A Voyage of Italy. Part II. Page 125
13. Near to the Domo stands the Campanile, or high steeple of Florence made by Giotto. It’s a hundred and fifty braccie, or little yards high, and half as deep in the ground. It’s flat at top and crusted all over with curious little polished marble stones, marble pillars, and statues: so that, (as Charles the V said of it) if it had a case to cover it withal, and hinder it from being seen too frequently, Men would flock thither at the taking off of this cover, as to see a wonder. Indeed it’s a kind of wonder, to see that in three hundred years apace, not the least part of that steeple (all crusted over with marble) is perished. There are diverse good statues on all sides of it, but the best of them all is that of the Zuccone, or Bald Man, made by Donatello, which he himself esteemed so much, that when he would affirm any thing seriously, he used to say, Alla fe ch'io porto al mio Zuccone; and the same Donatello having finished it, spoke to it, in jest, and said; Favella, horsu, favella; o ti venga il cacasangue: such good conceits have fantastical men of themselves and their own works.
14. Near to the Domo also, stands the Baptistery, or round church of St John, where all the Children of the town are baptized. The brazen doors of it (three in all) are admirable, especially that; which looks towards the great church, of which Michaelangelo being asked his opinion, answer’d, that it was so well made, that it might stand at the entrance of Paradise. These doors are all of brass historied into figures, containing the remarkable histories of
