower.
Borgonzoni told local newspaper Il Resto del Carlino on Sunday that she was “concerned” about the fluctuations recorded so far and suggested that the scientific commission, which she has been monitoring for five years, had “underestimated the situation.”
Lepore said Monday he would “abstain from political debate, not because I don’t want to take part in it, but because I believe that should be the case when important decisions need to be made, including deciding what is right from an institutional perspective.” to do.” calmly and with a clear conscience.
The Italian culture ministry did not respond to a request for comment.
Meanwhile, locals continue to live normally.
“We are not afraid at all,” said Fabio Bergonzini, a tour guide in the city.
“Us [os bolonheses] We never felt like this was a problem.
“Safety is always important and of course they have to investigate, but I don’t think the tower will collapse.”