of Maestro Jacopo, the German, and the attentive care of Frate Elia, completed within the space of four years only. After the death of Elia, and to the end that this vast building might never be destroyed by time, twelve enormous towers were erected around the lower church, in each of which a spiral staircase was constructed, ascending from the ground to the summit of the edifice. In the course of time, also, many chapels, and other rich embellishments of various kinds, have been added ; but of these I need say no more, having sufficiently dwelt on this building, and also because all may visit and admire the splendour and beauty which have been added to this commencement of Maestro Jacopo by many high pontiffs, cardinals, princes, and other great personages of Europe.
And now, to return to Maestro Jacopo ; he acquired so much renown, by this construction, throughout all Italy, that he was invited to Florence by the governors of that city, where he was received with great joy. But the Florentines, according to a custom prevalent in that day, and still practised, of abbreviating names, did not call him Jacopo,[1] but Lapo, a name by which he was known for the remainder of his life, which he passed with all his family in Florence. It is true that he proceeded, at different times, to various parts of Tuscany, for the erection of numerous edifices, such as the Palazzo di Poppi in Casentino, (which he built for that Count, who had had the beautiful Gualdrada for his wife, with Casentino for her dowry,) the cathedral of Arezzo,[2] and the Palazzo Vecchio of the Signori of Pietramala. His abode was, nevertheless, always in Florence, where, in the year 1218, he laid the foundations of the Ponte Carraja, then called the New Bridge ; these he completed in two years, and
- ↑ Della Valle considers this assertion sufficient to throw doubt on the whole story. He affirms that Lapo was born in Florence, and had studied his art, from youth up, under Niccola Pisano. —Schorn. See also Lanzi, History of Painting, vol. i, p. 49.
- ↑ Schorn, quoting the Leghorn edition, remarks, that if Jacopo was the architect of the cathedral of Arezzo, he must have designed it very shortly before his death. But the Florentine edition of Vasari (1846), following Maselli, informs us that the building in question was partly restored from its foundation by “this Jacopo or Lapo” in 1218 ; continued by the Aretine architect Margaritone in 1275 ; and completed under the celebrated Bishop Guglielmino degli Ubertini, but by what architect is not known. See also Brizi, Guida d’Arezzo, and Rondinelli, Descrizione d'Arezzo.
