Campo dei Miracoli. Pisa, Tuscany, Italy.

Today we're moving 200 miles northwest and 1000 years into the future to come to Pisa's Campo dei Miracoli, or "Field of Miracles." While most probably recognize the field for its Leaning Tower, I'm going to educate you on all four major structures that make it famous: the Duomo, Baptistery, Tower and Camposanto. Then you can go off and impress your friends at parties.

The Duomo (above, center) is the heart of the Campo dei Miracoli, a Romanesque cathedral begun in 1064. How can you tell it's Romanesque? Look at all those arches, baby. Romanesque is all about arches. (Except for pointed arches, which are Gothic; horseshoe arches, which are Moorish; and golden arches, which are evil.) The interior of the Duomo was largely destroyed in a fire in 1595, but a lovely apse mosaic by Cimabue (1302) and pulpit by Giovanni Pisano (1302-1310) survived and can still be seen today. The Duomo is also the home of the tombs of Holy Roman Emperor Henry VII, and Saint Ranieri, patron saint of Pisa.

The Baptistery (above, left) was the second structure added to the Campo, begun in 1153. It was begun in a Romanesque style, with all those pretty arches, but wasn't finished until the 14th century, so the top is covered in some of those Gothic arches I was telling you about. The Baptistery would often serve as a civic meeting place, because it wasn't as sacred as the church - anyone, Christian or not, could enter the baptistery, but you were really only supposed to enter the Duomo once you had been baptized.

Now to the Leaning Tower (above, right), which I think isn't nearly as pretty as the Baptistery or the Duomo, but it's still pretty interesting. The Tower is actually a campanile, or bell tower. It began to lean as soon as the third floor was completed, in 1178. (The tower leans because of its weak foundation - the wise man builds his house upon the rock, the foolish man builds his house upon the sand... or, in this case, the uncompacted dirt.) Had Pisans continued to build the tower as scheduled, it most certainly would have collapsed, but construction was delayed over the next hundred years due to warfare in the region, giving the tower time to settle into the soil. When construction resumed in 1272, four more floors were added, but at a slight angle to compensate for the tilt. Construction had to halt again in 1284 thanks to a battle with the Genoans. The last floor, the bell chamber, was finally added in 1372, and the last of the seven bells was installed in 1655. (By the way, the story of Galileo dropping two cannon balls over the side of the leaning tower is probably a myth.)

World War II almost saw the destruction of the campanile, twice. The first came when Mussolini ordered that concrete be poured into its foundation in order to return it to a vertical position, which ironically only made it sink more. The second came when the U.S. (and I am not proud of this) destroyed nearly every tower in Pisa to reduce any threat from snipers. (The U.S. retreated at the last minute, and the tower was spared, hallelujah.) In the 1960s Italy called together a crack team of engineers and mathematicians to save the tower, and together they formulated a plan that involved, among other things, adding counterweights to the raised end of the base. The tower was closed to the public for eleven years while this work went on, from January 1990 to December 2001, and should now be safe for the next 300 years. (If you have any plans to visit Pisa in 2306, you may want to consider rescheduling.)

Finally we come to the Camposanto (not pictured), which was begun in 1278. The Camposanto is actually a walled cemetery - camposanto means "sacred field." The dirt itself is said to have been brought back from Golgatha after the 4th Crusade. The cloister that surrounds it was added about a century later. Unfortunately, the Camposanto didn't escape damage during WWII - bombs dropped by Allied aircraft destroyed the roof, along with frescoes that covered the interior walls. It has since been restored, and is said to be one of the most beautiful cemeteries on earth. If you're looking for a romantic place to propose to that special someone, you've found the place. Especially if you think you'll have a black wedding.

If you want to see more pictures of the Campo dei Miracoli, visit the Opera Primaziale Pisana website.