Curiosity and Details for the
End of the Work on the Bell Tower

Il Tirreno Giornale

(PISA, Italia, Thursday 12 April 2001  ) 


by Candida Virgone

Tower, 100 Ssensors at its Heart The Preparations for the Final Ceremonies are Fervent Maximum Ssecurity in the City for the Concert Rutelli Visits the Yard on Saturday

The Workyard of the Tower (foto Muzzi)

PISA. A sigh of relief for the work that finally is positively at the end for the Tower. It is time of curiosity. On this fact was the attention focused yesterday morning at the Primaziale, the periodical meetings that the Committee reserves for the news to inform the world on the health of the famous bell tower, the symbol of Italy throughout the world . A final summary of the results had been noted on occasion of the recent visit to Pisa by the minister of public works, Nerio Nesi. He disclosed that the Tower has straightened its lean by almost 40 centimeters, that in June it will finally be redelivered to the city and that the last finishing touch will have be completed by November when it will be reopened to the public, with guided visits in groups of thirty people at a time and a ticket price fixed at 25 thousand lire. Yesterday at the Primaziale, the president of the Committee for the safeguard of the monument, Michele Jamiolkowski, with professors Carlo Viggiani and Giorgio Macchi, and the president of the Primaziale, Pierfrancesco Pacini, has spoken about curiosity and small details on the two days of festivities for redelivery of the monument that is a patrimony of humanity. More than one hundred sensors are in action at this moment on the Tower, many of which they will stay in service after the work, along with the famous pendulum that for 60 years has furnished the data relative to its inclination: said to have been systematized in 1935 by Girometti and Bonechi that now is repositioned at the base of the actual lean. Among the work to finish in the short term - delicate moving back of the enclosure, 3 meters on the west side, 5 meters on the south side, the dismantlement of the suspenders by the end of April, the complete removal of 21 of the 41 pipes serving the subexcavation, that in the preliminary phase removed 20 cubic meters earth, and in the final phase 40, for a total of 60 cubic meters, corresponding to about 110 tons. At the end of May all the machinery is to be removed from the workyard. Holy Saturday Francis Rutelli will be in Pisa for the electoral campaign and he will visit the Tower . The preparations for the two days of festivities for the Tower are fervent. The keys to the monument will be redelivered from Professor Jamiolkowski to the president of the Work, in front of the ministers of the Public Works and the Cultural Good. He redelivers it on June 16, on occasion of the fetival of the patron of Pisa, St. Ranieri. The day will begin at 10 o'clock in the auditorium of the Primaziale, where the Committee, in front of Pacini, the mayor, the prefect, the ministers and the authorities will conclude the project. The 13 experts of the Committe who tended the Tower for 11 years will be recognized by the Primaziale and, after a reception in the gardens of the Workyard, in the afternoon will follow the award of the pizes for the Pisan School children who participated in the contest of the Tower. Finally the formal redelivery of the keys follows an historical procession in the city. The evening of June 17th, then, the concert in collaboration with the foundation of medical research Arpa (Harp). The Pisan tenor Andrea Bocelli, the soprano Cecilia Gasdia, the Choir of the Academy of Saint Cecilia, and the Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra from Moscow directed by maestro Fedoseyev will perform. Contacts are still in progress to settle whether the concert will go on the air by Rai or Mediaset. It tends however to direct television and to the possibility of an exhibition in Worldvision. 200,000 places will be prepared in Piazza dei Miracoli. 20,000 invited guests are expected in Pisa for the occasion. The concert will be standing room only in Piazza dei Miracoli, with maximum security in the city's plazas.

Translated by Gary Feuerstein, 14 April 2001, from the Il Tirreno article