Leaning Tower of Pisa is Leaning Less Than Before, Say Experts

Italy's famously Leaning Tower of Pisa is a little less off-kilter. Nearly two decades after engineers completed consolidation work to keep the tower from toppling over, officials monitoring the monument said recently that its famed tilt had been further reduced by 4 centimeters, or 1.5 inches. From a report: The tower, which has leaned to one side ever since it began to take shape in 1173, has lost 4cm of its tilt over the past two decades, according to a report from the surveillance group that meets every three months to give updates on the monument's condition. 'Since restorative work began, the tower is leaning about half a degree less,' said Nunziante Squeglia, a geotechnics professor at the University of Pisa who works with the group. 'But what counts is the stability of the tower, which is better than initially predicted.' The structure, which was badly damaged during the second world war, was closed to the public in 1990 over safety fears and did not reopen for 11 years.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.