of Pisa in bronze. On it may be seen these words:

_Ego Bonannus Pis, mea arle hanc portam uno anno perfeci
tempore Benedicti operarii._

That the art was making steady progress may be seen by the walls of
S. Giovanni Lateran at Rome, which were constructed of the spoils of
antiquity under Popes Lucius III. and Urban III., when the Emperor
Frederick was crowned by the latter, because certain small temples
and chapels there, made with these spoils, possess considerable merit
of design and contain some things which are worth notice, and this,
among others, that the vaults were made of small tubes with
compartments of stucco, so as not to overload the side walls of the
buildings, a very praiseworthy contrivance for those times. The
cornices and other parts show that the artists were helping one
another to find the good.

Innocent III. afterwards caused two palaces to be erected on the
Vatican hill, and from what can be seen of them they appear to have
been in a fairly good style, but since they were destroyed by other
popes, and especially by Nicholas V., who pulled down and rebuilt the
greater part of the palace, I will say no more about them, except
that a part of them may be seen in the great round tower, and a part
in the old sacristy of St Peter's. This Innocent III., who wore the
tiara for nineteen years, took great delight in architecture, and
erected many buildings in Rome, notably the tower of the Conti, so
called after the name of his family, from designs by Marchionne, an
architect and sculptor of Arezzo. In the year that Innocent died this
artist completed the Pieve of Arezzo, as well as the campanile. He
adorned the front of the church with three rows of columns, one above
the other, in great variety, not only in the shape of the capitals
and bases, but even in the shafts, some being heavy, others slender,
some bound together in pairs, others in fours. In like manner some
are covered with representations of the vine, while others are made
to become supporting figures, variously carved. He further introduced
many animals of different kinds, which carry the weight of the
columns on their backs, the whole exhibiting the strangest and most
extravagant fantasies imaginable, not only altogether removed from
the excellent antique order, but opposed to all good and reasonable
proportion. Yet in spite of all this, anyone who will justly consider
the matter will see that he was making strenuous ef