far as its marble decoration is concerned is Giotto’s campanile at Florence, built in 1334. It measures 275 ft. high, 45 ft. square, and is encased in black, white and red marble, with occasional sculptured ornament.The angles are emphasized by octagonal projections, the panelling of which seems to have ruled that of the whole structure. There are five storeys, of which the three upper ones are pierced with windows; twin arcades side by side
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From a photograph by Alinari. Fig. 3.—Giotto’s Campanile, Florence. |
The angles are emphasized by octagonal projections, the panelling of which seems to have ruled that of the whole structure. There are five storeys, of which the three upper ones are pierced with windows; twin arcades side by side in the two lower, and a lofty triplet window with tracery in the belfry stage. A richly corbelled cornice crowns the structure, above which a spire was projected by Giotto, but never carried out.
The loftiest campanile in Italy is that of Cremona, 396 ft. high. Though built in the second half of the 13th century, and showing therefore Gothic influence in the pointed windows of the belfry and two storeys below, and the substitution of the pointed for the semicircular arch of the arcaded corbel string-courses,
From a photograph by Alinari.
Fig. 4.—Campanile of the Palazzo del Signore, Verona
it follows the Lombard type in its general design, and the same is found in the campanile of S. Andrea, Mantua. In the 16th century an octagonal lantern in two strings crowned with a conical roof was added. Owing to defective foundations, some of the Italian campanili incline over considerably; of these leaning towers, those of the Garisendi and Asinelli palaces at Bologna form conspicuous objects in the town; the two more remarkable examples are the campanile of S. Martino at Este, of early Lombard type, and the leaning tower at Pisa, which was built by the citizens in 1174 to rival that of Venice. The Pisa tower is circular on plan, about 51 ft. in diameter and 172 ft. high. Not including the belfry storey, which is set back on the inner wall, it is divided into seven storeys all surrounded with an open gallery or arcade. (See Architecture, Plate I. fig. 62.) Owing to the sinking of the piles on the south side, the inclination was already noticed when the tower was about 30 ft. high, and slight additions in the height of the masonry on that side were introduced to correct the level, but without result, so that the works were stopped for many years and taken up again in 1234 under the direction of William of Innsbruck; he also attempted to rectify the levels by increasing the height of the masonry on the south side. At a later period the belfry storey was added. The inclination now
approaches 14 ft. out of the perpendicular. The outside is built entirely in white marble and is of admirable workmanship, but it is a question whether the equal subdivision of the several storeys is not rather monotonous. The campanili of the churches of S. Nicolas and S. Michele in Orticaia, both in Pisa, are also inclined to a slight extent.
The campanili hitherto described are all attached to churches, but there are others belonging to civic buildings some of which are of great importance. The campanile of the town hall of Siena rises to an enormous height, being 285 ft., and only 22 ft. wide; it is built in brick and crowned with a battlemented
