Italy’s Leaning Tower of Pisa May Become a Luxury Hotel

The Leaning Tower of Pisa attracts throngs of tourists from around the world on a daily basis. In fact, visiting the sloping landmark has become a rite of passage for travelers touring through Tuscany. But If just visiting the leaning tower simply isn’t enough, Italian authorities are now toying with a controversial idea of turning the historical site into a luxury hotel.

The proposed hotel— titled 3.99 Degrees as a reference to the angle of the tower’s tilt— would pump some much-needed revenue into the local economy and could be used to help preserve the building; The tower’s aging facade and signature tilt require a lot of costly upkeep from the city.

Leaked plans for the proposed hotel suggest that each floor of the tower would be remodeled into a large bedroom that offers a 360 degree view of the surrounding city. Each floor will be named after a famous figure from the Renaissance, like Michelangelo, Raphael, Botticelli, Titan and Leonardo Da Vinci. The sixth floor and viewing balcony would be transformed into a centerpiece suite named after Italian astronomer Galileo. Prices for rooms in the tower would range from €50,000 ($53,886)  a night for the Galileo suite and upwards of €20,000 ($21,570) a night for rooms on the landmark’s other floors. If these plans for the Leaning Tower of Pisa come to fruition, the suites inside the tower would rank among the most expensive hotel rooms in the world.

While space in the Leaning Tower of Pisa is too limited to allow for cooking and dining facilities, pluming could be installed for bathrooms and showers. It has been suggested that the hotel could partner with local restaurants to offer dining services to guests. A local carpenter has even offered to craft special beds with legs of differing lengths to help keep guests comfortable in the sloping landmark.

Tourists looking to visit the Leaning Tower of Pisa but not stay the night would still be allowed to tour the grounds surrounding the landmark and venture to the top floor during a two hour window each day.

(Via The Telegraph)