One of the many places in the
world that I had always wished
to visit was Pisa, with its
famous Leaning Tower.
We were fortunate to
approach Pisa by ship as this
allowed us to soak up the
atmosphere of the area gradually
and prepare ourselves for Pisa,
rather than be dumped down at an
airport and suddenly – there you
are!
The trip with a boyhood
friend was by way of an escape
valve from the pressures of
business and home. My wife had
become a bit of a virago and I
needed a break.
It was the last week in
September and the weather was
ideal. The sun shone with
pleasant warmth rather than the
enervating heat of high Summer.
The sea was exactly what you
think of when the word
Mediterranean is heard: the blue
so lovely of sea and sky,
contrasted with the curling
white bow wave being pushed
ahead of us and the occasional
fluffy white summer cloud above.
Sailing across the Tyrrhenian
Sea I thought of the Etruscans,
that great race of people that
so little is known about, yet
left the legacy of their
craftsmanship in bronze, silver
and gold to the Romans and to
their descendants today. This
was really their sea and Pisa
had been part of an extensive
confederation. In their time the
sea probably reached right up to
the city instead of the six
miles distant that it is today.
We docked in Livorna , which to
me sounds kinder to the ear than
Leghorn as it is also called. I
remembered that the Scotsman,
Henderson, had traded here for
marble and other goods, while
building up the well-known
shipping company
P. Henderson & Co of Glasgow-
sadly now swallowed up by other
maritime interests – and the
changing faces of many of the
great ports that accept the
millions of tonnes of diverse
cargoes from the world’s mighty
oceans.
Customs clearance was quickly
over with and we hired a car at
moderate cost to take us to
Pisa. We drove through the
unique Tuscany countryside to
the town where we walked around
the shops. The fruits of tourism
beckoned to us from their high
priced branches; Madonna’s,
leaning towers, cathedrals,
baptisteries. Your choice in
gold, silver, bronze, clay,
china and of course – plastic.
Postcards in thousands and like
the colour transparencies – some
of good quality and a lot of
poor quality pirate stuff.
We turned away, for this was not
what we had come for. As we
walked over the ground towards
the Campo Santo, our steps
slowed and we experienced a
peculiar feeling of – something
– I can’t really explain what,
from knowing that the earth
underfoot had been brought from
Mount Calvary in the holds of
fifty-three fully loaded ships
in the year 1203.
Now the tower. There it was –
and from where we were standing
with one of the vertical corners
of the cathedral almost in line
with the top edge of the towers,
the actual tilt was shown rather
alarmingly. We paid our money
and started to climb the 296
steps it takes to reach the top,
one hundred and a half feet
above.
Near the bottom there is an
inspection window through which
you can see a long arm resting
on an inside wall. This is part
of the equipment that measures
the angle of inclination which
when we were there was over 17
feet.
We were told that the walls are
13 feet thick at the base
tapering to about six feet at
the top. Impressive, but
unfortunately we had already
read beforehand that the
foundations were not more than
10 feet deep and not wider that
the circumference of the tower.
Admittedly they have poured
cement in to slow the process
down but when you are, more or
less, walking up and then down,
to get up; you don’t have any
great feeling of security. The
Americans offered to put jacks
underneath one side and heave it
back up one and a half feet, but
the offer had not been accepted
– just in case!
Two-hundred-and-ninety-six steps
are bad enough but when you are
also going round and round a
leaning tower, you have the
feeling on one half that your
going to fall out the way and on
the other half, fall in the way.
When, as well, you have to
contend with squeezing past
large, sweating sweet-and-sour
female tourists, fresh air
becomes a paramount necessity.
Frankly, by the time we had
rolled upwards to the halfway
mark I wished fervently that the
American offer to reduce the
tilt had been taken up. All the
way back to the vertical.
At last we popped out at the top
arcade and went forward to the
steps to see better. We stepped
down one step and with a jerk
sat down on the steps with our
hands behind us taking the
weight. Undignified we must have
looked. Embarrassed we certainly
felt. After climbing all the
steps we had suddenly come out
on the lower side of the tower
and that first step down had
given us the dreadful feeling of
falling forward and down and
there was no railing to stop
you.
What made it worse was that
several women with children came
out onto the steps and acted
quite normally but looked at us
sitting there hanging on for
dear life, like fools. We
withdrew from there. That is
probably as good a way as any to
describe our scrabbling back up
the steps.
Later, I found the incident
thought provoking.
We climbed to the Bell Tower. Up
there you are protected by
railings and we could relax and
admire the countryside sweeping
away to the hills of Lucca in
the distance. Looking down,
immediately beneath us was the
dome of the cathedral. And
following along the cathedral
length– the baptistery. The area
around all neat and clean. These
three buildings standing proud,
alone and immeasurably rich in
spiritual as well as material
things.
There is one arch on the Bell
Tower that when you look through
it, you can see the bell hanging
and the outside edges of the
bell just seem to touch the dome
of the cathedral on one side and
the acorn of the baptistery on
the other. Through this arch
your eyes carry you on away out
over Tuscany.
My recollections of the
cathedral are of a large
building built of white marble
with black and coloured bands
round it with a beautiful dome
at one end. Wonderful to look at
from the outside and awe
inspiring inside with it’s
wealth of gold on the ceilings
and cornices and the fabulous
paintings of the masters on the
walls. I appreciated the hushed
tones of everyone there and
wondered if it was due to the
holiness of the place or were
they just strangers in strange
surroundings that were a bit
gloomy. The whole atmosphere
exuded great age – but then –
they started to build it three
years before the Battle of
Hastings.
The Baptistery I found a much
brighter building, circular and
built almost entirely from
marble. It has a wonderful
octagonal font and a pulpit of
hexagonal design by Pisaro that
is really worth seeing. Perhaps
the baptistery appears brighter
because of the amount of new
life that has passed within its
massive walls. It has been used
for christenings since the early
thirteenth century.
The circular shape with the
great dome above gives extremely
fine acoustics. One of the
guards gave a demonstration. He
lifted his head and in a very
fine tenor voice, sang ‘Ave
Maria’ – just the two words but
my goodness how beautiful they
sounded and so clear. The words
seemed to linger on for a long
time. Not as an echo but like
the original sound, held captive
and clean. I would have liked to
be present during a christening
when the choir was singing. I
can imagine that would be an
experience not easily forgotten.
We left the baptistery and went
along to a position where we
could see all three buildings.
The baptistery surmounted by the
acorn that gave it an oriental
appearance when seen beside the
cathedral with its more
traditional dome. The tower –
the Campanile – leaning over
with great dignity, seemed to be
saying ‘Old as I am, and I may
be slipping a little – but I
have no intention of falling.’
The visit had been worthwhile
and very satisfying and we both
felt grateful for having the
opportunity of seeing and
entering the group of three
buildings in the Piazza de Duoma.
The Square of Miracles.
A year later I returned to Pisa
with my wife, who had been
getting even more tedious,
irritating and possessive. As we
arrived at the top of those
dreadful stairs and out onto the
leaning steps – I lost my
balance a bit –and plunged into
my wife’s back. It only took a
little heave for her to go over
the edge.
The enquiry went very well and I
have just about got over feeling
apprehensive every time the
phone rings or someone knocks at
the door. My new partner is a
lovely girl.
Bill Mills
