Art And History Of Pisa

'A Brief History of the Leaning Tower of Pisa' was originally written by Prof. Piero Pierotti, a professor of Art and Architectural history at the University of Pisa, who has spent a good portion of his career documenting the history and enriching the meaning of the Tower relative to contemporary issues. This history covers the 830 years since the initiation of construction in 1173 of this unique and colorful monument. From the fascinating perfection of the tower's 12th century dimensions to the haphazard, but ultimately successful, 21st century restoration, the Tower is presented as a world treasure often embroiled in misunderstanding and conflict. Professor Pierotti, the Tower's most prolific guardian, identifies the likley architect of the Tower, expands the meaning and architectural context of the Tower, develops the circumstances that led to the absurdity of the lean, and elaborates on the foibles surrounding the efforts to correct the lean, including a blunder in 1995 under the supervision of a team of world renowned experts that very nearly toppled the fragile structure. The book is illustrated with contemporary and historical graphics. This history is written by one who is uniquely qualified to interpret the importance of the Tower historically, architecturally, and culturally on both a local and international level. Professor Piero Pierotti is a docent, lecturer, instructor, author, and researcher at the University of Pisa. He is a prolific author on Italian Art and Architecture, with emphasis on civic development, medieval art, archeology and architecture, and historic personalities. He has authored two books and many related publications on the Tower of Pisa: Breve Storia Della Torre Di Pisa, Pacini Editore, 2003 Una Torre da non Salvare, Pacini Editore, 1990 A special area of research has been his discovery of the Architect of the Tower, previously surrounded in much controversy. Through his research, Prof. Pierotti has credited the 12th century architect Deotisalvi as the designer of the Tower. The professor is a recognized authority on the Tower, regularly quoted on the internet and interviewed by media such as National Public Radio, NOVA, BBC, and the New York Times. Prof. Pierooti holds the distinguished position as President of ArtWatch Italia: With permission of the author and editor, the book has now been translated from the Italian into English. Gary Feuerstein was well qualified to provide the translation as he maintains the internet's largest and most popular Leaning Tower of Pisa website. He is an architectural engineer in the US with family in Pisa, and has worked in and traveled extensively through Italy.

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Excerpt from A History of Pisa: Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries William Heywood, who lived so long in Siena and Perugia and whose books on medieval Italy are well known to all students and lovers of that time, died on June 26th, 1919, at the age of 62. The son of the Rev. Nathaniel Heywood, Rector of St Michael's, Bristol, he was born at Much Wenlock (Salop), where his father was then curate, on March 19th, 1857, and was educated at Clifton College, which he entered in 1869, and at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge (1875-1878). He read for the law, and for about three years was articled to a solicitor in Newcastle-on-Tyne. After his marriage in 1879 he threw up the law, however, for "the wild and woolly West," and went to America, when about twenty-five, as a cowpuncher. He owned a ranch in Buffalo, Wyoming, subsequently editing a Wyoming newspaper, threw this up for the law, was called to the American Bar, and at length became a Justice of the Peace. He returned to Europe in 1894 on account of his wife's health, and went to live in Siena, where he made a host of friends, English and Italian. Indeed it would be true to say that no one ever met him without being fascinated by his joyous and robust nature, his absolute sincerity, simplicity of character and good faith, his humorous outlook and enormous good nature and generosity. In many ways he may be said never to have grown up; he was an English Public Schoolboy to the day of his death. The richness of his nature, his gift for life, the overwhelming fullness of his temperament that would express itself in every sort of laughter and practical joking, his essential masculinity, too, together with his height and bigness generally, made up a figure that can never be forgotten and that was essentially English. About 1904 Mr Heywood left Siena, where the greater number of his books were written - Our Lady of August and the Palio of Siena (1899), The Ensamples of Fra Filippo (1901), A Pictorial Chronicle of Siena (1902), The Historical Guide to Siena (1903), Palio and Ponte (1904). About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

This classic survey of Italian Baroque art and architecture focuses on the arts in every center between Venice and Sicily in the early, high, and late Baroque periods. The heart of the study, however, lies in the architecture and sculpture of the exhilarating years of Roman High Baroque, when Bernini, Borromini, and Cortona were all at work under a series of enlightened popes. Wittkower's text is now accompanied by a critical introduction and substantial new bibliography. This edition will also include color illustrations for the first time. This is the first book in the three volume survey.

The Leaning Tower of Pisa is known worldwide for its five-degree lean. The Tower is the Campanile of the Cathedral, which together with the Baptistry and Cemetery form a breath-taking collection of monuments which are regarded as supreme examples of early Renaissance Romanesque architecture. In March 1990 the Tower was closed to the public as it was declared unsafe and close to collapse. A Commission was set up by the Italian Government with the task of developing and implementing stabilization measures. This book begins with a brief description of the history of the Tower and its construction. The reader is then introduced to the huge challenges faced by the Commission in designing and implementing appropriate stabilization measures whilst at the same time satisfying the demanding requirements of conserving a world heritage monument. In particular, two historical studies are described which proved to be most valuable in arriving at suitable stabilization measures. The first was a deduction of the history of inclination of the tower during and subsequent to construction. The results of this study were used to calibrate a sophisticated numerical model of the tower and the underlying very soft ground which proved vital in evaluating the effectiveness of various stabilization schemes. The second study was of measurements of movement made since 1911. This latter study revealed an unexpected mechanism of foundation movement which proved crucial in developing the temporary and permanent stabilization measures and which resulted in the Tower being re-opened to the public in June 2001. The book will appeal to both professionals and students in the fields of Architecture and Civil Engineering. It will also interest specialised audiences of geotechnical engineers and conservation architects. It may also be of wider interest to anyone planning to visit Pisa or who is intrigued as to what caused the Tower to lean and how it was stabilized.