Падающие башни-II (Bologna)
Падающие башни-I

Cегодня мне хотелось сосредоточиться на других исторических падающих башнях. И как раз, yozhik_@lj рассказал мне о двух болонских достопримечательностях. Я начала традиционные сетевые разыскания и обнаружила столько любопытного, что, пожалуй, ограничусь пока что только ими - Torres degli Asinelli и Torres degli Garisenda, возвышающимися над Piazza di Porta.





Built by patricians in the 12th century, these leaning towers, the virtual symbol of Bologna, keep defying gravity year after year. In the Middle Ages, Bologna contained dozens of these skyscrapers, predating Manhattan by several centuries. The towers were status symbols: the more powerful the family, the taller their tower was. The smaller one, the Garisenda, is only 162 feet tall and leans about 10 1/2 feet from perpendicular. The family that built this tower did not prepare a solid foundation, and it sways tipsily to the south. When the Garisenda clan saw what they had done, they gave up. In 1360, part of the tower was lopped off because it was viewed as a threat to public safety. The taller one, the Asinelli (334 feet tall, a walk-up of nearly 500 steps), inclines almost 7 1/2 feet. Those who scale the Asinelli should be awarded a medal, but instead they are presented with a panoramic view of the red-tile roofs of Bologna and the green hills beyond.
(excerpt from Frommer's 2001 Italy )



From The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction, Vol. 14, Issue 402, Supplementary Number (1829)
"The external appearance of Bologna is singular and striking. The
principal streets display lofty arcades, and the churches, which are
very numerous, confer upon the city a highly architectural character.
But the most remarkable edifices in Bologna are the watch-towers,
represented in the engraving. During the twelfth century, when the
cities of Italy, 'tutte piene di tirranni,' were rivals in arms as
afterwards in arts, watch-towers of considerable elevation were
frequently erected. In Venice, in Pisa, in Cremona, in Modena, and in
Florence these singular structures yet remain; but none are more
remarkable than the towers of the Asinelli and Garisenda in Bologna. The
former, according to one chronicler, was built in 1109, while other
authorities assign it to the year 1119. The Garisenda tower, constructed
a few years later, has been immortalized in the verse of Dante.

"When the poet and his guide are snatched up by the huge Antaeus, the
bard compares the stooping stature of the giant to the tower of the
Garisenda, which, as the spectator stands at its base while the clouds
are sailing from the quarter to which it inclines, appears to be falling
upon his head,


"'As appears
The tower of Cariaenda from beneath
Where it doth lean, if chance a passing cloud
So sail across that opposite it hangs;
Such then Antaeus seem'd, as at mine ease
I mark'd him stooping.'


"The tower of the Asinelli rises the height of about 350 feet, and is
said to be three feet and a half out of the perpendicular. The
adventurous traveller may ascend to the top by a laborious staircase of
500 steps. Those steps were trod by the late amiable and excellent Sir
James Edward Smith, who has described the view presented at the summit.
'The day was unfavourable for a view; but we could well distinguish
Imola, Ferrara and Modena, as well as the hills about Verona, Mount
Baldus, &c., seeming to rise abruptly from the dead flat which extends
on three sides of Bologna. On the south are some very pleasant hills
stuck with villas.' The Garisenda tower, erected probably by the family
of the Garidendi, is about 130 feet in height, and inclines as much as
eight feet from the perpendicular. It has been conjectured that these
towers were originally constructed as they now appear; but it is
difficult to give credit to such a supposition.

"According to Montfaucon, the celebrated antiquary, the leaning of these
towers has been occasioned by the sinking of the earth. 'We several
times observed the tower called Asinelli, and the other near it, named
Garisenda. The latter of them stoops so much that a perpendicular, let
fall from the top, will be seven feet from the bottom of it; and, as
appears upon examination, when this tower bowed, a great part of it went
to ruin, because the ground that side that inclined stood on was not so
firm as the other, which may be said of all other towers that lean so;
for besides these two here mentioned, the tower for the bells of St.
Mary Zobenica, at Venice, leans considerably to one side. So also at
Ravenna, I took notice of another stooping tower occasioned by the
ground on that side giving way a little. In the way from Ferrara to
Venice, where the soil is marshy, we see a structure of great antiquity
leaning to one side. We might easily produce other instances of this
nature. When the whole structure of the Garisenda stooped, much of it
fell, as appears by the top of it.

Пикантные детали из других источников:

I But the most fascinating legend says that the tower was named after a man who transported gravel and sand on his donkeys (the word "asinello" mean small donkey) from the banks of Reno river to the building yards. One day he fell in love with the daughter of a rich nobleman, who promised to give her in marriage once he had taken as his dowry the highest tower in the city.

II (For a cheap thrill, stand under Garisenda's leaning side when clouds are passing over it in the same direction; due to optical illusion, the tower will seem to be toppling on top of you.)