Church
Parrocchia di San Nicola
Via Santa Maria, 2, 56126 Pisa PI
Octagonal medieval bell tower with a cantilevered spiral staircase and a subtle Romanesque lean of its own.
San Nicola's bell tower in Pisa hides a second leaning tower behind its plain facade, raised around 1170 to a design credited to Diotisalvi, the architect linked to the Baptistery. Climbing it feels different from the crowds outside: a cantilevered spiral staircase winds around an open shaft with no central column, each stone step wedged into the wall alone. The guide traces how the sixteenth-century writer Giorgio Vasari singled out this daring design as ahead of its time.
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