his nomination as master of works on the construction of the new cathedral,
Giotto began building the bell tower, a spectacular Florentine monument,
which he did not, however, live to see completed. When Giotto died, Andrea
Pisano took over from 1337 to 1348, and when he too died, Francesco Talenti
completed the work, presenting the city with a Gothic masterpiece just
as we see it today.
Giotto's bell tower, 85 metres high and only 14 metres wide at the base,
was built in just thirty years and cost the city seventy thousand florins.
The Florentines were only too happy to pay to have, like their rivals
Siena and Pisa, a monument which announced the city from afar. In that
period the dome had not yet been built. The three masters of works were
also able to draw on the work of eminent artists to decorate the bell
tower, artists of the calibre of Andrea Pisano, Luca della Robbia, and
Donatello, who decorated it with sculptures and marble carvings. The bell
tower is completely clad in marble in three colours: the red marble of
S. Giusto, the white of Carrara, and the green of Monte Ferrato..
Picture by Sandro Santioli
Translated by Jeremy Carden