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Corriere Della Sera
16 June 2001 by our reporter Ranieri Polese "It Will Last for Another 250-300 years" Bells for a party in the Tuscan city. Today after 11 years the Tower has been returned to the city. In October it will also be reopened to the public At the hour of 16.47: The minister for Infrastructures, Pietro Lunardi has redelivered the keys of the Tower of Pisa to the president of the Work of the Primaziale, Pierfrancesco Pacini. Pacini was accompanied by the mayor of Pisa, Paolo Fontanelli, and by the president of the international committee, Michaele Jamiolkowski. At the redelivery of the keys all the bells of the city have begun to play and also the bells of the Tower of Pisa that for eleven years had been silenced. From our Reporter PISA- To the eye the difference is almost not seen, and it is correct that it is because, as the ex minister Antonio Paolucci has repeated, "the Tower of Pisa must stay tilted, otherwise goodbye to the myth". And goodbye also to the history of this monument, initiated in the 1173, five years later it showed a definite inclination toward north. However the reduction of the lean of 43.8 centimeters and the correction of the inclination by half a degree (now it is at 5 degrees) have changed everything. Today the most famous bell tower in the world is returned to the city and, at the end of October, it will be reopened to visitors. Eleven years have passed from January 7 1990, when the Tower was closed: "It was in serious condition", remembers Michele Jamiolkowski, professor of geotechnical engineering at the Polytechnic of Torino and president of the Committee of Safeguard. "We say, for caution and luck, that the Tower will last for another 250-300 years. Really we think that it will withstand for a longer time". Today, after the official ceremonies (today, in the Auditorium of the Opera del Duomo, there will be the ministers Matteoli and Lunardi along with the local authorities, the technical group, and the ex official Massimo d'Alema) the bells will ring. Then, all the city will br dressed in lights for the luminara of the holy patron, St. Ranieri for whom the door of the Cathedral has been devoted and, they say, protects the Tower from danger. The Miracles "When the Tower was closed, it was thought that the tourists would not come any more", says Antonio Lazzarini, secretary of the Work of the Primaziale. "The first year in effect there was a decline. Then, the big pilgrimmage came back". Certainly, the closed bell tower missed important income: in 1989, a million visitors yielded 4 billion lire in revenue. "The government came to us for help, for four years we said a contribution in total of 12 billion lire", continues Lazzarini, "But in 1992 they decided to sell tickets for entry to the Baptistery, and then the Cathedral". BRAVE COMMISSIONERS "We risked going down in history as those that made the Tower collapse", remembers Jamiolkowski, "and it was not easy to live with this thought". When in the September 1995 there was a sudden inclination, one diffused the panic. But with unusual fidelity to the scientific method, the incident made us understand that the adopted procedure (the congelation of the surrounding ground) was wrong. And it moved us on to the excavations of the ground in the zone opposite to that of the inclination. The trust in the calculations and the results of the experiments allowed us to overcome this great fear. For Small Groups The reopening to the public is expected in the autumn. How will it proceed? The president of the Work of the Primaziale, Pierfrancesco Pacini, announces that they will enter in small groups, a maximum of thirty people at a time, with at least two companions. The scheduled duration will be about 30 minutes per visit. On this everybody agrees. It remains only to discuss the price: Pacini speaks of a ticket of about 25 thousand lire (US$ 12). For certain, free entrance on the balconies will not be more allowed as happened until 1990. The Sound of the Bells There are seven bells, five big and two small, in the top floor. They were silenced in 1990, and it was painful for Pisans. Today, they will return to play, not all of them, however, because in the interim of long inactivity a restoration of the ancient bronzes has been necessary. After 1996-97, when it was determined acceptable to the stability of the monument, the commissioners allowed a dispensation for ringing at least two times per year, Christmas and Easter. The Keepers Happy but also determined to return as a free citizen, Jamiolkowski says that for him the job is concluded. "However I have advised the government for the need to find three responsible, expreienced keepers, who would continue to control the operation, but I won't be one of these". Distant Concerts The concert by Andrea Bocelli and Cecilia Gasdia, tomorrow evening, was announced, but it will not be held on the Piazza behind the Baptistery, but at St. Rossore. A rigorous application of the Ronchey decree of 1994 has imposed this decision. It is the only negative in these days of joy, because - the entertainment organizers noted - at the same time a concert was granted in Piazza San Marco in Venice. Why, do they ask, does the office of the Cultural Good have adopted weights and different measures? |
Translated by Gary Feuerstein, 21 Decemner 2001, from the Corriere della Sera article
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