Italy's desperate effort to save Bologna's leaning towers - DW News

[TexasTowelie]

A medieval tower in northern Italy is on the verge of collapsing. Historians and construction experts are using all means at their disposal to try and save it.

[elleng]

1. Oh MaMa Mia!

Guess I won't get to Bologna!/aka Baloney!!!

[Warpy]

2. They're one earthquake away from taking out half of downtown.

Some things aren't meant to last forever.

It they want to prolong the lives of these towers, they need to disassemble them and rebuild them in a more stable location, preferably with adequate footings.

It would provide a lot of unforeseen archaeological knowledge while reducing a lot of anxiety in the local population.

Or they can cave to peer pressure from the dead people who built them badly and in the wrong place and let them fall where they may.

[Old Crank]

3. Was in Bologna twice last year

It will be interesting to see what, if anything, can really be done to stop the lean. I had hoped to climb up to the top of the taller one but it is closed also.
The video was a little short of detail on the cause, other than weight, of the lean. Some mention on the force on the stone base. They didn't mention if there were ground problems, It might be that they will have to put a new base under it made of reinforced concrete. But that is speculation on my part.
The leaning towers are part of the identity of Bologna and are used to promote it, sell t-shirts, and anythign else you can put the image on.

[elleng]

4. I'd never heard of the leaning towers, more like this:

* Its metropolitan area is home to more than 1,000,000 people.[6] It is known as the Fat City for its rich cuisine, and the Red City for its red tiled rooftops and, more recently, its leftist politics. It is also called the Learned City because it is home to the oldest university in the world.[7]'

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bologna

[Old Crank]

5. Italy has quite a few leaning towers

Not just Pisa.
I saw one in Ferera pre-plague. There are over a dozen I believe.
These towers and the old churches were built without modern calculations available and modern soil testing.
Not that it helped two hotels in the SF bay to keep from sinking...