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It's incredibly disorientating walking up. Your body wants to compensate in that direction, which means you're leaning onto the wall at the same time as you're spiraling round in a circle and going upwards. It's ah, it's good to see some daylight and get your sense of direction and space again. The tower is eight stories high with its famous lean just under 4° off center. Our 3D scans reveal a skeleton image of the tower and it can help us see how the medieval builders tried to correct the lean.
Things started to go wrong almost from the word go. After just three stories had been completed, it became clear the tower was leaning. Soft clay and sandy soil had destabilized the foundations. Work stopped for almost 100 years, but then they tried a novel solution. They made stories four, five, six, and seven shorter on one side to try to compensate for the lean. Incredible sense when you climb this building is one of both human fallibility. They didn't realize that the foundations were on sinking ground, but also perseverance. For 200 years, the Pisans were trying to make this tower work building little by
little until finally they got to the bell tower on the top. The Pisans never gave up trying. In one last attempt, the top itself was added at a jaunty angle to the rest. At least the Pisans had completed their tower. In 1372, Florence's cathedral had stood domeless for 76 years.
