PECORARI, Francesco

The Chiaravalle Abbey is a Cistercian monastery officially founded in 1135 by a group of monks from the Abbey of Citeaux in France. It is one of the earliest examples of Gothic architecture in Italy, notwithstanding its Romanesque and late Romanesque elements.

The construction of the present church began in the 1150s and lasted until 1221 when the church dedicated to St. Mary was consecrated. During the 13th century, the work continued for building the first cloister, located south of the church. Later, in the 14th century, the crossing tower by Francesco Pecorari and the refectory were realized.

The crossing tower (bell tower) or Ciribiciaccola – a name taken from a popular nursery rhyme in Milanese dialect – rises up starting from the lantern, at a height of 9 metres, with two octagonal sections, which later assumes a conical shape. From here to the end of the cross, positioned on a world map, it reaches a height of 56 metres. The bell tower houses the oldest Ambrosian-mounted bell system that is still manually operated by the Cistercian monks.

The seemingly early-fourteenth-century octagonal lantern towering above the crossing of the modest abbey church owes its detail to the tradition of Lombardy. Despite the extraordinary proportional relationship to the church beneath, its very multiplicity of storeys, windows, and arcadings, its textural and colouristic richness, create a feeling of exuberance.

The photo shows the bell tower seen from the cloister.

The Chiaravalle Abbey is a Cistercian monastery officially founded in 1135 by a group of monks from the Abbey of Citeaux in France. It is one of the earliest examples of Gothic architecture in Italy, notwithstanding its Romanesque and late Romanesque elements.

The construction of the present church began in the 1150s and lasted until 1221 when the church dedicated to St. Mary was consecrated. During the 13th century, the work continued for building the first cloister, located south of the church. Later, in the 14th century, the crossing tower by Francesco Pecorari and the refectory were realized.

The crossing tower (bell tower) or Ciribiciaccola – a name taken from a popular nursery rhyme in Milanese dialect – rises up starting from the lantern, at a height of 9 metres, with two octagonal sections, which later assumes a conical shape. From here to the end of the cross, positioned on a world map, it reaches a height of 56 metres. The bell tower houses the oldest Ambrosian-mounted bell system that is still manually operated by the Cistercian monks.

The seemingly early-fourteenth-century octagonal lantern towering above the crossing of the modest abbey church owes its detail to the tradition of Lombardy. Despite the extraordinary proportional relationship to the church beneath, its very multiplicity of storeys, windows, and arcadings, its textural and colouristic richness, create a feeling of exuberance.

The Torazzo is the bell tower of Cremona Cathedral. At 113 metres, it is the third tallest brickwork bell tower in the world, and it is the oldest brick structure taller than 100 m that is still standing. It was built in four phases: in the 1230s, between 1250 and 1267, and around 1284, and completed with the marble spire in 1309.

Its effect depends not only on its size but on the contrast between the simple rectangular thirteenth-century main body, with its relatively small, infrequent openings, and the wide-arched complexities of the octagonal upper storeys added in the third phase of the construction.

The octagonal tower of San Gottardo is set on a rectangular stone base. There is great decorative sophistication in the enormously elongated and substantially free-standing angle columns that run the full height of the main drum. There is further evidence of sophistication in the proportions of the whole and in the severe control of details and of colour contrasts. In the main arcade an outer garland of columns stands on beams that jut out from an inner ring. The inner octagon is visible within three separate outer shells, each demarcated by their own columniation. This drum then rises to support the double columns of the open upper chamber, and a further simple cylinder supports the roof-cone. The final touch is provided by the way in which the lower windows spiral up the octagon to meet the circling upper openings.

The tower is inscribed in Latin: “Magister Franciscus de Pecoraris de Cremona fecit hoc opus”.

The octagonal tower of San Gottardo is set on a rectangular stone base. There is great decorative sophistication in the enormously elongated and substantially free-standing angle columns that run the full height of the main drum. There is further evidence of sophistication in the proportions of the whole and in the severe control of details and of colour contrasts. In the main arcade an outer garland of columns stands on beams that jut out from an inner ring. The inner octagon is visible within three separate outer shells, each demarcated by their own columniation. This drum then rises to support the double columns of the open upper chamber, and a further simple cylinder supports the roof-cone. The final touch is provided by the way in which the lower windows spiral up the octagon to meet the circling upper openings.

The tower is inscribed in Latin: “Magister Franciscus de Pecoraris de Cremona fecit hoc opus”.