Tower Goes Straight

By Stephen M. Silverman

09/04/1997 at 12:00 AM EDT

After 11 years of work in order to "center" it, the otherwise Zen-like Leaning Tower of Pisa -- yes, the one in Italy -- will reopen to visitors come this November, the Italian Public Works Minister, Nerio Nesi, has announced. The 12th-century tower was closed to tourists in 1990 when it was feared that the structure was leaning too much. Michele Jamiolkowski, head of the engineering team that undertook straightening out the tower, told Reuters that the lean has been reduced by some 15.59 inches so far and that the eight-story edifice should be nudged back another barely noticeable .1575 inch over the next few days. "Eleven years of work are not that much when you consider it took 200 to build the monument in the first place," said Nesi.