Cultural Heritage Stories Booklet | Page 30

Tired of this situation, Giovanni organized a plot to kill his cousin and to take his role of king. So, the following day he decided to put in place the plot. On a dark January night, Giovanni went in the front of the tower and he waited until Enrico and his butlers went to sleep. After that, he tried to open the principal door, but it was closed. So, he took a long and strong rope and with all his power he threw it into the king’s window. Giovanni took a run and tried to climb the rope, but he weighed so much that the tower began to fall. Because of the noises, Enrico woke up and he realized what was happening in that moment. Immediately, he called all the butlers, who managed to resolve the situation. They had a brilliant idea: the weight of around ten butlers was equal to Giovanni’s weight. So, they moved on the left side of the tower to try to remedy the situation by hanging on a rope attached to the tower. But the situation wasn’t completely resolved, in fact Giovanni had succeeded to tilt the tower to 12° but with Enrico’s plan the inclination diminished to 4°. Still today, the Pisa Tower is a leaning tower and because of this feature, it’s one of the main landmarks of Italy. 25