Il Tirreno Giornale (PISA, Italia, Saturday 13 April 2002)
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A Pair from Carrara claims the idea of the subexcavation plan
Jamiolkowski and the committee are summoned by Giovanni Parlato PISA. The shadow of the Tower arrives in court. The work of the committee presided over by professor Michele Jamiolkowski finished at the end of last summer. The plan of subexcavation has been great: the Tower has been "straightened" by 40 centimeters returning to an earlier inclination. We can relax for two or three centuries. But if workyard has been closed, another game has been opened in the courtroom of Pisa. A pair from Carrara claims the idea of the plan. At first it was one voice, but searching among the rooms and corridors of the court ther comes an elegant argument among the scientists guided by Jamiolkoswki and engineer Luciano Baldacci supported by Flavio Gabrielli. The first is a technical expert at the international level in the planning of bridges and the second is a businessman who manages an alimentary shop, studious of applied techniques. The comparison, to see it in these terms, would be improbable, like putting Goliath against David. Yet, the game appears open. Even to look at the papers there are surprises, because dates and stamps, consignments and sketches, all well documented, tell a history that could reveal itself to be "uncomfortable". Baldacci and Gabrielli already had in mind a plan to straighten the Tower by removing the earth. An idea much simpler than the plan of subexcavation implemented by the committee of safeguard of the Tower. Jamiolkowski announced the plan at the end of the 1998, for work to start at the beginning of 1999. To understand the motives of the argument, you need do step back. Baldacci and Gabrielli (and the documentation will show it) had sent a plan based on subexcavation to the Commune of Pisa in January 1990, to the Commune of Carrara and to the Superintendent of the monuments of Pisa, when only in December of the same year did the committee for safeguard of the Tower convene. But the supporting papers show that the committee took possession of the plan. In March 1995 the Superintendent of Pisan Monuments writes to the two Carraresi and informs them that their plan of subexcavation has been sent for review to the committee presided by Jamiolkowski. In these years, the committee was in a phase of studying different plans. But the results were not satisfactory. By September 1995 the Tower leans even more. In December 1996, Baldacci and Gabrielli send the plan directly to Jamiolkowski who, kindly, answers them saying that he will analyze the whole proposal at the next reunion of the committee as the government has extended the commitee's tenure (the committee was renewed time after time by specific law decrees). In the same year, Baldacci and Gabrielli release an interview in which they explain their plan that had been first published on a small specialized magazine. Moving ahead to December 1998, the committee announces that the plan is ready and the subexcavation can go on to the operational phase. To Baldacci and Gabrielli, the matter doesn't go down well and they engage Luigi Mangini, a Pisan lawyer, and Francesco Tallarico of the Roman forum. They serve notice to all. In February 2000 the case is delivered to Jamiolkowski. The judge entrusted to the case named an expert who will have the assignment to compare the two plans. He has not had a chance to see them and, therefore, to make a comparison. If the idea for the technical solutions is the same, he may present any operational differences. The plaintiffs of the case, Baldacci and Gabrielli, have not wanted to release declarations on the matter . It is clear, however, as they have expressed, that the court of Pisa recognizes that their plan has had some influence on that of the committee. Probably, to them, this recognition would be enough. In May the advisor to the court of Pisa should give an answer on the two plans. In fact, did the committee of safeguard of the Tower draw direction from the idea of Baldacci and Gabrielli? Finally, the legal battle presents an appendix. And not of little account. In fact, based on "the attack" of the two Carraresi, the committee sued for defamation, immediately following the article that appeared in our newspaper 23 January 1996 entitled "Is the Plan of Two Carraresi Techinicians the One That Should Safeguard the Leaning Tower?". The Carraresi were sued in December 2000, nine months afer they had summoned the committee. |
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