Giotto Campanile

Giotto's Campanile is a free-standing bell tower (in medieval Italy it was not usual to join a campanile, called so from campana, a bell, to a church), that is part of the complex of buildings that make up Florence Cathedral on the Piazza del Duomo. Facing the south side of the Basilica of Santa Maria del Fiore and the Baptistry of Saint John, the tower is one of the showpieces of Florentine Gothic architecture with its design, its rich sculptural decorations and the polychrome marble encrustations. It take it name from Giotto di Bondone (1267-1337) founder of the Florentine school of art.

Works of art

Four sculptures on the East side of the Campanile created 1408 to 1421. These are copies (the originals are in the Museum of the Duomo):

The Beardless Prophet (Donatello)
The Bearded Prophet (Nanni di Bartolo)
Abraham Sacrificing Isaac (Donatello and Nanni di Bartolo)
Il Pensatore (Donatello)

Twenty-one hexagonal marble reliefs designed for the lowest story of the Campanile include, the story of the creation, liberal arts and sciences:

West side

Creazione dell'uomo e della donna
Il lavoro dei progenitori
L'invenzione della pastorizia
L'invenzione della musica
L'arte del fabbro
L'invenzione del vino

South side

L'arte della astronomia
L'arte di construire
L'Arte della Medicina
L'arte della caccia
L'Arte della Tessitura
Foroneo o L'Arte della Legislatura
Dedalo o l'antesignano degli artisti

East side

L'agricoltura
L'architettura

North side

Fidia o L'Arte della Scultura
Apelle o L'Arte della Pittura
Elio Donato (o Prisciano) o L'Arte della Grammatica
Platone e Aristotele o L'Arte della Filosofia
Arione o Orfeo o L'Arte della Musica
Euclide e Pitagora o L'Arte della Geometria e Aritmetica
Tolomeo o L'Arte della Astronomia, di Luca della Robbia

Lozenges, on the second level

West side: Seven planets that regulate the course of human existence

Saturn with the Wheel of History. The Wheel of Fortune is a popular concept, which, for example, Geoffrey Chaucer illustrated with examples from history in The Monk's Tale.
Jupiter
Mars
Sun
Venus and Mercury (attributed to Nino Pisano)
Moon

East side

Astronomy
Geometry
Arithmetic
Music

Timeline

18 July 1334 - Foundation of the Campanile. Giotto is appointed Master of the Works of the Cathedral.
1343 - Andrea Pisano (1290-1348) continued the construction of the bell tower, scrupulously following Giotto's design.
1359 - Bell tower completed, by Francesco Talenti (c. 1300 - aft. 1369) a replacement for Pisano, who supervises construction of the top three levels.
1982 - UNESCO declaration of the entire cathedral complex in the Historic Centre of Florence as a World Heritage Site.

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