European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - October 2, 1978, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Has the wobbly stabilized a by Hugh a. Mulligan associated press n eerie thing happened As i crossed the Arno River on the Way to Pisa s famous leaning Tower. Suddenly ambulances came screaming Over the Cobblestone Bridge five of them in arow. A horrid thought occurred had i missed it had history s most splendid architectural mistake finally Given up the ghost after 800 teetering years and toppled Over in a Heap taking All those tourists and postcard salesmen with it but no thank god there she still stood or tilted around the next  of the Road and the ambulances All of them empty were just reporting for duty in their Normal noisy Way at a Hospital. I paid my 150 lire 15 cents and climbed the slanted winding 293 Marble Steps to the top of the Bell Tower which provided the sensation of ascend ing the staircase of an Ocean liner heeled Over in Arough sea. The Day was sunny Windy and so Clear you could see the Isle of Corsica far in the distance and closer by the is photo by Pete Milia the famed Tower is still leaning in there. Marble quarries of Carrara from whence came the 14,000 tons of Arches and columns that now tilt so precariously toward the River a full 17 feet out of plumb. I thought of Robert Browning who took his Bride Eliza Beth Barrett there in 1846, when the wobbly wonder was Only 13 feet off the perpendicular. About then the Bells rang for the last time and were spiked into silence to keep the vibrations from increasing the Angle of inclination. I thought of poor old Bonnano Pisano who began build ing the Tower in 1173, when Pisa instead of being a world renowned architectural joke was a thriving maritime re Public on a Par with Venice and Genoa with colonies stretching All the Way from the French Riviera to South Ern Russia. Bonnano had got the project Only 35 feet off the ground up to the third Story when things got out of whack. The foundation began sinking into the shift ing Sands of the Arno s subterranean River bed. Attempting to Correct this unplanned curtsy in the direction of the River the architect subtly tilted the next two stories at a slightly reverse Angle giving the Tower a barely perceptible Case of the bends As Well As the Stag Gers. Work came to a halt. Giovanni i Simone took Over in the following Century Doil Magazine and tried to recoup Bonnano s losses by making the Walls 3 feet thick at the base and Between 6 and 8 feet thick in the succeeding stories. Finally in 1350, nearly three Cen Turies after it was begun Tomaso Pisano topped out the Bell Tower of the 176-foot-High free standing romanesque Structure which was soon leaning Over far enough for a local University professor named Galileo Galilei to con duct his experiments in the velocity of falling bodies. The professors still love the bending building. Every new year s Day which is a great Day to be Hung Over in Pisa they hold a celebrated cocktail party to celebrate the fact that la Torre pendent still stands however a a arduously like some of the guests. The idea is for every one to get a Little Tipsy because the Tower has t got any More Tipsy during the previous year. Last year s was a particularly gala Jan. 1. The Tower had t varied a fraction of a multimeter in the previous 12 months after veering almost l-16th of an Inch in each of the previous five years giving Hope that there at last had been some stabilization in the water Levels 300 feet below the foundation. But there s always the possibility of an earthquake warned professor Livio Trevisan of Pisa University one of the resident experts on the famous failure. In 800 years Pisa s Diagonal colossus has withstood Earth tremors violent wind storms numerous invasions including 150,000 tourists a year and severe Allied and German bombings in world War ii that took out All the Bridges Over the Arno and destroyed priceless Monu ments in the adjoining composanto the graveyard filled with shipload of Earth brought from Calvary. After soccer and finding a new government keeping the Tilting Tower from toppling has been Italy s most inexhaustible topic of cocktail conversation. Just before world War ii 900 tons of Concrete were pumped into the soil to Stop the Sway. Then the government in Rome staged a contest for the Best solution. Among the 3,000 replies from around the world came schemes to freeze the underground water table into a solid Block of ice to install a new base Lasso the Tower with giant steel rings take it Down and rebuild it erect a statue nearby on the order of the statue of lib erty that would extend a gracious helping hand in the event the slant became overbearing. None was deemed satisfactory and the question re Mains unsolved. As the Man from the monuments division of the minis try of Public works told last year s new year s tippers we would like the Tower just a Little straighter. Not enough to spoil its tourist attraction jus enough to keep it  seventeen feet off the Center of Gravity the guests drank up happily oblivious of the fact that the rooftop venue of their libations flagrantly violated modern Pisa municipal building code. I be Italy s Mother Tongue by Robin Stafford United press internationals Erious debate is now going on Between ital Ian sociologists and men of letters As to whether English should become compulsory for All ital ians with italian remaining As a parallel Lan Guage or even being abolished. Underlying the movement that is now discussed almost daily in newspapers and magazines is the feeling that the influence of the italian language throughout the world has been dying for centuries and that italians had better move fast if they Are to be Able to continue to communicate. To speak italian or not has even become a political Issue with some sociologists and authors claiming that English is now the language of Italy s technical and Industrial ruling class and the proletariat must be Given an equal Chance at understanding what is going on. The Man who kicked off the debate was sociologist Francesco Alberoni who said in a front Page article in Italy s biggest newspaper corriere Delia Sera that italian has ceased to be a Universal vehicle of communication and is becoming a european  italian is spoken today by 56 million italians at Home and 6 million abroad. It is used on All musical scores offered in schools in 88 countries and comes Lith on the list of most widely spoken languages. But Alberoni maintains that As in Holland and scandi Navia Italy should have English As a second language and thus become a bilingual nation. English is rapidly asserting itself As the Only Domi Nant language at world level. As greek and latin used to be says Alberoni. If italians Don t learn it they will not be Able to engage in a dialogue but Only to receive dumbly like a mute or an illiterate he says. " wealthy and ruling italians already speak English or Send their children to English schools creating two Dif Ferent classes says Alberoni. A revolutionary act is needed to avoid this danger. The new latin must be made available to All at All Scho Lastic Levels from the kindergarten to the University it must be adopted As the current scientific and Commer Cial language until widespread bilingualism i achieved he said. Rome University s language philosophy Dean prof. Tullio de Mauro agreed that there should be a second accepted language but said it should be Spanish or French both easier to learn because of their common latin roots. Author Nanni Balestrini is All for abolishing the language of Dante Boccaccio and Moravia. I would just have English for communicating abroad and local dialects for communicating among ourselves he said. Alberto Moravia himself said i think it is right that everyone should learn English monday october 2, 1978 not just the sons of millionaires. English should not just be a privilege As it is  but he was gloomy about How it could be taught. In schools today they teach nothing or teach it in such away that nothing is earned he said. Author manlio canc Ogni who lived and taught for four years in the United states contradicted Alberoni saying the Only thing i like about Italy is the Lan  professor of italian language history at Pavia univer sity Maria Corti said the italians have not even Learned italian yet. In More than 100 years of Unity and National education it has not yet become a language she said. In some areas of Italy especially the poor South up to 30 percent speak Only their own dialect and italian is As foreign to them As English said Corti. In a recent Survey some people shown 50 italian words in the Abruzzo and calabrian provinces were Only Able to identify eight even though they were simple words such As table and  if Alberoni and his supporters Ever get their Way the millions of american British and other English speaking tourists who swarm to Italy every year will see a wide spread fallacy come True if you speak to the natives loud and Clear in English they will understand. But English speakers will no longer be Able to plead Lack of understanding when a policeman stops them for speeding or running a red Light. The stars and stripes Page 13