Katie Schneider has worked in the village of Niles, a suburb just north of Chicago, for almost two decades.

Long enough that sometimes when she's driving down the town's main commercial drag, Tooie Avenue,

going past grocery stores and nail salons and hot dog stands, she doesn't even notice the town's main attraction.

I forget it's there because I see it all the time, right?

I've been part of the village of Niles for so long.

Sometimes you've got to see your town with fresh eyes.

And I remember I was traveling with a friend of mine who was from the East Coast, and we

drove past, and I mean, he almost jumped out

of the car. He couldn't believe it. He was like, oh, my, what is? And he was Italian, so he probably

had a little more familiarity with the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

That's right. Rising out of these suburbs at a notably jaunty angle is a a replica of the leaning tower of Pisa.

It's the leaning tower of Niles.

I'm Dylan Thuris, and this is Atlas Obscira,

a celebration of the world's strange, incredible, and wondrous places.

Today, we're taking you to Pisa, by way of Niles, Illinois,

home of an exactly half-sized replica of the Leaning Tower.

We'll go there after this.

Thank you. go there after this. The village of Niles is actually a sister city to Pisa, Italy.

And delegates from Pisa came for a visit in 1991.

And when they did, naturally, they had to check out this American version of their famous leaning tower.

And compare notes.

One of them said, wow, like this is a really great replica,

...