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IV
POINTED CONSTRUCTION IN ITALY
183
common with nearly all other so-called Italian Gothic churches the piers of Sta. Maria Novella are so disposed as to produce square vaulting compartments in the nave, and oblong ones in the aisles. Here again (and we shall
FIG. 101.
find it invariably so in Italy) all the arches of the vaults spring from the same level. The transverse and diagonal arches have strong ribs, but the longitudinal arches are without ribs. There is no triforium, and the crowns of all the arches of the pier arcades reach far above the level of the springing of the vaults. The clerestory opening
