Tower of Pisa to reopen in December

The tower will reopen in December after 10 years

PISA, Italy -- The world-famous Leaning Tower of Pisa is to reopen to the public on December 15 after being closed for almost 10 years, it has been announced.

The move comes after work was completed earlier this year on reversing the tower's lean enough to ensure it will not topple over.

It is expected that once the tower reopens, the number of visitors allowed in at any one time will be limited.

For most of the past decade, the 54.5-meter (180-foot) tall marble monument has been girdled in steel and anchored by a pair of slender steel "suspenders" running across the surrounding piazza.

The tower, which was started in 1173 in the then-seafaring republic of Pisa, began leaning almost immediately into the sandy soil

When work began the tower leaned 6 degrees, or 13 feet, off the perpendicular on its south side.

By removing a small amount of soil, the tower has settled better and now leans about 16 inches less -- nearly the tilt it had 300 years ago.

The decrease in lean is not enough for the naked eye to detect but sufficient to stabilise the monument, experts have said.