FIG. 154.—UPPER PART OF CAMPANILE, FLORENCE.
MINOR WORKS. Italian Gothic art found freer expression in semi-decorative works, like tombs, altars and votive chapels, than in more monumental structures. The fourteenth century was particularly rich in canopy tombs, mostly in churches, though some were erected in the open air, like the celebrated Tombs of the Scaligers in Verona (1329–1380). Many of those in churches in and near Rome, and others in south Italy, are especially rich in inlay of opus Alexandrinum upon their twisted columns and panelled sarcophagi. The family of the Cosmati acquired great fame for work of this kind during the thirteenth century.
The little marble chapel of Sta. Maria della Spina, on the Arno, at Pisa, is an instance of the successful decorative use of Gothic forms in minor buildings.
TOWERS. The Italians always preferred the square tower to the spire, and in most cases treated it as an independent campanile. Following Early Christian and Romanesque traditions, these square towers were usually built with plain sides unbroken by buttresses, and terminated in a flat roof or a low and inconspicuous cone or pyramid. The Campanile at Florence already mentioned is by far the most beautiful of these designs (Fig. 154). The campaniles of Sienna, Lucca, and Pistoia are built in alternate white and black courses, like the adjoining cathedrals. Verona and Mantua have towers with octagonal lanterns. In general, these Gothic towers differ from the earlier Romanesque models only in the forms of their openings. Though dignified in their simplicity and size, and usually well proportioned, they lack the beauty and interest of the French, English, and German steeples and towers.
FIG. 155.
—UPPER PART OF
PALAZZO VECCHIO, FLORENCE.
SECULAR MONUMENTS. In their public halls, open loggias, and domestic architecture the Italians were able to develop the application of Gothic forms with greater freedom than in their church-building, because unfettered by traditional methods of design. The early and vigorous growth of municipal and popular institutions led, as in the Netherlands, to the building of two classes of public halls—the town hall proper or Podestà, and the council hall, variously called Palazzo Communale, Pubblico, or del Consiglio. The town halls, as the seat of authority, usually have a severe and fortress-like character; the Palazzo Vecchio at Florence is the most important example (1298, by Arnolfo di Cambio; Fig. 155). It is especially remarkable for its tower, which, rising 308 feet in the air, overhangs the street nearly 6 feet, its front wall resting on the face of the powerfully corbelled cornice of the palace. The court and most of the interior were remodelled in the sixteenth century. At Sienna is a somewhat similar structure in brick, the Palazzo Pubblico. At Pistoia the Podestà and the Communal Palace stand opposite each other; in both of these the courtyards still retain their original aspect. At Perugia, Bologna, and Viterbo are others of some importance; while in Lombardy, Bergamo, Como, Cremona, Piacenza and other towns possess smaller halls with open arcades below, of a more elegant and pleasing aspect. More successful still are the open loggias or tribunes erected for the gatherings of public bodies. The Loggia dei Lanzi at Florence (1376, by Benci di Cione and Simone di Talenti) is the largest and most famous of these open vaulted halls, of which several exist in Florence and Sienna. Gothic only in their minor details, they are Romanesque or semi-classic in their broad round arches and strong horizontal lines and cornices (Fig. 156).