campanile,
which, when used in connexion with a sacred building, is a feature
peculiar to Christian architecture--Christians alone making use of the
bell to gather the multitude to public worship. The campanile of Italy
serves the same purpose as the tower or steeple of the churches in the
north and west of Europe, but differs from it in design and position
with regard to the body of the church. It is almost always detached from
the church, or at most connected with it by an arcaded passage. As a
rule also there is never more than one campanile to a church, with a few
exceptions, as in S. Ambrogio, Milan; the cathedral of Novara; S.
Abbondio, Como; S. Antonio, Padua; and some of the churches in south
Italy and Sicily. The design differs entirely from the northern type; it
never has buttresses, is very tall and thin in proportion to its height,
and as a rule rises abruptly from the ground without base or plinth
mouldings undiminished to the summit; it is usually divided by
string-courses into storeys of nearly equal height, and in north and
central Italy the wall surface is decorated with pilaster strips and
arcaded corbel strings. Later, the square tower was crowned with an
octagonal turret, sometimes with a conical roof, as in Cremona and
Modena cathedrals. As a rule the openings increase in number and
dimensions as they rise, those at the top therefore giving a lightness
to the structure, while the lower portions, with narrow slits only,
impart solidity to the whole composition.

The earliest examples are those of the two churches of S. Apollinare in
Classe (see BASILICA, fig. 8) and S. Apollinare Nuovo at Ravenna, dating
from the 6th century. They are circular, of considerable height, and
probably were erected as watch towers or depositories for the treasures
of the church. The next in order are those in Rome, of which there are a
very large number in existence, dating from the 8th to the 11th century.
These towers are square and in several storeys, the lower part quite
plain till well above the church to which they are attached. Above this
they are divided into storeys by brick cornices carried on stone
corbels, generally taken from ancient buildings, the lower storeys with
blind arcades and the upper storeys with open arcades. The earliest on
record was one connected with St Peter's, to the atrium of which, in the
middle of the 8th century, a bell-tower overlaid with gold was added.
One of the finest is that of S.