En ego fortuna moderor mortalibus una
Elevo depono bona cunctis vel mala dono.
This is on the external circumference; within is
Induo nudatos denudo veste paratos
In me confidit si quis derisus abibit.
The whole façade, when free from other decorations, has slender upright ribs, terminating in a capital, and three small arches in each interval between the ribs; in the middle, these are divided into several stories; those on the sides continue from near the ground to the slope of the roof.
On entering the building, we descend by a flight of ten steps into the nave, to ascend again to the choir, or rather presbytery, for there is no transept to divide it from the nave, and the proper choir is merely a deep vaulted recess at the end of the building. The nave is high, with low side aisles, the arches of which are semicircular. They are in pairs, being supported alternately on columns and piers, from the latter of which ribs ascend to support the roof of the nave; and over each pair of arches is one very narrow round-headed window; two only of these ascending shafts support a direct arch across the nave; in other respects the roof is of wood, as it probably always was, for the arrangement is not calculated to support any vaulting. In the elevated part of the nave, or presbytery, as I have before called it, the lower part of the piers seems to be concealed by the present pavement; and yet one may discover that their bases are not on the same level with those of the lower part of the church. The recess forming the choir is vaulted with a pointed arch. Under the elevated part of the building is a subterraneous church, and my first idea was that the pavement had been elevated after the building was completed, in order to form this crypt. On descending into it, however, this opinion was very much shaken. Like the old church by the cathedral, it is covered with semicircular groined arches, resting on columns disposed at equal distances from each other. On one side is a recess under the choir of the church, which, like the choir itself, is covered with a pointed vault, and the three adjacent arches are carried higher than the rest in order to make room for the opening. The four piers of the presbytery above are carried down through the groining of this crypt, without appearing to be connected with it. Two of these piers are larger than the other two. One of the smaller exhibits, close under the vaulting, a base similar to those of the columns of the nave, but somewhat higher in position; nothing of this sort is visible in the other. Of the two larger ones, one is a mere square mass, without mouldings of any sort; the other is divided into shafts, and has a moulded base, but not corresponding with those of the nave, and much lower than they are. The extended basement of each of these piers supports four columns of the crypt, which are therefore shorter than the rest. Here seems to be proof, that this subterraneous church was neither prior, coetaneous, nor posterior to the other; a difficulty to which I can offer no solution. At one of the altars in the church, you are called upon to admire a group of four columns of red marble, with their bases and capitals, all formed out of a single stone; and in a little chamber, near the entrance, is a great vase of porphyry, also from a single stone, the external diameter of which is 13 feet 4 inches, the internal 8 feet 8 inches; and the pedestal is formed out of another block of the same material. This stood originally on the outside of the church, and Maffei supposes it to have been intended for washing the feet of pilgrims, before entering the sacred edifice. If so it would hardly have been elevated on a pedestal.
The cloisters of S. Zeno consist of arches supported on little coupled columns of red marble, united by a little appendage of the same substance, at the necking of the column, and at the upper torus of the base. On one side is a projecting edifice, sustained by columns of different sizes, which formerly contained a large basin for the monks to wash themselves before entering the refectory; but it is now in ruins. Adjoining the cloisters, we find here also, an old church, built in the same manner as the one which stands close by the cathedral, with groined semicircular arches supported on four pillars, all unlike, dividing it into nine equal squares. It is possible that this may have been the original edifice of Pepin, but the want of transept in a work of this size, and other particulars of the architecture, induce me to think the larger church erected before the year 1000, while the front is doubtless of the twelfth century. The tower is panelled on the lower stories, and each panel is surmounted by rows of little ornamental arches; but the two upper stories have each a triple semicircular headed opening on each face. Above these is a cornice with intersecting ornamental arches. The lower part is probably of the time of the Abbot Alberigi, that is, 1045; the second may be of 1178, or of some period between the two; but there is nothing very decisive in windows of this sort, which were certainly sometimes used much earlier, and continued in use as low as the thirteenth, and perhaps even in the fourteenth century. The upright stiles of the panelling are continued, to form a turret at each angle, which is surmounted by a pinnacle, and the work is crowned by a square spire.
In a little court close by this church, is a vault honoured with the name of the tomb of Pepin, and in it an empty sarcophagus; the body, as it is said, having been carried to Paris. Pepin, however, died at St. Denis, and there is no probability that his bones were ever here. The sarcophagus is singular in having three strong ribs on one side of the lid, and none on the other.
Near the church of S. Zeno, are a tower and some portions of wall, said to be the remains of the bishop’s palace; in which the German emperors several times resided, during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.