ably the first important
buildings designed and built in the new style, possess great interest.
Santo Spirito, one of these, shows a fully matured system of
architectural treatment, and though it is quite true that it was a
revived system, yet the application of it to a modern building,
different in its purpose and in its design from anything the Romans
had ever done, is little short of a work of genius.

Santo Spirito has a very simple and beautifully regular plan, and its
interior has a singular charm and grace: over the crossing is raised
a low dome. The columns of the arcade are Corinthian columns, and the
refinement of their detail and proportions strikes the eye at once on
entering the building. The influence of Brunelleschi, who died in
1440, was perpetuated by the works and writings of Alberti (born 1398)
an architect of literary cultivation who wrote a systematic treatise
which became extremely popular, and helped to form the taste and guide
the practice of his contemporaries. He lived till near the close of
the fifteenth century, and erected some buildings of great merit. To
Alberti we owe the design of the Ruccellai Palace in Florence, a
building begun in 1460, and which had been preceded by somewhat bolder
and simpler designs. This is a three storey building, but has
pilasters carried up the piers between the windows and a regular
entablature and cornice[31] at each storey. The building is elegant
and graceful, and though the employment of the orders[32] as its
decoration gives it a distinctive character, it bears a strong general
resemblance to the group of which the Strozzi Palace (Fig. 61) may be
taken as the type.

The earliest Florentine palaces are the Riccardi, which dates from
1430, and the Pitti of almost the same date; Brunelleschi is said to
have been consulted in the design of both, but Michelozzo was the
architect. The distinguishing characteristic of the early palaces in
this city is solidity, which rises from the fact that they were also
fortresses. The Pitti, well known for its picture gallery, is a
building of vast extent, built throughout in very boldly rusticated
masonry, the joints and projections of the stones being greatly
exaggerated. The Riccardi, a square block of building, bears a
considerable resemblance to the Strozzi, but is plainer. It is a most
dignified building in its effect.

The Strozzi Palace (Fig. 61) was the next great palatial pile erected.
It was designed by Cronac