Bk. VJII. Cit. II. TOWERS. 819 low class of architectural excel- lence of which the Egyptian pyramids are the type ; but cA^en in these elements this edifice must confess itself a pigmy, and inferior to even a second- class pyramid on the banks of the Nile, while it has none of the beauty of design and detail displayed by the Giralda of Seville, or even by other Italian towers in its own neio-hbor- hood. The campanile at Piacenza (Woodcut jSTo. 745) is, perhaps, more like the original of St. Mark's than any other, and cer- tainly displays as little beauty as any building of this sort can ])ossess. That of San Zenone at Yerona is far more pleasing. It is, in- deed, as beautiful both in pro portion and details as any of its age, while it exemplifies at once the beauties and the de- fects of the style. Among the first is an elegant simplicity that always is pleasing, but this is accompanied by a leanness and poverty of effect, when com ])ared with Northern examples, which must rank in the latter category. The typical tower of its class is the Torracio of Cremona. It is a monumental tower com- menced in 1296 to commemorate a peace made between Cremona and the neighboring states after a long and tedious contest for supremacy. It is not an ec- clesiastical edifice, but partakes, therefore, like those of St. Mark, Venice, and of Modena, more of 754. Torracio at Cremona. (From Gaily Knight.)
