350 ITALIAN ARCHITECTURE. Pakt II. CHAPTER IV. CONTEXTS. Circular churches — Towers at Prato and Florence — Porches — Civic buildings - Town-halls — Venice — Doge's palace — Ca d'Oro — Conclusion. CiRCULAll lil'ILDINGS. 1 779. BaplisUry. I'.iniia. Scale lUO ft. "to 1 in. ^piIEKE are very few .sjifciimiis in Italy of circular or polygonal laiildiiiLjs of any class belonging to the Gothic age. As churches none are to be expected. Baj)tisterie8 lia«I passed out of fashion. One such building, at Parma, commenced in 11 KG, deserves to be quoted, not certainly for its beauty, but as illus- trating those false principles of de- sign shown in every part of every building of this age in Italy. Exter- nally the building is an octagon, six stories in height, the four upper ones being merely used to conceal a dome, which is covered by a flat wooden roof. The lowest and the highest stories are solid, the others are gal- leries supported ]>y little ill-shaped columns. It is probable that this was not the original design of the architect, Antelami. Xo doubt lie intended to conceal the dome, or at all events to cover it, as was the universal practice in Italy ; but in- stead of a mere perpendicular wall, as here used, the external outline should have assumed a conical form, which might have rendered it as pleasing as it is now awkward. We have no instance of a circular building carried out by Italian architects according to their own princijiles sufficiently far to enable us to judge what they were capable of in this style, unless perhaps it be the tombs of the Scaligers at Verona. 780. Baptistery at l':iriii.(, halt Section, half Elevation. Scale 50 ft. to 1 in.
