resemblance to that of "Il Santo" at Padua. Four slender carved pillars
support the entablature of good Renaissance design, on which are
exceptionally well arranged panels illustrating the saint's life.
Filippo Doria erected the canopy borne by porphyry columns which stands
over the altar. Under this, enclosed in an iron casket within a marble
ark, on which are sculptured reliefs, are the remains of St. John.
Genoa's fleet was homeward bound after one of the crusades, when,
through stress of weather, it took shelter in the port of Myrra, in
Lycia. Hearing that a monastery close by contained the sacred remains of
the saint, some of the bolder spirits of the fleet entered the church
attached, and, despite the protests of their co-religionists, carried
off in triumph all that remained of St. John. The relics were presented
to their own Cathedral of S. Lorenzo on arriving home. Here they have
rested ever since. No women are admitted into the chapel--a prohibition
imposed by Pope Innocent VIII. in remembrance of the guilt of Herodias.
The Treasury holds many things of value and interest besides the Sacro
Catino already described. Among them is a fine piece of Byzantine
much-bejewelled metal work known as the Cross of Zaccaria. It was
carried off from Phocea by Ticino Zaccaria at the capture of that place.
The church of S. Bartolommeo degli Armeni contains the celebrated
picture on a cloth of the head of Christ. It was given to one of the
Montaldi, a noble Genoese family, by John Paleologus, Emperor of
Constantinople, in return for important services rendered. The legend
runs that Agbarus, King of Edessa, sent an artist, Annanias by name, to
paint our Lord's portrait. Annanias was no portrait painter, and failed
in the attempt. Our Lord then took a cloth, pressed it to His face, and
sent the impression back to the King. Leonardo Montaldo bequeathed it to
the church in 1382.
The church of S. Donato, with its Romanesque tower that was built into
the walls of Genoa forming one of its defences, dates from the eleventh
century. There are many other ecclesiastical fabrics in a place which is
fast losing all traces of old associations. Of the three sets of walls
built at different times as the city slowly enlarged itself, the outer
alone bears any semblance of its pristine state, and modern Genoa, with
up-to-date improvements, is encroaching on these. But for all this its
situation is superb, and it is in every way a bright and charming place.
To those who enter by rail it is impossible to grasp the incomparable
position the city occupies. Coming in along the Cornice road from the
west, or that from the east, it can be better realised. But the best
approach is by sea. The long line of distant mountains that first
appears on the horizon gradually opens up, peak rises beyond peak, the
nearer hills become detached, valleys are revealed, and soon white
houses may be discerned dotting the dark grey slopes. A long, broken
array of villages fringes the blue waters, gathering closer together as
land is approached. The mass of warm yellowish tint scintillating in the
brilliancy of a Mediterranean sun takes shape, and the eye by degrees
separates long terraced rows of buildings, church towers and domes from
one another. The colour changes, and a heterogeneous combination of
pink, white, yellow, and grey discloses the far-famed city rising tier
above tier from the busy port that lies at its base. A whistle sounds,
the rattling cable rushes out, the anchor plunges into the water, and
our ship is at rest. We are in the historic port from which the First
Crusade started, and from which not so long ago the patriot Garibaldi,
with the friendly aid of Rubattino, sailed with his devoted thousand for
Sicily.
PISA
You will not find in all Italy anything that is placed quite so well
with an eye to effective grouping as the Baptistery, Cathedral, and
Campanile of Pisa. Nowhere does anything approach so near to the
ecclesiastical exclusiveness of an English cathedral close as the great
square of level green sward in which these three remarkable fabrics
stand. From one corner of the Piazza del Duomo part of the university
buildings looks over the turf to the Baptistery. Hard by the seat of
learning is the Porta Nuova, a fine gateway that pierces the old walls
of the city--walls of an almost unpaintable red. Within the walls, on
the other side of the Cathedral--that is, to the north--the Campo Santo
stands with bare façade and domed tower. Adjoining it on the east,
conventual buildings and the Palace of the Archbishop occupy the angle
of the Piazza. They face the Campanile. The one or two establishments
which come next as we continue our _giro_ are full of little marble
"Leaning Towers" and other souvenirs which the tourist delights in. Save
for the intrusiveness of these shops, there is nothing else in the
surroundings of the vast square that detracts from the fascination of
the wonderful group in the centre.
