h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

"They are either of even height or get lower towards the top."

At first, I thought this was a contradiction. Isn't the top the highest part? Then I realized that the ceilings in the upper stories may have been less high than the ones in the bottom story. Am I getting that right?

Bramante must have been a major architect. I remember his "Duomo" in Florence (a work of legerdemain that defied what people thought could be achieved). That he also made plans for Saint Peter's in the Vatican speaks to his eminence. And, yes, Michelangelo did not play well with others. He insulted another sculptor in Florence for no obvious reason!

I'm very fond of the Renaissance as a period because it sounds like more fun than the period that preceded it. I remember admiring the French wit of Pantagruel and Gargantua, and learning about those lovely castles that were built along the Loire. If I want to see the Renaissance in action, I have but to visit an Italian palazzo that was transported to Boston for the Isabella Stuart Gardner Museum.

Villas! Courtyards! The gracious living was coming back to the spaces that people occupied. Thank you so much for highlighting this period in architecture. Now, if only central heating could have been added to the mix. The buildings must have been a pain to heat in Winter, though Italy had fairly mild ones, and one could walk in the courtyards much of the year.....

(It's a huge temptation for me to get off-topic. I hope your health iso n the mend.)

Thanks a lot Paul.
Yes, you are right, the ceilings at the top storeys were lower than tose at the bottom of the building.

I love courtyards. They bring the outside into the inside.

Long ago, I took a course in which the principle of proportionality was stressed for medieval architecture. Units of measure were not standardized, but as long as the ratios were the same, buildings could be copied from one place to another.