The early campanili of the north of Italy are of quite another type, the
north campanile of S. Ambrogio, Milan (1129), being decorated with
vertical flat pilaster strips, four on each face, and horizontal arcaded
corbel strings. Of earlier date (879), the campanile of S. Satiro at
Milan is in perfect preservation; it is divided into four storeys by
arched corbel tables, the upper storey having a similar arcade with
mid-wall shaft to those in Rome. One of the most notable examples in
north Italy is the campanile of Pomposa near Ferrara. It is of immense
height and has nine storeys crowned with a lofty conical spire, the wall
face being divided vertically with pilaster strips and horizontally with
arcaded corbel tables,--this campanile, the two towers of S. Antonio,
Padua, and that of S. Gottardo, Milan, of octagonal plan, being among
the few which are thus terminated. In the campanile at Torcello we find
an entirely different treatment: doubly recessed pilaster-strips divide
each face into two lofty blind arcades rising from the ground to the
belfry storey, over 100 ft. high, with small slits for windows, the
upper or belfry storey having an arcade of four arches on each front.
This is the type generally adopted in the campanili of Venice, where
there are no string-courses. The campanile of St Mark's was of similar
design, with four lofty blind arcades on each face. The lower portion,
built in brick, 162 ft. high, was commenced in 902 but not completed
till the middle of the 12th century. In 1510 a belfry storey was added
with an open arcade of four arches on each face, and slightly set back
from the face of the tower above was a mass of masonry with pyramidal
roof, the total height being 320 ft. On the 14th of July 1902 the whole
structure collapsed; its age, the great weight of the additions made in
1510, and probably the cutting away inside of the lower part, would seem
to have been the principal contributors to this disaster, as the pile
foundations were found to be in excellent condition.
In central Italy the two early campanili at Lucca return to the Lombard
type of the north, with pilaster strips and arcaded corbel strings, and
the same is found in S. Francesco (Assisi), S. Frediano (Lucca), S.
Pietro-in-Grado and S. Michele-in-Orticaia (Pisa), and S. Maria-Novella
(Florence). The campanile of S. Niccola, Pisa, is octagonal on plan,
with a lofty blind arcade on each face like those in Venice, but with a
single string-course halfway up. The gallery above is an open eaves
gallery like those in north Italy.
[Illustration: From a photograph by Brogi.