The Pisa of to-day cannot have changed much from the Pisa of two hundred
years ago. It is true that, outside the old walls which encircle her, a
straggling suburb is growing up, but within them noble palaces still
front the River Arno, and others occupy the best positions in the city.
Dwellings of the poorer classes line the narrow streets that connect the
wider and more spacious thoroughfares; they crowd thickly together, and
the life of the pavements is the life of Italy as the tourist loves to
find it--the life of days gone by.
It has been said that all roads lead to Rome; in Pisa all roads lead to
the Piazza del Duomo. In the centre stands the Cathedral; to the west of
it, the Baptistery; to the east rises the Campanile, or Leaning Tower.
Pisa had well-nigh reached the zenith of her power when in 1063 her
people resolved to commemorate a great victory over the Saracens by
building a new cathedral. Ninety years later, having destroyed their
Southern rival Amalfi, the Pisans commenced the Baptistery. The year
1174 saw the first stone of the Campanile laid. Thus in a little over
one hundred years these three buildings, which mark so important an
epoch in Italian ecclesiastical architecture, were under construction.
The advent of a man of unknown origin, Busketus, who designed the
Cathedral, and whose epitaph is on one of its walls, heralded a new
phase in the art of the country. And although he adapted something from
the Romanesque, this grand church of his was the precursor of a style
that we find amplified, but not improved upon, in Ferrara, Pavia, Parma,
and, most notably of all, in the neighbouring city of Lucca. In the
history of Italian ecclesiastical architecture Pisa stands pre-eminent.
The façade of the Cathedral is very striking. The seven round arches of
the blind arcade that form the lowest tier or base are continued round
the entire fabric. The pedestals from which the columns of this arcade
spring rest on a bold but simple base-table that also encircles the
building. These columns are round on the façade, the eastern apse, and
the apse at the end of each transept, but become pilasters elsewhere.
This extremely good arrangement does not break up the flat walls by too
many obtrusive perpendicular lines. On the contrary, it enhances their
noble length, and at the same time improves the semicircle of the apses.
Three bronze doors occupy three arches of the façade arcade. They are
good examples of the seventeenth century. Crude mosaics in the tympanums
above are a jarring colour note which one would willingly suppress. It
is otherwise, however, with the wonderful patterns of inlaid marble and
the rich ornamentation of vine-leaves and floral forms, human heads and
animals, that embellish the whole façade--a character of decoration that
finds a fitting terminal in the crockets on the gables and the figures
at their ends. Above the arcade four deeply recessed galleries fill the
whole space of the façade. The lowest of these is on a level with the
clerestory lights in the aisles. The next is cut off at either end by
the angle of the gable; the columns diminish in size with the slope of
the aisle roof. The third is in a line with the clerestory of the nave,
and the topmost diminishes with the gable, which is carried beyond and
above the ridge of the roof of the nave. The slender pillars that
support the arches of these galleries have wonderfully carved capitals,
and stand out in the brilliant afternoon sun from the deep shadow behind
with marvellous effect.
One enters the Cathedral by the south and only door which escaped the
great conflagration of 1596. Its bronze panels are by Bonannus, who has
handed down twenty-four episodes of Gospel history in the very ingenuous
style of his time. A lead-covered penthouse wards off the inclemency of
the weather. The fine cupola which rises above the crossing is rather
dwarfed by the Gothic arcade and finials which surround its base. The
grand effect of the Cathedral is due in a measure to the mellowing of
the white marble, which the sun has seemingly baked to a beautiful warm
yellow and light red. On the north side, which is exposed to the bitter
_tramontana_ wind from the Monti Pisani, the marble is blistered and
scored, and has acquired an ashen white that in this sunny land is not
pleasant.
