Tommaso Campanella

Page 9

The second circuit is constructed in such a manner as to appear as one continuous palace. Arches run level with the middle height of the buildings and continue around the entire ring. There are galleries for walking upon these arches, which are supported from below by thick, well-proportioned columns, enclosing arcades similar to peristyles A continuous porch formed by a row of columns surrounding a perimeter or court, or the cloisters of an abbey.

However, the palaces have no entrances from the ground level, except on the inner or concave side, which provides direct access to the lower sections of the building. The upper floors are reached by marble staircases leading to interior galleries for walking, identical to those on the exterior. From these galleries, one enters the upper rooms, which are very beautiful and feature windows on both the inner and outer walls. These rooms are separated from one another by richly decorated walls. The outer wall of the ring is approximately eight spans A "span" is an ancient unit of measure based on the distance between the thumb and little finger, roughly 9 inches thick; the inner wall is three spans; and the partition walls are one, or perhaps one and a half spans thick.

Leaving this circle, one reaches the second level plain, which is nearly three paces narrower than the first. Then, the first wall of the second ring comes into view, adorned above and below with similar walking galleries; on its inner side, there is another interior wall enclosing more palaces. It also features similar peristyles supported by columns at the base, but the upper sections are decorated with excellent paintings located around the entrances to the higher dwellings. And so it continues through similar spaces and double walls, enclosing—