Experts ‘solve’ mystery of who designed the Leaning Tower
Its alarming tilt is known the world over, but the identity of the architect who designed the Leaning Tower of Pisa has remained a mystery.
Italian scholars now believe they have solved the mystery, having analysed a piece of stone embedded in the base of the monument which was found in 1838 during excavations.
Until now, the stone was thought to have come from the sarcophagus of a 12th-century Pisan architect called Bonanno Pisano. It bears his name in
Latin. But archaeologists from the Scuola Normale Superiore, a university in Pisa, have managed to decipher a further two lines of the badly damaged inscription and think it proves that Pisano was the architect of the world famous monument.
They say the lines translate as ‘‘I, who without doubt have erected this marvellous work that is above all others, am the citizen of Pisa by the name of Bonanno.’’
There has been speculation over the centuries as to who was behind the unique design of the tower.
Among the most commonly mentioned names are the architects Gherardo di Gherardo and Giovani di Simone.
Bonanno Pisano had also been mooted, most notably by Giorgio Vasari, the 16th-century painter, architect and writer best known for his biographies of Renaissance artists.
The building of the emblematic bell tower began in 1173, but by the time the third level was finished it was already tilting badly due to the soft sand and clay that lay beneath its foundations.
Despite the pronounced lean, work resumed and it was completed in the second half of the 14th century. – Telegraph Group