Another historic tower in Italy is leaning and is about to collapse, and to avoid this will require repair work costing several million euros. The Garisenda Tower, located in the Italian city of Bologna, of course, cannot boast of the fame among tourists similar to the Leaning Tower of Pisa, but it also attracts a large number of foreign tourists every year. And this tower, built back in the 12th century, raised fears that it might fall.
According to the Italian press, one of Bologna’s two famous towers — the Garisenda and the Asinelli Tower — is closed to the public and surrounded by a 2.6-meter-thick barrier due to fears that it could fall. The Garisenda Tower, like the Leaning Tower of Pisa, also actually stands at an angle, but for tourists, it is not so obvious — only four degrees. It was closed after studies revealed changes in the direction of the slope, and Bologna council called the situation extremely worrying.
The tower, built between 1109 and 1119, could collapse at any moment. Although the condition of the building has not yet officially reached the “red” alarm level, at which “collapse is inevitable,” and is still officially only at the “yellow” level, as a representative of the city mayor’s office said, monitoring equipment is installed on the tower, which gives readings every 15 minutes — so that the authorities have time to receive a warning about the collapse and evacuate the surrounding area.
“We act as if it is about to collapse, but no one knows when this might happen; it could be three months, ten years, or even 20 years,” a city hall representative estimated.
He also said that the tower, which Dante mentioned several times in his Divine Comedy, just like the Tower of Pisa, will most likely be closed to tourists for many years until the foundation of the building is strengthened. According to the mayor of the city, Matteo Lepore, a total of 4.3 million euros will be allocated for work to strengthen the tower.