The interior is lofty. The effect obtained by the bands of black and
white marble of which the walls are composed is not so embarrassing to
the eye as in Siena's holy fane. The nave is divided into ten bays; the
columns that support the round arches are magnificent monoliths of
granite. These bays are carried in a continuous colonnade across the
transepts and along their east and west walls. The aisles are double. As
a consequence the forest of columns and arches is almost bewildering;
and if it were not for the fine proportions of the nave, the eye would
have but little rest from a multiplicity of shadows and disturbing spots
of light. The pointed triforium, that is borne by the arches of the
nave, is continued across the transepts into the choir. The base of the
cupola at the crossing is elliptical, the length being east and west and
the narrow sides north and south. The interior of the dome is covered
with frescoes. The design of the six altars in each aisle is attributed
to Michael Angelo. The transepts are terminated by two apsidal chapels
with mosaics in the semi-domes said to be designed by Cimabue. The same
origin can be more justly claimed by that which decorates the vault of
the choir apse, and in which the great artist has depicted our Lord in
Glory, and S. John. The pavements of the choir and crossing are
exceptionally fine _opus Alexandrinum_. The huge bronze lamp that hangs,
swinging slightly, from the coffered and gilded roof of the nave is
supposed to have suggested to Galileo the idea of the principle of the
pendulum.
To the west of the Cathedral is Pisa's beautiful Baptistery. This
building was commenced by Diotisalvi in 1153, and continued later on in
1278. The lowest storey is of the first mentioned date, and, like the
Cathedral, is composed of a blind arcade, pierced in this case with
small round-headed windows. An open gallery circulates round the whole
edifice above this. Its columns support round arches that are surmounted
in piers by crocketed gables, pierced and cusped. A figure stands on the
apex of each, while between every pair small open turrets thrust their
pinnacles upwards. Above this gallery a series of windows with a similar
arrangement breaks the base-line of the somewhat ugly pear-shaped
dome. As a prevention against the corroding influence of the salt sea
winds, this dome is tiled on its south-west surface. The other portion
is covered with lead.
[Illustration: THE BAPTISTERY, PISA]
In the centre of the interior, generally entered by the door opposite
the west façade of the Cathedral, stands the font in which baby Pisans
have for many generations been baptized. Like others, it is made for
total immersion. The walls which surround the appropriately "waved"
black-and-white pattern of its floor are extremely beautiful. A
delicately carved framework of marble encloses wonderful panels of
inlaid mosaic somewhat in the style of the pulpit in the illustration to
"Salerno." Six small basins are let into the walls of the font and are
used now for the Holy Rite. Near the altar stands Niccolò Pisano's
masterpiece. This hexagonal pulpit rests on seven slender columns of
marble and granite. Some of these columns rise from their bases on the
backs of lions, gryphons, and crouching human figures, thus in a way
representing the dominion of the Word of God over creation. The
rectangular panels of the pulpit stage are beautifully carved in high
relief. Niccolò Pisano's art, which bears evident traces of pagan
influence, is seen at its best in these panels of the Nativity,
Adoration of the Magi, Presentation in the Temple, the Crucifixion, and
Last Judgment. On the steps is a red marble pillar standing on the back
of a lion. It supports a small marble book-rest from which the Epistle
was read. The desk on the pulpit itself is placed on an eagle, and was
used for the reading of the Gospel. Eight marble piers and eight granite
columns support the gallery beneath the dome. The whole of this noble
interior is very light and airy, and Pisan mothers should have more
cause to hope for a bright future for their babes than their sisters in
Parma, if a comparison is permissible between the bright cheeriness of
the one place and the mystical gloom of the other.
The Campanile stands to the east of the Cathedral. Its base is some feet
below the restful green of the grass that covers the whole of the
Piazza. Four different architects carried out its erection during a
period that extended over nearly two hundred years. The base, another
blind arcade, was begun in 1174 by Bonannus; the fourth gallery was
added by Benenato, the next two by William of Innsbrück, and the topmost
by Tommaso. The foundations were unfortunately laid in sea-sand, and the
tower settled at an angle that causes it to lean towards the south
thirteen feet out of the perpendicular. Galileo utilised this feature
for experiments on the velocity of falling bodies.
[Illustration: THE CAMPANILE AND DUOMO, PISA]
The Campo Santo, the dome of which is seen in the illustration to the
right of the Cathedral, is a quiet cloistered court on the walls of
which are an extraordinary series of frescoes. Those on the north wall,
by the Florentine, Benozzo Gozzoli, who was a pupil of Fra Angelico, are
the most interesting. The Gothic arches and slender columns of the
cloister, and the well-kept garden-plot in the centre, out of which tall
cypress-trees rear themselves in ordered array, add much to the dignity
of this quiet spot.
