Il Tirreno Giornale (PISA, Italia, Thursday, 12 December 2002 )
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An Unfortunate Tuscan Woman Throws Herself from the Tower. She Climbed Over the Baluster of the Sixth Level. It is the First Suicide after the Reopening of the Famous Monument Thursday, 12 December 2002 by CANDID VIRGONE 
PISA. She was sick with age, an illness that unfortunately doesn't forgive. That is the reason that yesterday morning with great physical effort and with an impressive lucidity she arrived at Pisa, acquired a ticket to climb the Leaning Tower, 15 euro, and made her fate. The famous monument, after its reopening following structural restoration, is visited on fixed schedules: the tour is reserved for 30 people at a time and lasts for 35 minutes. About 11:30 the woman reached the sixth level with her group, the last before the bell cell.
It is the only level at which one can go out on the balcony to get a better view. Because the access at the other levels, precisely for safety reasons, is absolutely forbidden and is prevented by an iron railing one meter high. The last level is protected from the outside by an iron barrier. But the woman, M. N., scaled the baluster and threw herself headlong down before the entry of the tower. She would have turned 61 years old December 20, but the evil that struck her pushed her to plan lucidly for her end. The woman lived at Madonna dell'Aqua, in the Commune of St. Giuliano, with hre family. Like other famous towers and bridges, the celebreated Pisan monument has already been unintentional theater for extreme choices. The last suicide happened in 1989, shortly before its closing January 6, 1990 for the restructuring that lasted 11 years. Also at that time it was a lady of St. Giulianoto getting away from life. Over the years the leaning tower has always been a destination for people who have lost their attachment to life and, in the height, have found the courage to go against their own instinct for self preservation. That of yesterday is the first mournful episode after the reopening, which happened in December of last year. Under shock, a foreign tourist who, unintentionally, took a photo of the leaning tower has immortalized the terrible scene. Over the years, the episodes of suicide have been repeated causing certain concern that has carried to the moment of reopening the monument, to the effect that to prevent the exit of the public onto the balconies: railings have been placed on five floors, balusters for control. "Any other barrier", observes the Work of the Primaziale, "on the façade would not prevent a person intent on destruction from throwing themselves from the structure. Among the previous suicides, there was a terrible accident: an English boy of 13 years, on a school trip, that fell from the third level. After the consolidation that has made the structure safe for the next 50 years, reducing its inclination by 35 centimeters, a plan has been initiated to restore the masonry materials that would happen over the next five years, for a cost estimated at about 3 and half million euro, for work by the Central Institute of Restoration from Rome, directed by the architect Capponi. The first project, that entails the repair of the top level at the bell cell, and of the basin, at the base of the monument, is in course and will finish by June at a cost of 445,000 euro. |
Tragedy In Piazza dei Miracoli She Launched Herself from the Tower The Victim is Sixty Years Old, Afflicted by a Debiliating Illness Thursday, 12 December 2002 
PISA. Another suicide at the Tower. The last happened in 1989, before the January 6, 1990 closing that saw the restructuring of the famous monument for 11 years. And it is the first mournful episode after the reopening, in December of the last year. A woman from St. Giuliano has killed herself, jumped in the void at the sixth ring, the unique level in which it is possible to go out on the balcony for view, below the bell cell. M. N. would have turned 61 years old the 20 of this month, but a terrible illness had removed her joy to live and, as such, yesterday morning she left Madonna dell’Acqua, where she lived with her family, reached Piazza dei Miracoli, bought a ticket to get on the tower and attended her turn in the group of 11. Despite not being well and walking with diffculty, the woman reached the peak, scaled the protective baluster and threw herself headlong, lnading in front of the door of the tower. The agents of the Mobile Squad responded, directed by doctor Alba Badalassi; then, after no objection by the magistrate, Giovanni Porpora, the body was removed by the Volunteers of Mercy and prepared directly, in light of the clarity of the facts, to the mortuary chapel f St. Chiara. |
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(ANSA)- PISA, 11 Dec. - A woman committed suicide by falling from the Tower of Pisa. It is the first such occurence since the reconstruction in the popular piazza. The woman was 61 years old and resided in the province of Pisa. She threw herself from the sixth floor, the highest level under the bell cell. The Tower, closed on January 6 1990 for the work of restoration, had been reopened to the public in December 2001. The last suicide before this happened in 1989, before the long period of closing of the monument.
Pisa, Suicide at the Tower, the first case since 1989. She reached the sixth level of the tower of Pisa, the highest one under the bell cell, where she threw herself down. The subject of the tragic episode is a 61 year old woman from Madonna dell'Acqua, in the country near the commune of St. Giuliano Terme. The Mobile Response Squad identified the woman from the documents in her bag left at the depository. There is no doubt: clearly a suicide, the first since the restoration started in 1990. Like all visitors, the woman acquired the ticket for the visit and checked her bag.. As her attitude had not aroused any suspicion, she arrived at the sixth level, then threw herself in the "madman flight," down from the leaning tower. There was no ability for first aid: the woman died on impact. The reconstruction of the incident made by the Mobile Response Squad confirms the hypothesis of suicide. The last had happened in 1989, before the long period of closing for restoration (January 1990- December 2001). |
