Many locals can't remember a day when Albany wasn't home to the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

Visitors are often equal part delighted and perplexed to see it almost 14,000 kilometres from Italy.

"Many go past and they yell out, 'Pisa, Pisa'; the other one yells out, 'Don't be silly'," Rosanna Scamozzi said.

It's her front door that curious passers-by knock on.

With great pride, she tells them the craftsperson responsible was her late husband, Aldo.

The pair hail from the northern Italian province of Sondrio but met in Australia in 1959.

To the surprise of most, neither had been to Pisa before Mr Scamozzi set out to create a 4.6-metre replica in their front yard, 420km south of Perth.

Something out of plumb

Mr Scamozzi was known to pay keen attention to detail, keeping a busy schedule building houses.

But his wife says there was also a creative side to him itching to be expressed.

"He wanted to do something different, something out of plumb."

It was a dare from a mate that sparked the idea.

In 2007, Mr Scamozzi told Franco Smargiassi — in an interview in the State Library of Western Australia's oral histories collection — the idea began while chatting with Peter Andreotti, "one of the few Tuscans" in Albany.

"I told him jokingly, 'Some day Peter, I'll build the tower in miniature'," Mr Scamozzi said.

"I started from that dare, and having never seen the tower, I [took it] from the encyclopedia: L for leaning."

With just an entry in the pages of the World Encyclopedia to guide him, he designed his tower using a 1:14 scale, with construction beginning in 1982. 

A true craftsman

As it would happen, Pisa wasn't built in a day.

"Most of the construction was done during the weekends, simply because he was a busy man," brother-in-law Steven Nostrini said.

Mr Nostrini, who did his apprenticeship with Mr Scamozzi, was there for the building process.

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"There are about four cubic metres of concrete in the base of this; you can't see it because it's all covered up.

"Four cubic metres is approximately half of a house floor area.

"There's about 4,000 bricks, which is equivalent, once again, to the same amount of bricks that would be used in the construction of a small home."

Mr Scamozzi even tried to replicate the compensatory tilt toward the top of the tower, just like in the Tuscan version. 

"That's as accurate as you can get to the real thing," Mr Nostrini said.

"He was a craftsman, a true craftsman, the sort which you'll probably never see again."

It took six to 12 months for Mr Scamozzi's astute replica to be completed and in 1983 the final pipe was placed.

Nothing in the world that can pay for that

It would be another 14 years before Scamozzis saw the real Tower of Pisa for the first time while on a group tour of Italy.

Mrs Scamozzi remembers the moment fondly.

"They actually said because Aldo had photos of the Pisa here, 'the real Pisa is lovely, but the one Aldo's got is much nicer'."

Some of the others on the tour later visited the couple — and saw the tower — in Albany.

Inquisitive raps at the front door have kindled just as many friendships, making the tower priceless.

"I have a lot of memories; for me it's very, very special," Mrs Scamozzi said.

"There's nothing in the world that can pay for that."

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