The old Dominican basilica of Sta Caterina stands in a corner of the
piazza of the same name. Great plane-trees almost hide from view its
beautiful façade, which, like that of the Cathedral, is gabled and
arranged in galleries. Here, however, these are Gothic, with trefoil
cusped arches, developing in the topmost to cinquefoil, and giving an
air of elegance to the whole that is lacking in the Cathedral. A
comparison of the two façades ends with the opinion that while in Sta
Caterina there is more grace, the Cathedral possesses more architectural
fitness for the design and proportions of the outline. Diotisalvi built
the little octagonal church of S. Sepolcro for the Knights Templars, and
Niccolò Pisano erected the fine _campanile_ attached to the church of S.
Francesco. This tower is partly supported by consoles, or brackets,
within the church. The staircase runs up both inside and outside its
walls.
S. Stefano, which contains a S. George by Donatello, is close to the
Carovana in the Piazza dei Cavalieri. The piazza is thought to be the
old Roman forum. The Carovana was the Palace of the Knights of S.
Stephen, and was another of Niccolò Pisano's works, and, although
altered later on by Vasari, is a fine example of Domestic architecture.
A double flight of steps leads up to the entrance-door, on either side
of which are tall windows. The façade is covered with frescoes and
adorned by six busts in niches of the first half-dozen Grand Dukes,
Masters of the Order. The roof projects far out, and the eaves,
supported by well-carved cantilevers, throw a deep shadow down the front
of the palace. The Order of S. Stefano was founded in 1561 by Cosimo I.,
but never distinguished itself amidst the Orders of Chivalry, and was
dissolved in 1869. A statue of the founder stands over a fountain in
front of the steps.
Among the buildings that face the Arno, the Palazzo Lanfreducci, with
the words "alla Giornata" and a chain pendant over the doorway, the
Palazzo Lanfranchi, where Byron lived, and the fine old fortress-tower,
the Torre Guelfa, are the most notable in a city that at one time
disputed with the mighty Genoa the rule of the Mediterranean. The
rivalry between these two maritime powers ended only when, after the
disastrous battle of Meloria, the Genoese filled up the harbour of Pisa,
and she became no longer of any account as a naval base.
LUCCA
Lucca is one of the most delightful little cities in the peninsula, and
its seventy-two churches, taken as a whole, the most interesting in
Italy. In matters ecclesiastical it is one of the oldest foundations in
the country, and is reputed to have been the first place to have
embraced Christianity. The first bishop of Lucca, a disciple of S.
Peter, was S. Paulinus, and the long line of prelates who followed him
were elevated to the higher dignity of Archbishop in 1726. The canons of
Lucca are mitred, and the prelate has the privilege of wearing the
insignia of a cardinal. It was always a Ghibelline city; even in the
days of the Countess Matilda its inhabitants sided with the imperial
party. When the attempt of Francesco Burlammachi to confederate the
Tuscan cities failed, the Luchesi formulated the _Martiniana_ Law, which
permitted only a few of the leading families to participate in the
government. The result of this was a peace that prevailed for many
years. But perhaps the most important historical event that occurred
within its walls took place in far earlier days than the sixteenth
century. The first triumvirate was formed when Julius Cæsar, Pompey, and
the wealthy Crassus met and entered into an agreement whereby the power
was divided between the three. More tangible relics of Roman occupation
are to be found where the amphitheatre once stood. The oval form of this
is well preserved in the extremely picturesque Piazza Mercato--the
Market Place. The wooden stalls of the market folk are practically
little huts with tiled roofs, that follow the lines of the amphitheatre
seats in gracefully curved alleys. In the Pinacoteca may be seen a print
dated 1785, in which the space is enclosed by a high wall. In the centre
is a tastefully laid out garden adorned with statues and rose bushes,
around which a horse race is in progress. Many columns used in the
erection of churches, and fragments of all sorts built into the walls,
are evidences of Lucca's importance among the colonies of ancient Rome.
