Mussolini tried to straighten the Leaning Tower of Pisa — and failed.

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T he Leaning Tower of Pisa, originally the bell tower to a medieval cathedral complex, is one of Italy's most recognizable landmarks. But fascist dictator Benito Mussolini, who came to power in 1922, thought it made the country look bad, so he tried to straighten the tower in 1934. The results were disastrous — not only did his plan fail, but it destabilized the structure and made the tower bend even lower.

Construction on the Tower of Pisa started in 1173, and after the first story was completed, the builders noticed that the foundation had settled unevenly. After a century-long pause, construction resumed, and engineers tried to compensate by making the walls slightly taller on the leaning side. The extra weight on that side made it sink even further. Adding the tower's seven massive bells didn't help, either.

By 1817, the tower had tilted a few degrees. Then in 1838, an architect attempted to excavate the base of the tower and inadvertently added as much as half a degree to the lean. So the tilt was quite pronounced and only getting worse by the time Mussolini's engineers got to it. They drilled 361 holes in the ground around the foundation and injected 80 tons of grout into them, attempting to push the structure upright. Instead, the added weight further destabilized the soft soil, causing the tower to move another half an inch in the wrong direction. Mussolini made no further attempts to straighten the landmark, and he was deposed in 1943.

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By the Numbers

Horizontal distance (in feet) of the Tower of Pisa's lean in 1964

Columns on the Leaning Tower of Pisa

~200

Did you know?

The Eiffel Tower was supposed to be temporary.

Today, the Eiffel Tower is one of the world's most popular tourist attractions, but when it was constructed for the 1889 International Exposition in Paris, its creator Gustave Eiffel received only a 20-year land use permit. To safeguard his project, Eiffel demonstrated its usefulness in radio transmission, which won a 70-year extension. Over time, the structure proved to be not only a practical asset but also a cultural landmark and tourist attraction, giving the city little reason to remove it. Today, around 7 million people a year visit the tower, and it certainly seems here to stay.