And oh - the bell tower of Pisa does lean in Pisa! It is pretty awesome sight - for such an old building.

Some tower facts - it took 377 years to complete the construction of the tower - the construction was stopped twice for 100 year durations. Construction started in 1173 and the tower began to lean in 1178 since the ground underneath was soft. Although unplanned, the construction stoppages helped to stabilize the building and allowed for future construction (but for the stoppage, the building would have fallen over). The latest restoration was completed in 2001 and will allow the monument to hold for another 300 years!

The construction of this building and the adjoining cathedral happened during the glory days of Pisa Republic in the 11th and 12th centuries when Pisa Republic helped the Crusaders during the 1st Crusade and in exchange gained wealth. Strange it is that the glory days of an empire in those times were linked to the Crusades. One person's suffering can be another person's gain.

After this phase, Pisa fell into rapid decline when Genoa defeated Pisa - and the glory days of Genoa began.

If you like to pose for a cheesy picture in front of famous monuments, This one should feature among the top in your list!

The Pisa Cathedral in all it's serene majesty!

For us though, Pisa's real contribution is that it was the birth place of Galileo. Galileo was really a polymath who designed and built his own telescope which helped him observe the 4 moons of Jupiter and change the course of Astronomy - and modern science. The glass he used to make his high quality telescope was obtained from Murano - so Murano played it's part for Science.

Pisa has another reason to be proud - mathematics - as the birth place of Fibonacci who pioneered the use of the Hindu Arabic numeral system in the west

Perhaps the greatest western innovation was the adoption of the Hindu Arabic numeral system. Prior to this, the western civilization used the Roman numeral system. Imagine - one million using Roman Numeral system - it would take you 16 minutes at a numeral a second. In other words, mathematics and by extension, science would not have advanced but for this innovation - particularly of the use of the number 0.

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