[Illustration: THE PORCH OF THE CATHEDRAL, LUCCA]
The cathedral was founded as early as 573 by S. Frediano. The first
building was close to the present Duomo, and was erected on the site of
the church of S. Giovanni--a very interesting Lombard edifice. The
square baptistery attached to S. Giovanni, with its original waved black
and white pavement and ancient square font, is well worthy of study.
Pope Alexander II., who supplied William of Normandy with a holy banner
to assist in the invasion of England, consecrated the cathedral,
which, although much altered in the fourteenth century, still bears the
impress of the architectural vogue of the tenth. The façade was added in
1204 by Giudetto. A portico of three unequal arches supports three tiers
of small arches. These form galleries diminishing in length as they rise
one above the other to the horizontal cornice at the top. A magnificent
square _campanile_ rises at the south end of the portico. Huge iron
braziers stick out under its battlements at the four corners. It seems
to crush the arch that springs from one side of its base, out of all
proportion with the other two. This is very apparent from a distance,
and produces an uncomfortable feeling. But, when one makes the intimate
acquaintance of the portico and begins to examine the exquisitely
designed arabesques, &c., that decorate its arches, there is nothing but
admiration for a mind that could play with stone as Giudetto has done in
this case. The piers which support the three round arches have each four
slender columns. These are beautifully carved with all manner of
intricate patterns. On the central pier Eve is seen tempting Adam to eat
of the Forbidden Fruit. They are at the base of a tree, which growing
upwards spreads out branches whereon rest the early Kings of Israel and
the Prophets. The exterior members of the arches are covered with
finely cut foliage. The capitals are formed by the semi-Gothic classical
acanthus leaves of the period. Above the _abaci_ of the capitals three
lions, crouching on consoles or brackets, grip in their thin claws a
snake, a dragon, and a demon. Between two of the arches there is a good
stone group of S. Martin dividing his coat with a beggar by the use of a
bronze sword. The interior wall of the portico has a flat arcade of red
marble columns and arches. Three doors give entrance into the cathedral.
Their tympanums are decorated by well-executed reliefs. A double frieze
runs along the wall. On the lower portion figures, engaged in
agricultural pursuits, and the Signs of the Zodiac are cut; on the
upper, the life of S. Martin depicted in a series of panels. Some
excellent examples of _graffiti_ work decorate part of the wall. The
galleries of the façade are like those that appear in the illustration
of the church of S. Michele.
The chief feature of the interior of the Duomo is a fine Gothic
triforium. As in Pisa's Cathedral, this goes round the whole nave,
transepts, which it also crosses, and choir, stopping short only at the
apse. It is formed of double divisions of three pointed and cusped
arches, which on the west wall are increased to groups of four each. The
transepts are double. A massive pier in each carries the triforium
across in a most effective manner. The nine bays on either side of the
nave have round arches. The fine roof, which is vaulted and groined, is
unfortunately spoilt by a very _bizarre_ scheme of colour that is not
redeemed by the beautiful glass in the windows of the apse. Half up the
north aisle is an octagonal chapel built of marble, but almost entirely
covered with gilt. It is known as the Tempieto, and contains the
venerated relic of the Vólto Santo, or Holy Face. It is supposed to be
an image of Our Lord, executed by Nicodemus, but is evidently a work of
the eleventh century carved in two different species of wood. A much
finer work of art is the beautiful tomb of Ilaria Caretti in the north
transept. With her little dog, emblem of fidelity, at her feet, the
figure of this gracious lady lies extended on a noble sarcophagus.
Little winged _putti_ surround its base, and it ranks among the best
productions of the accomplished Jacopo della Quercia.
One of the most perfect Gothic arcades in all Italy is to be found in
the church of Sta Maria della Rosa. It is situated close to the
Archbishop's palace at the east end of the cathedral. The spaces between
the pointed arches and the top lights of the church are filled with
exquisitely carved cherubs peeping out from a mass of foliage. In the
Piazza dei Servi stands another small church, that possesses a carved
wooden roof not in any way inferior to the marvellous one that adorns
the Badia in Florence. It was erected during the days when Lucca was a
republic, and one panel has the coat of arms of the city, with two great
leopards as supporters and "Libertas" for a legend.