Il Campanile di Giotto

Proceedings of the conference cycle: Florence, Centro Arte Cultura, May-June 2015

Giotto’s Campanile, along with the Tower of Pisa, is perhaps the most notable bell tower of Christianity, yet there still remains much to study and recount. This volume gathers the distinguished insights that were presented at the conference expressly dedicated to the subject. It was organized by the Opera of Santa Maria del Fiore with the precise desire to present an original, updated and enhanced analysis of all aspects of the celebrated construction.

Departing from the bell tower’s merit and role in history, with historical, literary and religious backgrounds that illustrate the significance of this constructional typology through the ages, the essays in this volume progress with a specific structural reading of the Florentine Cathedral’s campanile, exposing a detailed analysis of the materials, construction phases and the logic that oriented the internal organization of the spaces. An additional essay poses different considerations on the engineering and static character of the building’s dynamics, the physical and constructional assessments on the basis of its reactions to natural external factors (earthquakes, wind, bells’ movements), and the monitoring of its conditions.

The work continues with an analysis of the sculptural apparatus that embellishes the campanile – from the decorative tiles to the statues – largely conserved at the moment in the Opera’s new museum layout; as a result, detailed studies dedicated to the works of Giotto and Andrea Pisano, both on the campanile and on the closely related Duomo’s facade, are here presented.

The volume also includes an essay that studies the iconography of the tiles according to their exquisitely theological aspect, with specific reference to history and sacred literature.

Digital version available on
http://digital.casalini.it/9788874616060