Pisa

We visited Pisa for the second time yesterday. The Tuscan town is small, and famous for it's Leaning Tower in the Field of Miracles. The tower is dramatic in that it defies gravity by listing several degrees away from straight. It is a pretty little wedding cake monolith, but to me the star of the Field of Miracles is The Baptistry.

Back in the 12th century when the Baptistry, Church and Bell Tower were started, you needed to be a Catholic to gain entry to the Church and of course entry into Heaven. The Baptistry of any Church was designed to be the first step toward Heaven. It was supposed to MAGNIFICENT! The Baptistry in Pisa is magnificent. This little jewel still brings about shock and awe by it's majesty. To me, it has far more charm and beauty than the rest of the structures on the Field of Miracles.

The Bell Tower is famous because it leans. It has been leaning since it was 3 years old! Not only does the Bell Tower lean, so do the Church and Baptistry. The structures lean because the subsoil is sandy. If they had completed an environmental impact study in the 1200s they might have discovered the proposed structures were just not right for the territory.

It was good see the pretty little Baptistry again and marvel at one of the unsung wonders of the known world.