Well, in Florence, they
say never trust in Pisan an architect, but we always say it's still there. The Tower of Pisa. It actually has no official name. Pisa is the walled city
that encompasses it. Oddly, the tower is not connected
to the cathedral, like most in Europe. It's also round instead of square, which
was inspired by minarets found in Tunisia. What might blow your mind is that it's been leaning nearly
since the day it was constructed. So how have they kept it
from falling down? A bit of creativity, engineering
and honestly luck. If you just think the people coming here from all over the world, they call it Pisa
and they don't call it the tower. They think that Pisa is the tower. It's not the city, right? It's a city
that was flown at about 4000 years ago. We were like Venice here. We had over 270 islands in this area. We are walking on water now. Then in this square,
you have the circle of life. You have the baptistery that represents
the the beginning of your life, the baptism. Then in between does the whole lifetime
until you find the church. The people of Pisa, hundreds of years ago
were incredibly forward thinking and inspired
by so many different cultures. In fact, the Insight arches are inspired
by a classic Tunisian design
with the alternating blocks of color. The entire ceiling is coated in 24
karat gold leaf. Gold represents heaven, and in the middle
you have this coat of arms which tells us who actually funded
this entire project. The Medici family,
a filthy rich family of bankers who literally funded
most of the Renaissance. I also have heard the Medici
family often funded these cathedrals to basically buy favor
or bonus points in the afterlife. So I had to ask if this was true. You got something in return. Exactly like it might help you
in the afterlife. They were smarter than others. This is the reason why the Medici family became powerful
because they were smarter than others. They knew how to talk to people. They knew how to convince people. Maybe through corruption. Sometimes sometimes.
Of course we do it now. Of course, we pay people for entering
or opening the door. Right? We don't do it. Don't tell. Yeah. Not sure if you knew this,
but Galileo was from Pisa. In fact, there was a location
in this church where he became inspired to discover
the little thing called gravity. There's a chandelier here, the same place where Galileo stood. Galileo Galilei was from Pisa,
the scientist. He stood in front of this place
to observe the swing. So the chandelier was moving
and through the pulse He understood that
there was a kind of force that could control the velocity
and the acceleration. This forces the gravity force. He didn't know anything about it because
he was just 17 years, was a young boy. So this was a moment of science
for science. That's amazing. That's it. The amazing thing is that the whole square
here, it's a message, the church, the richness, it's
your community, actually life, and then you have right over there
the hospital, and then on the other side in front of the cemetery,
it's hidden by the cathedral. Wow. And this is the resurrection. Yeah. Well, OK. So most people probably don't know that, what it represents
from the entrance to the square. You cannot see the tower,
you see all of the buildings. But the resurrection,
you need to deserve it. Quite unique if you think about it. Well, if you go to lot of places,
even in Florence, you find the bell tower by the church not separated,
not behind it, covered by it. The funny thing about this one
is that we don't know who made it. Oh really, funny. Yeah, we have the name for all of them,
for all of the buildings in the square, in the city
that is right there, except this one. When the architect started to make it
at the second floor, they have to stop it. And he said,
I cannot go one because it's sinking. And I imagine. Wow. Yeah, suddenly, suddenly,
after five years, they had a problem
with the foundation of the subsoil. And here is water. That tower is on the edge of the old river
there used to be in here. I did not know that, and it took two
centuries for arriving to the top of it, where you see the flag of placed
on the top three different moments
three different architects. While architecture also started to use
longer pillars and columns on this side, shorter ones on the other side
just to counterbalance just a little bit. You can see it because it was not that in
until the sixth floor, almost the top of it. Then it had to stop it once again
because it became too heavy, and they had to stop for about one century,
just at the end of a 1300s. The last architect built
the top of it where you see the flag, so the
top of it is straighter than the rest, at least to create the sort of illusion
of something perfect. It was supposed to be 300 feet. Wow. But it's just 170, so it's nothing
compared to the real project, right? But the real problem for the tower,
they used to be a church there. They used to be another building,
a monastery here, almost touching the tower,
and they destroyed it. They demolished it
for opening up a bigger, wider square. OK. And when they started 200 years ago, the towers started to tremble
because they removed something behind it. Right. And so it arrived to four degrees of lean. Oh, wow. 30 years ago, it was five and a half,
so it was falling down. Yeah, it was really too much. The center of gravity was going out of it. They had to make a lot of things. One was to put very heavy blocks of lead
on the other side, this metal to push the ground. Then a sort of belt. The fourth floor with two iron cables
for pulling the tower. It was amazing! Holy cow. And then and under ground excavation
project. They dug out the soil and the tower
set back about 45 centimeters. That means nothing,
but it's one degree and a half. That should keep it
there, right? Yes, of course. The good news is that when they reopen it
2001 since that moment and the tower had walked
five centimeters alone. So it's stabilizing itself. Wow. Of course, it won't be straight. Nobody wants to see this
straight tower of Pisa. Right, right. They're here for the leaning tower one. From an engineering standpoint. I mean, I think I always thought of this
like, Wow, this is how in the world. But honestly, I think
now just the engineering that goes into keeping all of this together
is equally impressive. Are you ready to go? Yeah, were here to see it all! All right. It's empty, there's nothing to see inside, but imagine ropes in here
to bring them bear. So originally there used to be 293 steps. OK, now we climb up 257. It's not possible
to get to the very top of it. It's a bit dangerous now. And it's not hard at all
because when you're going up, the lean helps you out a lot and it seems as you're
walking on a flat area. And it's sort of this double cylinder. So there are two big walls
and there's a staircase in between. OK, we can go, gracias. So this was the first construction they stopped right here in this height. So this is when he noticed
like when when it started to sink, to sink down and slide off. So I think there's a misconception
right there. How many people do you meet who assume
it happened after it was straight? Probably everybody. Yeah, probably everybody. It's funny, as we walk around,
you definitely feel the the pitch change. Totally, totally. Have a look at the shape
of this little street. It looks like a snake zigzag. This was the river. The reason why the tower leans. That was the river. They used to be also underneath the tower. Oh, wow. When they changed it, they had already built
all of the buildings beside oh, like around or around the river
all along it. You built it on
the softest ground possible. Next, we headed to the cemetery. Most of the frescoes were damaged
during heavy bombing in World War two, but one of the most disturbing
still remains fully intact, which includes a connection
to the divine comedy and Satan. So Lucifer
here is the first representation of the one that was told by Dante
Alighieri in The Divine Comedy
the big poem Hell, Purgatory and Heaven. When Dante meets Lucifer,
Lucifer has three mouths. Eating people, sinners ,and
you see the central one and there is a side mouth
with a sort of arm or maybe a leg inside. And he's digesting people. And of course, getting rid of them
somehow, right? And the particularity of this image
is that it is the first one divided in circles, in different sections,
as Dante Alighieri described it. It is amazing. It is this is beautiful
when you take in all of this, as you've shown me, like, you start to get
a better grasp of all of it. It's amazing. It's like inside the church, and graveyard
and everything is connected. And it's not just the tower,
it is the symbol of the city. It's the symbol of Italy. It's something that you,
I mean, you have it for granted. If it's here, it's your tower. So it's a symbol that it's part of us
and you. Well, I love your encouragement. I love just your insights. I mean, I've learned so much more
than I ever did teaching art history! So I really, really appreciate your time
and all your knowlege. No, I really appreciate that
you are here. Yes. My pleasure to have you in my city.
